Rep. Kennedy calls on Trump health care administrator to resign over $47,000 stolen property claim
WASHINGTON – Rep. Joe Kennedy on Tuesday called for the resignation of Seema Verma – the administrator of the agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare – after a Politico report showed she had asked the government to reimburse her $47,000 for personal property that was stolen on a work trip.
Verma, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said her bags containing uninsured jewelry she later had appraised at $43,065 were stolen in July 2018 while she gave a speech in San Francisco, according to Politico, which cited documents it had obtained. She filed a lost property claim on Aug. 20, 2018, that listed among the stolen items an Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, which she said appraised for $5,900.
The Department of Health and Human Services said it eventually paid her $2,852.40.
Kennedy, who clashed with Veema at a hearing last month over her efforts to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, said the Politico report revealed "a gross misuse of public funds."
"While spearheading efforts to take health care away from low-income Americans, Administrator Seema Verma has shown a troubling willingness to disregard concerns about taxpayer funding when it comes to her own personal profile," Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement.
"Whether paying millions to political consultants for flattering profiles or asking taxpayers for a bailout for stolen goods she chose not to insure, she has proven unwilling to place the interests of the American people above her own. She must resign immediately."
HHS defended Verma, saying in a statement on Monday that it was "perfectly appropriate" for her to file the lost property claim, which it said was "not an unusual practice for federal employees."
It said that after Verma reported the bags stolen, HHS counsel told her to file a claim and to "include a full inventory" of the stolen items.
According to the department, Verma was partially reimbursed under a government policy that covers some items, factoring in their age and condition. But it said the policy does not cover jewelry.
Among the items Verma listed as stolen were $2,000 in clothing, a $325 moisturizer and a $349 pair of noise-canceling headphones.
Trump nominated Verma, a former Indiana health care consultant, on Nov. 29, 2016, his seventh nomination as president-elect, according to her official biography. The Senate voted 55-43 to confirm her on March 13, 2017.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Kennedy calls on CMS head Seema Verma to resign over $47K claim
