The House of Representatives bill to repeal and replace Obamacare is now outdated, according to Seema Verma, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator.
"What's more important is what the Senate comes up with and looking at that and looking at the estimates for that. Really the House version is something that is outdated at this point," Verma said in a USA Today interview that was livestreamed on Facebook.
She said she was working with the Senate to ensure that the final version of the Senate proposal included "the president's core principles."
Verma said that the Congressional Budget Office's scoring of the bill had some discrepancies. "We disagree with some of the premises that they are indicating in this report," the administrator said.
She said that the issues with insurance now are because of Obamacare. "The individual market was working much better than it is now," Verma said in the interview.
"It's not a good idea to point fingers, but it is important to start focusing on solutions. At the end of the day, these are the American people, and they deserve better," Verma said.
She said she was "very hopeful" that this year a bill would pass the Senate and the House.
On May 21, four members of Congress sent Verma a letter criticizing a Los Angeles Times report that Verma told insurers she would work a deal with them if they supported the House Republican repeal plan. "Your reported actions suggest you are using the operation of the American healthcare system as a tool to gain leverage in political negotiations," the letter read.
Jane Norris, a CMS spokeswoman, called the Times report "completely false," according to the Times.
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