Aldona Wos

In December 2012, North Carolina Governor-elect Pat McCrory announced that Wos will be a member of his Cabinet as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).[22][20] Wos declined her $128,000 salary and was instead paid a token $1.[23] On January 31, 2013, a performance audit was released, criticizing the previous administration's lack of record keeping concerning various funds, as well as naming other budgetary problems. Wos released her responses to the audit in an appendix, agreeing on all points with the auditor, including the conclusion that DHHS had consistently exceeded budgeted amounts for administrative costs due to lack of oversight by the previous administration.[24]

When speaking to the General Assembly in February 2013, Wos laid out her department priorities as "Medicaid and information technology."[25] In April 2013, Wos announced the governor's plan to overhaul the Medicaid system in North Carolina which she and McCrory criticized as "broken". This early plan would have brought in a few "entities — likely including private companies — to function as insurance companies for Medicaid recipients." These entities would operate state-wide and serve as insurance plans from which Medicaid recipients can choose.[26] The plan faced criticism from healthcare professionals who were concerned that it would permit "out-of-state and for-profit providers to get a major foothold in North Carolina, rather than letting proven in-state and nonprofit providers, such as Community Care of N.C., take the lead".[27] At least one public health expert alleged that the Medicare crisis was contrived in order to justify privatization.[28] Additionally, an investigation in North Carolina Health News alleged that McCrory, Wos and Medicaid head Carol Stickel withheld information that would have shown that North Carolina Medicaid administrative costs were lower than those of most other states, rather than 30% higher as alleged by the McCrory administration.[29] The overhaul plan suffered an additional setback when the person hired to spearhead it, Carol Steckel, resigned in September 2013 to join the private sector.[30] The state chose not to implement the proposed plans.[31]

In July 2013, DHHS went live with its NCTracks system for managing Medicaid billings,[32] a system contracted in 2008 under the previous administration.[33] By October, the system was facing criticism from health care providers that were concerned that the system was not reimbursing them quickly enough.[32] In January 2014, an error in the system caused the private medical information of almost 49,000 children to be mailed to the wrong addresses.[34] Throughout 2013 and early 2014, DHHS worked to resolve glitches with the NCTracks Medicaid billing system. The department announced that the system was working effectively by July 2014.[35] Wos stated that she was disappointed that the state elected not to move forward with her proposal to reform the state's entire Medicaid program. By 2015, DHHS announced that the glitches in NCTracks were resolved, and Wos had "[convinced] the legislature of the need to invest in the state's medical examiner system."[31]

Also in the summer of 2013, DHHS began processing SNAP food stamp applications through its new integrated NC FAST system. Due to various glitches there were almost immediate delays in families receiving food stamps.[36] A number of food stamp recipients were forced to go to food kitchens while their benefits were processed.[37] The delays were very persistent, and on January 24, 2014, the United States Department of Agriculture sent a letter to Wos stating that as of that date, North Carolina had a backlog of 20,243 SNAP cases that had not been processed within the 30 day deadline required by US law. 11,493 of these cases were over 60 days old, 8,002 were over 90 days old, and 5,934 were over 120 days old. 8,963 of these cases were categorized as "hardship" cases, where the processing deadline is 7 days because the applicant has very little income.[38] USDA threatened to withhold funding from DHSS on March 12, 2014, if the agency did not come into compliance.[39] [40] On April 16, 2016, Wos announced, and USDA confirmed, that DHHS had come into compliance with federal timeliness guidelines.[41]

In August 2013, Wos faced criticism for hiring two young former McCrory campaign workers, and giving them large pay raises at a time when McCrory had declared a salary freeze for state employees. 24-year-old Matthew McKillip was named Chief Policy Advisor to Wos, having worked for McCrory's campaign, and having previously served as a research assistant for eleven months at the conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute. McKillip received a $22,500 raise in April 2013, bringing his salary to $87,500. DHHS Communications Director Ricky Diaz, also 24 and also a former McCrory campaign worker, received a $23,000 raise in April, bringing his salary to $85,000 per year.[42] Diaz resigned from the department in January 2014.

Wos resigned on August 15, 2015, stating in a press conference that it was "simply time to go home" and spend time with her family. Asked by the press if she would "change any of the decisions that she made over a sometimes rocky tenure," she replied, "not at all." Wos was replaced by Rick Brajer, a former medical technology executive.[43] After being sworn in, Brajer asserted to the press that Wos's resignation was unrelated to the ongoing federal investigation into DHHS.[44] In August 2016, federal officials ended the investigations into employee and consultant contracts "with no finding of criminal wrongdoing".[45]

Although Wos's tenure as secretary earned criticism for issues such as computer glitches, McCrory praised how she "streamlined" the health care delivery systems. McCrory also praised Wos for the state's $130 million Medicaid budget surplus during her tenure, after years of major budget shortfalls. For her service to the state, McCrory awarded Wos with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.[43][46]

In May 2017, President Donald Trump appointed her his vice-chairwoman of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. The president uses the commission to interview and recommend candidates for White House fellowships.[47] In June 2019, she was considered for the post of Ambassador to Canada,[48] and Trump announced his intent to nominate her on February 11, 2020.[49] On February 25, 2020, her nomination was sent to the Senate.[50][51] On July 23, 2020 she testified before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.[52] On January 3, 2021, her nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.[53]