Medicaid Administrator Verma Blames Ballooning Costs on Structural Problems

Medicaid Administrator Verma Blames Ballooning Costs on Structural Problems
Seema Verma, the CMS Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Washington on March 14, 2017. NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
Holly Kellum
By Holly Kellum, Washington Correspondent
Updated:

Systemic flaws in the Medicaid program have contributed to rising health care costs for the federal government, mostly due to rules created under the Affordable Care Act, according to Medicaid’s administrator.

Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said the open-ended nature of the program, combined with it paying at least 90 percent of the costs for certain Medicaid patients, has put the program on an unsustainable path. She spoke Aug. 21 at a Senate homeland security committee hearing on combating Medicaid fraud.

Holly Kellum
Holly Kellum
Washington Correspondent
Holly Kellum is a Washington correspondent for NTD. She has worked for NTD on and off since 2012.
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