Two Indian Americans in the race to become next health secy
WASHINGTON: Two Indian Americans have emerged as leading contenders for the post of the US health secretary in Donald Trump’s cabinet, vacated by Tom Price earlier this week.
The names of top healthcare official Seema Verma and former governor Bobby Jindal are doing the rounds. If either of them gets the nod, it would be a record second cabinet-rank position from the Indian-origin community after Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN.
Others in the race for the vacant seat include senior health official Don Wright, who was named acting secretary after Price’s exit; Scott Gottlieb, who is presently serving as food and drug administration commissioner; and David Shulkin, the veteran affairs secretary said to be Trump’s favourite for the job.
Verma figures in most reports. She heads the medicaid and medicare services of the health and human services and has been a key administration figure in the ongoing attempts to repeal and replace former Obamacare.
“Administrator Seema Verma is playing the leading role for us in helping us to repeal and replace Obamacare,” Trump said at a White House event earlier. And Verma was the only non-politician who spoke at a Rose Garden celebration after the passage of a House bill to replace Obamacare in May.
Meanwhile, Jindal, a one-time rival of Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, was on fewer lists, with some reports dismissing his chances as “rumours”.
But he did find a long and flattering report by media agency Newsmax, whose CEO Christopher Ruddy is a friend of Trump and has often spoken for him as a surrogate on sensitive personnel and policy issues.