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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPresident Donald Trump's nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid won committee approval Thursday, clearing her for a final floor vote in the Senate.
Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma was approved by the Finance Committee on a 13-12 party-line vote.
Verma would head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency that oversees health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans. Known as CMS, it's also responsible for administering the Obama-era health care law that Trump has vowed to repeal and replace.
She's a protege of Vice President Mike Pence, after designing a Medicaid expansion along conservative lines for Indiana when he was governor. Her consulting business has about a dozen staffers, and if confirmed, she would run an agency with nearly 6,500 employees.
One of Verma's new roles will involve acting as a liaison to the states as Republicans try to move their "repeal and replace" legislation through Congress.
A significant number of Republican governors expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income people under the Affordable Care Act. Now, they are considered pivotal players in the congressional debate to decide the fate of Obamacare. Some of the governors are concerned that a plan from House Republicans to limit future federal financing would take too much money out of Medicaid too quickly.
Verma said during her confirmation hearing that Medicaid needs a full overhaul but that she doesn't support turning Medicare into a "voucher" plan.
No floor vote has been scheduled yet.
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