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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMedicare chief asked taxpayers to cover stolen jewelry
A top Trump health appointee sought to have taxpayers reimburse her for the costs of jewelry, clothing and other possessions, including a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, that were stolen while in her luggage during a work-related trip, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.
Seema Verma, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, filed a $47,000 claim for lost property on Aug. 20, 2018, after her bags were stolen while she was giving a speech in San Francisco the prior month. The property was not insured, Verma wrote in her filing to the Health and Human Services department.
The federal health department ultimately reimbursed Verma $2,852.40 for her claim, a CMS spokesperson said.
Vermas claim included $43,065 for about two dozen pieces of jewelry, based off an appraisal she'd received from a jeweler about three weeks after the theft. Among Verma's stolen jewelry was an Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, made of gold, prasiolite and diamonds, that Vermas jeweler valued at $5,900.
Vermas claim also included about $2,000 to cover the cost of her stolen clothes and another $2,000 to cover the cost of other stolen goods, including a $325 claim for moisturizer and a $349 claim for noise-cancelling headphones.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes CMS, said the department has a longstanding policy of paying for certain goods when they are lost during a work trip, so long as they are not inherently for other uses, which is why Verma was partially reimbursed.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/07/medicare-chief-asked-taxpayers-to-cover-stolen-jewelry-077761
bitterross
(4,066 posts)Does anyone else find it extremely suspicious that she went on a trip for work with almost $50k worth of uninsured personal items? I don't even own $50k worth of personal items. If I did, they'd be insured.
She needs to be investigated for possibly filing a fraudulent claim.
Captain Zero
(6,823 posts)But she never seemed like much of a Hoosier to me.
dalton99a
(81,568 posts)What a lying crook
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)More a believer in Trump Accounting.
Which would make her a crook, but we aren't supposed to say that.
uponit7771
(90,359 posts)sandensea
(21,657 posts)That is the Trump way.
crickets
(25,982 posts)1. I don't believe anyone claiming to be traveling on a random business trip with goods that expensive.
2. If true ( ) what were you thinking? Why travel (or even let this property exist in your life) without insurance?
3. You should have had insurance - your own insurance. Get some.
And F off while doing it. Unreal.
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)From the article:
Something that's really surprising to me is how many people will pay to work for Donald Trump, or who will work for him for no compensation. All his kids, Giuliani, Verma...