News

Trump Medicare Chief Seema Verma Asks Taxpayers To Pay For $47,000 Of Stolen Jewelry

President Donald Trump‘s Medicare chief attempted to make taxpayers reimburse her for $47,000 worth of jewelry, clothing and other possessions that were stolen from her luggage during a work-related trip.

Documents obtained by Politico show that 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.

Her luggage was stolen out of her rented Chevrolet Tahoe SUV on July 25, 2018, while she was giving a speech attacking “Medicare for All” proposals at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club. According to the police report, she initially estimated the cost of her lost property at $20,000, but upped the valuation when filing her claim to the health department.

Verma claimed that the nearly two dozen pieces of jewelry which were stolen were valued at $43,065, based off a jeweler’s appraisal three weeks after the items were stolen. One of the stolen items was an Ivanka Trump-brand pendant that the jeweler valued at $5,900.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!

A week of political news in your in-box.
We find the news you need to know, so you don't have to.

Verma’s 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 Verma’s jeweler valued at $5,900.

She also requested about $2,000 for 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.

The federal health department ultimately reimbursed Verma $2,852.40 for her claim, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told Politico, noting that the department has a longstanding policy of paying for goods stolen during a work trip, so long as they “are not inherently for other uses.”

“When paying for such goods, the department pays a discounted rate based on age for the items that were lost,” the spokesperson said. “It’s perfectly appropriate that the administrator filed a personal property loss claim for goods stolen while on work travel and this is not an unusual practice for federal employees.”

The spokesman noted that the department also has a policy of not reimbursing for stolen jewelry.

Like
Like Love Haha Wow Sad Angry
Katherine Huggins

Recent Posts

Trump Administration To Require Bonds Of Up To $15K For Visas For Vistors From Select Countries

President Donald Trump's administration has implemented stricter regulations on immigration and visas. The administration has…

9 hours ago

Bernie Sanders Ranks Just Behind Pope Leo In Favorability Ratings, New Poll Finds

Pollster Gallup released a new favorability survey on 14 global public figures this week, including…

10 hours ago

Amid Declining Health, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88, Hasn’t Made Public Appearance Since Trump Ordered Guard Into City, Plans To Run For Re-election

Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington, D.C.’s nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives, on Monday criticized…

14 hours ago

Attorney General Pam Bondi Rescinds All Of D.C. ‘Sanctuary City Policies’

On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded numerous policing policies on immigration in Washington, D.C.,…

15 hours ago

Former Government Officials Call Out FBI Director Kash Patel For Abandoning Agency’s ‘Long-Standing Independence’

A group of former FBI, intelligence and national security officials known as The Steady State…

16 hours ago

Epstein Victims Ask Judges To Deny Trump Administration’s Request To Unseal Court Testimony

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is attempting to unseal the grand jury testimony in the…

1 day ago