NTIMES: November 2016

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Keeping Up With The Kardashians is STILL filming despite rumours production has halted - Daily Mail

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Keeping Up With the Kardashians has not stopped filming.

On Tuesday E! revealed to Variety that production on the long-running show has not halted. Cameras continue to roll for next season, it was insisted.

Earlier in the day TMZ claimed work on the reality series had stopped after Kim Kardashian's robbery. It was also alleged that the family agreed to extend the break after Kanye West's hospitalization last week.

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Still going! Keeping Up With The Kardashians continues to film despite Kim Kardashian's October 3 robbery and Kanye West's hospitalization last week, according to E! Here Kim and Kanye are seen in LA in June

TMZ wrote that production on the show, which also stars Kim's mother Kris Jenner and her siblings Khloe, Kourtney, Kendall and Kylie, has been shut down for at least the rest of 2016, but possibly longer.

Sources connected with the production told the site that 'producers have enough footage for the series commitment, but the plan was to film through the holidays, and that won't happen.'

A source has claimed the mother of two is 'rethinking everything'.

It has also been claimed by Variety that Kim did shoot some footage after her Paris robbery. And at West's LA concert at The Forum last month she could be seen with E! cameras in her face.

So it appears she will address the robbery on camera on next season's KUWTK.

Hospital: Kim's husband West has been in the hospital for over a week. Here he is seen on November 15 in LA

According to the latest reports, Kanye is 'still not stable' and is not ready to be released from the medical facility just yet.

It was originally reported that the producer would be discharged into the care of his personal doctor on Monday but TMZ is now reporting that that won't happen.

Kanye was admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on November 21 after an incident at his personal trainer's home in Los Angeles.

Sources say that ahead of his mental health emergency last week the rapper was having bad dreams about wife Kim's robbery ordeal.

Family affair: TMZ write that production on the show, which also stars Kim's mother Kris Jenner, her siblings Khloe, Kourtney, Kendall and Kylie, as well as Caitlyn Jenner and Scott Disick has been shut down for at least the rest of 2016, but possibly longer

'He's been shaken up ever since the robbery in Paris. It did a number on him as much as Kim,' an insider told Us Weekly.

'The mere thought that anything could happen to her sent him in a tailspin. He wasn't sleeping and he was having nightmares about it.'

Kim was holed up and recovering at her mother Kris Jenner's home in Calabasas since she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris on October 3.

'The robbery triggered everything,' the source said.

'Kim is his family and the only family he really has now. They took him in and embraced him. So seeing Kim traumatized did a major number on him.'

According to TMZ the 39-year-old star was reportedly acting erratically and handcuffed to a gurney to be transported to hospital.

Recovering: The Fade hitmaker is reportedly not ready to be released from hospital even though he was supposed to be discharged on Monday

The Fade hitmaker cancelled the remainder of his Saint Pablo tour, which was due to conclude on New Year's Eve in New York, just before he was admitted and placed under psychiatric hold.

'He really couldn't do his shows without her around,' a source told Us Weekly.

'That's what made him worse. He didn't want to be away from her … [The robbery] was just as hard for him, but he tried to keep going. He would never have canceled the tour unless things were bad.'

Meanwhile it's been reported that Kim has been putting aside the issues stemming from her horrific Paris robbery ordeal to focus on helping husband recover from his breakdown, according to reports.

His rock: Kim has put her own emotional issues stemming from her horrific Paris robbery ordeal aside to focus on helping Kanye recover from his breakdown

According to TMZ, the reality superstar, 36, has kept a 'constant vigil' by his bedside, helping to feed him.

The insider claims that Kim has found it 'excruciating' to see her husband battling severe paranoia about outsiders trying to ruin their marriage.

The source adds: 'She has been an unbelievably devoted spouse. He's a lucky man.'

Meanwhile, the star is said to have total focus on nursing the father of her two children back to health.

Devoted: Kim has been by her husband's side for the whole week Kanye has been at the medical facility

Standing by her man: Kim is said to have been at the side of Kanye West and has been helping feed him, according to a Sunday report from Us Weekly

An insider for the publication said: 'Kim has been amazing. She knew he couldn't keep going the way he was.

'She has been by his side through all of this, helping to feed him and laying by his side.'

The helping hand somewhat parallels Khloe Kardashian aiding ex Lamar Odom after his overdose last year.

The source added: 'All the Kardashian women stick by their men.'

Breakdown: The 39-year-old rapper is reportedly 'depressed and paranoid' after being taken to hospital on Monday in Los Angeles

Security: One of the Kardashian family bodyguards was seen leaving the UCLA medical center

This comes just days after a TMZ report that Kanye was 'profoundly depressed and paranoid' and that he has been 'dealing with these issues for a long time.'

After he was rushed to the Los Angeles hospital earlier this week the star was allegedly 'convinced people were out to get him.'

This suspicion even apparently extended to the medical staff looking after him, and he briefly 'wouldn't even let the doctors touch him,' according to the U.S. website.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star has been at the side of the Fade rapper for most of the week.

Following one visit on Thanksgiving morning, Kim then headed to her sister Kylie Jenner's home in Calabasas, where her family were celebrating the holiday on Thursday, according to People.

Earlier this week TMZ reported his condition was worse than first feared.

By his side: Kim visited Kanye at hospital on Thanksgiving morning, as he continues to recover from a reported breakdown, according to a new report (the couple pictured in September in New York)

Although he was initially reported to be suffering from a temporary psychosis brought on by sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration, TMZ suggested that the rapper's problems 'go deeper'.

The website reported that Kanye is in such a 'bad mental state' that his insurance policy for his 21 cancelled U.S. concerts is likely to cover him for lost profits due to illness.

Kanye, was at trainer Harley Pasternak's home on Monday when he started 'acting erratically,' according to People.

A call was made at about 1:20pm for a disturbance.

He was later escorted to UCLA Medical Center and admitted 'at will' but under the advice of a physician.

Hospitalised: The rapper was admitted to UCLA Medical Center, pictured, earlier this week

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The biggest challenge to diversifying tech talent - CNET

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Diversity in tech will be a long-term issue.

Photo by The Washington Post/Getty Images

In five years, what will the push for diversity in tech look like?

Though the conversation seems louder than ever before, this issue is one the industry will be confronting for some time to come. The challenge is how to achieve meaningful progress and keep people caring after years of incremental change.

"People shouldn't have the expectation that next year it's going to be parity," said Elizabeth Ames, vice president of strategic marketing and alliances for the Anita Borg Institute, an organization focused on the advancement of women in technology.

Over the last few years, the subject of diversity in tech has gotten a good deal of attention -- and not always in the rosiest light. Sometimes, it's been a high-profile conflict, as when former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao lost her sexual discrimination lawsuit against VC firm Kleiner Perkins in March 2015. Other times, it's been jokes about the difference between the lines for the men's and women's restrooms at tech events. Then there was the Department of Labor's lawsuit against Palantir in September for discriminating against Asian job applicants.

There are myriad reasons why it all matters, but one of the most striking is economic opportunity.

The White House regularly hammers the point that there are a half million open jobs in IT, an industry that generally pays well. A recent report from consulting firm Accenture projected that if more serious measures aren't taken, women alone will be missing out on possibly $299 billion by 2025. In 2014, the American Institute for Economic Research found that when it comes to skilled jobs in tech, Asian, black and Hispanic workers make less than their white counterparts.

High stakes, low action. But doom and gloom can be dangerous.

How to read diversity reports

One step Silicon Valley has taken is to start releasing diversity reports. In 2013, then-Pinterest coder Tracy Chou challenged tech companies to start reporting their demographics.

While diversity reports are often released in the name of transparency, that doesn't mean they're easy reads, especially when the most obvious takeaway is something like 1 percentage point of change from year to year.

There are a few key metrics Ames looks for as signals of progress. The first is the breakdown for new hires. That's where companies making good efforts in the recruitment and hiring process display change.

The second metric is retention.

"The concern becomes if you're just hiring them in and the environment is so negative that they then just turn around and leave, you really haven't made any gains," Ames said.

Finally, there's the percentage of women and minorities in leadership positions. Are they moving up? Beyond the basic idea of whether they're being given the chance for advancement, women and minorities in leadership positions tend to attract others. They're a sign that it's possible to get ahead at a given company, Ames said.

What does 1 percent mean?

The change isn't much to look at.

"Whenever I look at these numbers that go up from 16 percent to 17 percent, or 13 percent to 14 percent, what that tells me is they're not really serious," said Harvey Mudd College President Maria Klawe.

One percent change can look like no change at all. And it's often accompanied by head-hanging from companies as they acknowledge there's still work to do.

The repetition can be demoralizing.

"Especially for those who are advocates for diversity and care deeply about it, the feeling is that tech companies and leaders simply don't care about solving the problem," Chou said.

But there are times when 1 percent is a big difference. For a company like Intel, it represents about 10,000 people.

"We've increased the representation of women in our workforce by 2 percent in a year," Intel Chief Diversity Officer Danielle Brown said. "But 2 percent is really significant when you've got a huge installed base workforce and you're not not a startup doubling in size every year."

Beating the perception game

Either way, it's not an inspiring rally cry.

"What I worry about is people are going to lose interest because the narrative is going to be that it's just too hard or that nobody's making progress," Brown said.

Will there come a point when tech company leaders throw up their hands and say women and minorities must not want to work in tech?

"That's always the danger because that could be an excuse," said Catherine Ashcraft, senior research scientist with the National Center for Women and Information Technology. The key to beating this, she said, is strategic planning.

That means having funding, support from the top levels of the company and the ability to measure progress toward goals and adjust as necessary.

For instance, Intel started tracking its diversity numbers a decade ago. But Brown said nothing changed until the company set a goal and CEO Brian Krzanich pledged $300 million to the cause, regularly looked at the reports and supported the effort.

Upon realizing that its percentage of women fell a full percentage point and that increases among minorities were slim, Microsoft announced in November that it will tie its diversity goals to executives' compensation.

During Klawe's 10 years at Harvey Mudd, the school has raised the number of women and minorities in computer science. Harvey Mudd is about half women, 20 percent Hispanic and 10 percent black. This year's computer science graduating class was more than 50 percent women.

In education, people like Klawe and Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant are trying to equip students with both the skills and the confidence to survive in companies that are works in progress.

"It's about how do we build even more complex solutions that really get to the root cause of so many of these issues," Bryant said.

The long play

Change isn't just about getting people in. It's also about keeping them.

"You're going to have a very expensive zero-sum game if people are leaving out the backdoor," Brown said.

Retention is tricky because it's so tied into culture -- it's not just whether the pay is equal, but whether the environment is conducive to career growth and how far a company will go to help employees stay.

Ellyn Shook, Accenture's chief leadership and human resources officer, gave an example of an initiative that started as a request from a new mom and increased the retention of new parents by 30 percent. As many Accenture employees travel for work, the woman asked about the company paying to ship breast milk home. Shook initially agreed.

But was pump, dump and ship really the best way to help a mom with a baby?

"I didn't feel good about enabling what she asked for, but not really getting to the root cause," Shook said.

Instead, Accenture instituted a policy where all new parents, including in cases of adoption, don't have to travel for a year -- no strings or stigma attached.

Part of what this speaks to is focusing on the right initiatives. The Harvard Business Review ran a story recently about why mandatory diversity training often doesn't work. A measure designed to stave off lawsuits won't create a healthier working environment.

Along those lines, when figuring out how to get minorities into leadership positions, it's not about sticking them in a leadership class.

"We don't need to fix [them]. They're fine," Ames said, "We need to be looking at the systems and the processes that often embody a certain amount of bias."

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Balqis, Sosok Ratu Tercantik yang Pernah Hidup di Muka Bumi

Berbicara soal ratu cantik, biasanya orang-orang bakal langsung terbesit nama-nama terkenal macam Cleopatra atau si Wu Zetian sang pemikat. Sama sekali tidak salah, mengingat orang-orang ini memang sungguh luar biasa kecantikannya. Tapi, dalam bahasan ratu paling cantik, lazimnya orang-orang cukup jarang menyebut dua nama itu. Keduanya, dianggap takkan bisa menandingi keelokan seorang ratu yang akan jadi bahasan kita kali ini.

Ya, ratu yang dimaksud ini adalah sang penguasa negeri Saba yakni Balqis. Ratu satu ini menurut banyak cerita adalah sosok yang luar biasa cantik. Parasnya begitu menawan dan sangat terjaga. Seumpama sosok seperti beliau ada saat ini, maka dijamin Kim Kardashian atau wanita-wanita tercantik lainnya bakal minder.

Tak hanya cantik, Ratu Balqis juga punya watak yang benar-benar sempurna sebagai seorang ratu. Ia sangat jauh dari perangai buruk dan sifat-sifat tercela lainnya. Lalu, seperti apa sosok istri Nabi Sulaiman ini? Simak ulasannya berikut.

Kecantikan Ratu Balqis yang Bisa Membutakan Mata

Tentu bukan tanpa alasan kenapa Ratu Balqis disebut sebagai sosok ratu paling cantik. Menurut cerita yang ada, secara fisik sang penguasa Saba ini sungguh luar biasa. Beliau digambarkan begitu jelita dengan kulitnya yang bersinar. Sang ratu juga memiliki paras ayu nan teduh yang bisa membuat siapa pun akan takluk dengan cara santun.

Bukti kalau Ratu Balqis sungguh cantik tentu adalah ketika beliau memutuskan untuk mendatangi Nabi Sulaiman. Ketika itu, semua rakyat sang nabi terkaya tersebut memandangi tiada henti sosok sang ratu. Mereka seolah terpana lalu terhipnotis dengan kecantikan bak bidadari yang dipancarkan oleh sang ratu.

Ratu Tercantik yang Punya Pengaruh Besar

Wanita cantik selalu identik dengan persepsi yang kadang kurang mengenakkan. Seperti kesan manja, kemayu, dan sebagainya. Tapi, hal yang semacam ini tidak sedikit pun dimiliki oleh seorang Ratu Balqis. Beliau cantik luar biasa, tapi begitu tangguh.

Ratu cantik yang punya kekuasaan [Image Source]

Buktinya tentu adalah bagaimana sosok sang ratu ini memimpin kerajaan besarnya tersebut. Saba sering disebut-sebut sebagai salah satu kerajaan yang luar biasa. Tentu, untuk bisa mengatur kerajaan seperti itu dibutuhkan sosok yang tegas dan luar biasa. Ratu Balqis bisa melakukan hal luar biasa itu. Saba di bawah kekuasaannya pun jadi salah satu kerajaan paling makmur dan kuat di masanya.

Penguasa Hebat tapi Masih Mendengarkan Orang Lain

Bukan dengan tangan besi Ratu Balqis memimpin Saba hingga menjadi luar biasa. Hal-hal baik yang terjadi kepada negeri itu tak lain karena kehebatan sikap sang ratu yang mengagumkan. Misalnya, tak pernah berlaku otoriter dan selalu mendengarkan suara siapa pun.

Ratu Balqis sang penguasa hebat [Image Source]

Misalnya ketika beliau mendapatkan surat dari Nabi Sulaiman. Ratu Balqis tak serta merta mengambil keputusan sendiri melainkan bermusyawarah dengan para petinggi kerajaan. Ada yang memutuskan untuk perang mengingat kerajaan Saba juga cukup terkenal bala tentaranya. Namun, sang ratu memilih untuk menjalin persahabatan dan malah mengirim hadiah. Ini juga jadi bukti lain jika sang ratu adalah sosok yang sangat bijaksana.

Sifat Rendah Hatinya Sungguh Luar Biasa

Ketika lazimnya seorang ratu penguasa bakal bersifat sombong dan congkak, maka Ratu Balqis sama sekali tidak menunjukkan sifat tersebut. Secara fisik ia sungguh cantik dan punya kekuasaan luas, tapi sang ratu malah memiliki sifat yang benar-benar terbalik. Begitu rendah hati dan menerima kekurangannya.

Ratu yang sangat rendah hati [Image Source]

Hal tersebut bisa kita lihat dari adegan ketika beliau masuk ke dalam istana Nabi Sulaiman. Ketika itu, sang ratu mengangkat tinggi gaunnya begitu melihat air di dalam istana yang ternyata adalah lantai kaca. Saat itu, sang ratu pun langsung bersimpuh dan mengatakan jika ia adalah seorang yang lemah dan tak punya daya. Beliau juga langsung mengakui jika Nabi Sulaiman adalah sosok yang luar biasa.

Mengatakan wanita sempurna itu adalah hal yang bisa dibilang mustahil. Tapi, ketika kita membaca kisah Ratu Balqis, rasa-rasanya cukup pantas jika beliau ini dijuluki wanita sempurna. Tak hanya punya fisik yang sungguh luar biasa, sang ratu juga seorang penguasa hebat. Namun, di balik semua itu, ia punya rendah hati yang sangat mengagumkan.

Fidel Castro's ashes begin final journey across Cuba to the cradle of his revolution

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The normal clatter and music of its streets quieted, Havana came together on Wednesday morning to give Fidel Castro a final send-off as his ashes began their long, symbolic journey eastwards across the island nation back to Santiago de Cuba, the cradle if his revolution.

Thier last chance to see the departed comrade, residents of the delapidated capital formed a solid and hushed line along both sides of the seafront Malecon – a curving boulevard of once-gracious, now mostly crumbling homes facing the Caribbean sea – as his cedar-wood coffin passed slowly by, borne by a simple flat-bed trailer fringed with white flowers, drawn by a green, military jeep.

Earlier, after sunrise, the simple caravan had emerged from the Ministry of Defence, to start the symbolic journey that will take the remains of Cuba’s legendary leader for five decades almost the full length of the island nation from the capital to its eastern tip.

Set to cover 550 miles and take three days, it will be the reverse of the same journey Mr Castro and his bearded band of fellow revolutionaries took when they marched in victory to Havana in 1959. It will not be lonely with Cubans expected to turn out to line the route for all of its length, many from rural parts, newly impoverished by the collapse of its once mighty sugar industry.

After his death late on Friday at 90 years of age, Mr Castro, known simply as El Commandante, was cremated on Saturday. Following nine days of official mourning during which everything from loud music to the sale of alcohol has been banned, his ashes will be interred on Sunday.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday evening the people of Havana had their moment to pay tribute to a figure who still divides emotions on the island and around the world. He was an icon of the left who stood up to the United States for fifty years, withstanding economic bullying and even assassination attempts, and a dictator who trampled human rights and freedoms.

At Revolution Square, hundreds of thousands joined long lines to lay flowers and hear foreign allies of the left pay tribute to Mr Castro and watch grainy, black-and-white film clips dating from the birth of his reign. Those were the first days when Che Guevara was at his side and they had seized the Havana Hilton as their makeshift headquarters, a hotel once again, filling its rooms with the new surge of foreign tourists unleashed in part by the new thaw with the United States.

“He more than fulfilled his mission on this earth,” declared Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose government supports Cuba's ailing economy with oil sold at a steep discount, a policy of socialist solidarity introduced by the late Hugo Chavez and a crutch for Cuba that was all the more vital as it struggled to survive the loss of patronage from the collapsed Soviet Union. “Few lives have been so complete, so bright,” President Maduro added. “He has left unconquered.”

Left behind is a Cuba where the average wage is $25 a month and where even basic internet connections are mostly unavailable to its still isolated population. But standing on the main dais, President Jacob Zuma of South African praised the other legacy Mr Castro left behind: a record on education and healthcare mostly unmatched in many of the hemisphere’s other poorer nations.

Fidel Castro, President Zuma told the massive crowd, will be remembered as “a great fighter for the idea that the poor have a right to live with dignity”.

While the world is invited to attend a final memorial service on 4 December in Havana, few other leaders will attend, a reflection of the ambiguity felt for Mr Castro’s mixed record of benign populism and unbending authoritarianism. The United States – which under President Barack Obama this year began a slow process of diplomatic and economic normalisation that may or may not be continued by President-elect Donald Trump – is to be represented only by a top foreign policy aide in the White House, Ben Rhodes. Neither Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain nor Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn are expected to attend.

When the interment has taken place, Cuba finally will be without a figure whose stature has not been matched by the brother who took over the reins in 2008, Raul Castro, or by the man who is expected to succeed him in just 15 months’ time, Miguel Diaz-Canel, who has been first Vice President since 2013. What will remain, at least for the foreseeable future, is the Communist apparatus that has kept Cuba apart from its neighbours, including the US, for so long.

That, at least, was the promise the government made with giant banners strung up in Revolution Square on Tuedsay night. They read: “The Cuban Communist Party is the only legitimate heir of the legacy and authority of the commander in chief of the Cuban Revolution, comrade Fidel Castro.”

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Bella Thorne, Post Tyler Posey Breakup, Takes to Healthy Lifestyle, Seen Cycling around LA - Foods4BetterHealth

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If you think a breakup with Tyler Posey is going to keep Bella Thorne from living a healthy lifestyle, you’re crazy. The 19-year-old star was spotted cycling around Los Angeles the other day looking super hipster! And the Daily Mail was there to capture her casual Sunday ride.

Now she might not have been out showcasing her aerobic conditioning—the bike and clothing choices made her appear like someone out for a joyride—but you can believe she puts in her work at the gym.

All Over That ‘Gram

If there’s one thing fitness provides, it’s a great opportunity to post scantily-clad pics of yourself on the ‘gram to show off your progress. Bet that. I’ve seen celebrities and others do it so many times and asked myself, “Why? Do I need to know how many planks you can do, how many exercises are in your lower body workout, or why you think your circuit training program needs to be shared with the world? You’re not a fitness professional!” But I realize I might be in the minority here, so I digress.

The truth is that anyone who puts in the work to stay in shape, improve their health, and construct a nice physique deserves some credit—it’s very hard to do.

What You Can Do to Make Your ‘Gram Posts Better

Aside from filters, lighting, and perfectly timing the moment you snap your photo, there are some other things you can do to prime your body for IG. One of them is to get your muscles pumped a bit so they pop for the camera. If you notice in some posts shared by Thorne on IG—and featured on the Women’s Health web site—she’s contorting her body slightly to put the muscles in a flexed position—great strategy.

Of course, even without properly positioning your body, you still need to have some muscle to show off. Women’s Health reports Thorne works on her body with circuit training, yoga, and workouts that focus on both muscle building and aerobic conditioning. Circuits are great for this because they provide high-intensity weight lifting with little rest, keep the heart pumping, calories burning and muscles working.

At only 19, Thorne doesn’t have to worry too much about keeping her diet on point, but that will change—as we age, some of us have a harder time keeping slim if we don’t put in plenty of effort in the kitchen.

Sticking to lean proteins to help build muscle and improve fat loss, while eating plenty of nutritious greens like spinach, kale and broccoli and making sure you’re getting good quality fats from nuts, fish and vegetable oils can all make sure you’re eating things that are highly nutritious and relatively low calorie. The cleaner your diet, the less likely you are to use tricks to get the most from your ‘gram pics. Plus, you can IG your clean meals, too, which is even cooler.

Sources:
Chaves, P., “Pedal power! Bella Thorne keeps it casual in ripped skinny jeans and hoodie while riding bike in Los Angeles,” Daily Mail web site, November 28, 2016; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3977634/Pedal-power-Bella-Thorne-keeps-casual-ripped-skinny-jeans-hoodie-riding-bike-Los-Angeles.html, last accessed November 28, 2016.
Menato, F., “Bella Throne reveals the workout that ‘fnally got her results,” Women’s Health web site, February 1, 2016; http://www.womenshealthmag.co.uk/fitness/celebrity-body/4451/bella-thorne-reveals-the-workout-that-finally-got-her-results/, last accessed November 28, 2016.

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Trump nominee for health programs signals changes ahead - USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – As governor of Indiana, Mike Pence created an alternative Medicaid program he hoped could be a national model for revamping the joint federal and state health care program for the poor.

On Tuesday, the architect of Pence’s program, which requires participants to make monthly contributions, was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to head the agency which oversees the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

If confirmed, Seema Verma is expected to grant even more latitude to states in crafting Medicaid programs.

The Obama administration, for example, has not allowed states to require work as a condition of Medicaid eligibility and has limited penalties Indiana can impose on recipients who don’t make their required monthly contribution.

“Pence and Trump have made a big deal about giving the states more flexibility and autonomy in managing their Medicaid programs and she would appear to be the perfect person, given her expertise, to manage that rollout of more state flexibility,” said Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, a consulting firm in Alexandria, Va.

Len Nichols, a health policy professor at George Mason University, called Verma

“very knowledgeable, and very conservative.”

“(She’s) maybe (the) best combo we could hope for, given how (the) Rust Belt voted,” he said in an email.

Other health care experts worry about what Trump’s choices of Verma as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Georgia Rep. Tom Price as Health and Human Services secretary will mean for the federal health care programs which Republicans argue need more fiscal controls.

“Those who are concerned about the health and well-being of Americans who rely on Medicaid and Medicare should brace themselves for tumultuous times ahead,” wrote Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.

In addition to being in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, Verma would also oversee the federal health exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act for people who don’t get insurance through a government program or an employer.

Laszewski said that’s not an area of expertise for Verma, but she will have to focus on it because the exchanges are on shaky ground and the Trump administration has to make sure the wheels stay on until they pass a replacement system.

“That’s going to be a huge issue for her,” he said. “Do they want the market to explode and take the blame for it prior to the 2018 elections?”

Verma could also face a big challenge in adjusting to the large bureaucracy at CMS. Verma’s Indianapolis-based consulting firm. SVC Inc., employs only about a dozen people. CMS employs about 6,000 people.

“She has no experience running an organization. Her job has been on the sidelines as a consultant lobbing these things in,” said Deb Minott, a former secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration under Pence. “She’s a completely untested person when it comes to running an organization even close to that size.”

But Minott, and others, praised Verma’s knowledge of Medicaid.

“She is a wizard with finances and dealing with all kind of fiscal issues associated with Medicaid,” said Pat Miller, the longtime former chairwoman of the Indiana Senate’s Health and Provider Services Committee. “She will be a real asset as people look for ways to change the Obamacare health plan.”

Doug Leonard, president of the Indiana Hospital Association, said Verma is “smart, dedicated and has a truly transformational vision for health care.”

Verma declined an interview request.

In Trump’s statement announcing the pick, Verma said she looks forward to helping him “tackle our nation’s daunting healthcare problems in a responsible and sustainable way.”

After receiving a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University, Verma was hired by the Marion County Health and Hospital Corp. to work on a health plan to assist low-income patients at Indianapolis’ public hospital, then called Wishard.

“The greatest thing about having that experience at Wishard is that it was a hands on experience,” said Mitch Roob, who hired Verma. “It wasn’t an ivory tower kind of thing. We were able to understand what kind of products might work for that population.”

Roob would later work with Verma on the initial version of Indiana’s alternative Medicaid program developed under Gov. Mitch Daniels.

“Low-income Hoosiers were the first in the nation to experience real consumer-driven healthcare,” Daniels said in a statement. “I expect she will serve our nation with excellence as administrator of CMS."

After Pence succeeded Daniels, he hired Verma to develop an expanded version of the Medicaid program that would qualify for federal funding under the Affordable Care Act.

“In time, people will come to see that we’re not expanding traditional Medicaid,” Pence said as he sought the Obama administration’s approval. “We’re reforming traditional Medicaid.”

Indiana didn’t get all the freedom it asked for in creating the Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0.

“Gosh, do you think they’re going to get everything they want now?” Laszewski facetiously asked.

And Indiana appears to have run out the clock with an ongoing fight with the Obama administration over how to evaluate the version that was approved.

GOP State Rep. Ed Clere, who chaired the Indiana House’s Public Health Committee at the time of the rollout, said the jury is still out on whether the program’s personal responsibility requirements improve health outcomes.

“It’s important to keep in mind that HIP 2.0 is a three-year demonstration project and we’re just now nearing the end of the second year,” said Clere, R-New Albany. “So there’s a lot of evaluation that still needs to be completed before anyone draws final conclusions.”

Judy Solomon, vice president for health policy at the liberal leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said there’s already evidence that HIP 2.0 is keeping some eligible low-income people from enrolling and some enrollees from getting the care they need. She also questions how the personal accounts recipients contribute to can be serving as the hoped-for incentive for personal responsibility when a survey of recipients found fewer than half knew they had one.

“It’s hard to claim success if people don’t even know they had them,” she said.

Price has proposed converting Medicaid to a block grant, which would give states a set amount of money for their programs in exchange for greater freedom in running them. Because Price’s proposed annual spending increase is less than Medicaid’s projected growth rate, funding could be one-third less in 10 years than it would have been without changes, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

While such a major change would have to go through Congress, a Trump administration could immediately begin giving states a freer hand on Medicaid by granting more rules waivers.

Alker, with the Georgetown center, expects the new administration to test what the law allows.

“We are going to see a lot of questions being raised about what you can and cannot waive in the Medicaid statute,” she said. “But in general…I do think that we will see some potentially far reaching changes contemplated to Medicaid that will erect more barriers to coverage, and in some cases very punitive barriers.”

Laszewksi said GOP-controlled states in particular are likely to seek changes.

“This could really give us an opportunity to see some competition between blue and red states in the way they manage their Medicaid programs,” he said.

And the blueprint for many of the red states could be Indiana.

“I think what this means,” Miller said, “is that the federal government will look to Indiana as having a leading position in coming to terms with changes to Obamacare.”