Gov. McCrory may have shed a few tears yesterday over the departure of his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Aldona Wos, but the chief reaction across the state — both within government and without — was relief and a strong feeling of “what took so you long? This morning’s editorial pages tell the story:
Here’s Wos’ hometown Greensboro News & Record in an editorial called “Good heart, bad fit”:
“As for tangible results, well, that was another matter. Despite her background as a physician and former U.S. ambassador— and her famous, sunrise-to-late-night work ethic — the sheer weight of the DHHS bureaucracy seemed to overwhelm Wos.
In time, critics on both sides of the partisan aisle began to wonder out loud if they were getting their money’s worth.
Now, after two and half years at the post, Wos is leaving, Gov. Pat McCrory announced at a Wednesday news conference in Raleigh. Standing at his side, Wos noted it was ‘time to go home.’ Although the governor tearfully praised Wos’ job performance and commitment — as he has all along — her tenure has been wracked by a series of missteps and crises, large and small…”
The N&R then goes on to list a half dozen HHS disasters under Wos’ leadership.
Raleigh’s N&O put it this way in a piece entitled “Don’t cry for me North Carolina”:
“Some Republican lawmakers were annoyed by the turmoil in the department and Wos’ inability to provide reliable numbers on the cost of Medicaid. Senate Republicans even proposed that their version of Medicaid reform would remove the program entirely from DHHS and place its management under the control of a new agency. Indeed, lawmakers doubts about Wos may well have played a role in her resignation.”
The Winston-Salem Journal called for the department to be put back on track:
“The resignation Wednesday of Dr. Aldona Wos, the embattled secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, was as overdue as it was unsurprising.…During the two-and-a-half years she has served as secretary, legislators of both parties, advocates and state audits have repeatedly pointed out flaws in the department’s delivery of service to some of our most vulnerable citizens.”
Charlotte Observer cartoonist Kevin Siers compares the department Wos leaves behind to the Statue of Liberty — the torch section.
Meanwhile, the Fayeteville Observer took a different approach, noting that Wos’ departure provides a perfect time to expand Medicaid:
“When he explained why he declined to adopt Obamacare’s expanded Medicaid coverage two years ago, Gov. Pat McCrory said he couldn’t do it because the system was broken. Two consecutive years into positive fund balances, it doesn’t look broken anymore, does it? Where, then, is the expansion initiative, which would bring billions of federal dollars to North Carolina, insure hundreds of thousands of residents without coverage and likely save some rural hospitals from shutting down?”
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