Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler will leave Gov. Bev Perdue's Cabinet at the end of the month after three years running one of the largest and most complicated departments in state government and return to the private sector.
Perdue announced Friday that Cansler, a Republican in a Democratic administration, would head a new commission that the governor has yet to assemble on affordable health care in the state.
Perdue's senior policy adviser, Al Delia, will become acting HHS secretary early next month. The department receives $4.5 billion in state funds, or nearly one-quarter of the state's budget, to run Medicaid, mental-health facilities, social services and other health programs.
Cansler's last day will be Jan. 31, according to department spokeswoman Renee McCoy. Cansler was unavailable for an interview late Friday because McCoy said he was talking to staff about the transition. He was quoted in Perdue's release as saying he had been honored to serve on her staff "as she steered the state through incredibly difficult times and stabilized North Carolina's fiscal house."
"We cut spending, eliminated waste and consolidated agencies — all to make state government more efficient without neglecting our core mission of serving the people," Cansler, 58, said in a prepared statement.
Cansler's department had taken heat recently from Republican legislators for managing the Medicaid program and the costs related to a new claims processing system. Cansler and other Perdue administration members had been at odds with the legislature in the past few months over how to close a Medicaid budget shortfall of nearly $150 million.
Cansler, from Asheville, largely had taken a more moderating tone while dealing with the GOP leaders at the legislature compared to Delia and others, who had been speaking out more forcefully against Republicans about the Medicaid hole and the blame for it.
Perdue said she will miss Cansler's "calm, wise advice" but that she would "continue to rely on his counsel."
Delia, a former East Carolina University administrator, is a trusted adviser to Perdue who will be ready to go to work when he assumes the post, said Perdue spokesman Mark Johnson. Asked why Delia was named an acting replacement, Johnson said Delia and Perdue "will assess the long-term leadership needs and structure at the department."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement