We are not about protecting the status quo when it doesn't work for patients. Seema Verma More Quotes by Seema Verma More Quotes From Seema Verma We are taking a big step today to ensure that we are empowering patients with the information they need to make informed health care decisions. Seema Verma politics We will continue to defend our efforts to give states greater flexibility to help low-income Americans rise out of poverty, we believe, as have numerous past administrations, that states are the laboratories of democracy and we will vigorously support their innovative, state-driven efforts to develop and test reforms that will advance the objectives of the Medicaid program. Seema Verma politics We are conferring with the Department of Justice to chart a path forward. Seema Verma politics The Medicaid program was designed for aged or blind or people living with disabilities, pregnant women and children, but now that we've put all these able-bodied individuals (on Medicaid), the program needs to be changed to be more flexible. People that are living in poverty want a pathway out of poverty. They don't want to be in that situation. And so what we're trying to do with the Medicaid program, with allowing states to develop programs that give people an opportunity for job training, for community service … and giving them the skills that they need. Seema Verma latest-headlines The drug dashboard is a transparency tool, it's an opportunity for patients and the public to see what's going on with drug prices. We've gone from having 70 drugs on that dashboard to now we have 3,000 drugs. You can see the price increases year over year from 2012 to 2016 and you can see which manufacturers. Seema Verma opinion The hospitals were getting discounts and they essentially were not passing these discounts to seniors, so we changed the rules and this year alone, our seniors are going to be saving $320 million. Seema Verma opinion But innovation doesn’t mean anything if folks can’t afford their medications. Seema Verma opinion