Trump’s secret cure
Health czar says prez is focused on better care, cheaper drugs
The health care czar to President Trump wants you to know why she works for him. Administrator Seema Verma says Trump is not what you think he is.
Verma oversees a $1 trillion federal budget — that’s 26 percent of what the administration oversees. Through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Verma administers health care programs for more than 130 million Americans every day.
This high-powered, highly educated Indian-American professional says President Trump is not the racist or sexist person that some people want you to believe he is. “Ignore the noise — from them and him as well. He is smart and he is focused on what is best for this country,” Verma says.
Together, Verma and Donald Trump are committed to making your health care better.
Verma sat down exclusively with the Boston Herald to talk about open enrollment, artificial intelligence in the health care industry and lowering drug prices. However, what kept coming to mind was this massively talented and thoughtful woman working for a man the media has vilified.
We asked for her personal experience of working for Trump as a minority female, “I have never felt in my interactions with the president and vice president anything but supported and empowered. I think he treats me as he treats any member of his team. What he is looking for is the best people to work for him and the government, and at no time have I felt anything but empowered,” she said. “He appreciates my opinion and seeks my opinion.”
The media tends to paint a very different picture of the man running the country and Verma addressed what you see on TV versus her daily working environment.
“So when you see all these reports they just don’t add up to the experience I have had with the president and vice president. He is practical and smart. He is not thinking about special interest groups. He really thinks about what is best for america,” she told me.
Verma and Trump have crafted a plan so that America can stop paying astronomical prices for their prescription drugs. Similar to the trade wars Trump has started, believing America is getting bad deals in Europe and China — he claims the same is true with pharma deals.
“We have been trying to address the issue of foreign freeloading,” said Verma. “We are saying to pharma that we are going to tie our pricing to what you are offering overseas. We no longer want to pay a premium on drugs and shoulder the burden for the world’s innovation. We know we need to do our fair share and are a wealthy country. The way things are structured, America is not getting the best deal possible.”
Verma says putting this kind of pressure on pharmaceutical companies has never been done before, and it is because Trump is an outsider and can take this aggressive stance that will pay off for Americans — especially seniors.
Why should we pay more for the same drug than someone in another country? That’s a position a few could get behind.
Verma and Trump have also introduced a policy that would allow states to impose work requirements on Medicaid enrollees. Low-income adults will have to find jobs, prove they are looking or volunteer in order to retain their health coverage.
Verma said states had been coming to her and saying, “We want to do more than just hand out Medicaid cards.” Now states have the tools to stop handing out free health care to able adults unless they are engaging members of society.
Clearly, Verma is on the front lines fighting health care costs and should be a great weapon during Trump’s re-election campaign.