For much of the country, I imagine Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma is a relatively obscure figure in the Trump administration. She occasionally enters the fray – pushing Medicaid work requirements, blasting “Obamacare,” and making underwhelming political arguments – but for the most part, Verma is only known to public officials, industry stakeholders, health care wonks, and journalists who follow health care issues closely.
It’s against this backdrop that Politico has a new report on eight former members of Donald Trump’s operation – from his campaign, presidential transition team, or White House – who were paid quite a bit to reportedly work as outside public-relations consultants on Verma’s behalf.
They were among at least 40 consultants who worked on a one-year, $2.25 million contract directed by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma. The contractors were hired to burnish Verma’s personal brand and provide “strategic communications” support. They charged up to $380 per hour for work traditionally handled by dozens of career civil servants in CMS’s communications department.
View the complete November 12 article by Steve Benen on the MSNBC website here.