“Congressional Democrats on Thursday condemned Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma after a watchdog report found she mishandled millions of dollars in government contracts, with some lawmakers renewing or issuing new calls for President Donald Trump to replace his controversial Medicare chief.”
“The Health and Human Services inspector general on Thursday found that a set of contracts Verma approved with outside communications consultants violated federal contracting rules, concluding that the contracts were not appropriately managed and led to ‘questionable’ payouts, like $150,000 for a canceled bus tour.”
“The inspector general probe was opened after a POLITICO investigation in March 2019 into how Verma used taxpayer funds to contract with GOP-aligned communications consultants who worked to boost her brand. The health department immediately halted the contracts, which the inspector general found had already paid out $5 million.”
“Verma has disputed the report, calling its findings ‘disingenuous’ and arguing that auditors cherry-picked the examples included in the response…” Read the full article here.
Source: Democrats use inspector general report to renew calls for Medicare chief’s ouster – By Dan Diamond and Adam Cancryn, July 16, 2020. POLITICO.
