Reaction to the resignation of Greensboro resident Dr. Aldona Wos as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

First, the Progressive Pulse:

But while Wos, a wealthy Greensboro physician who was a significant fundraiser during McCrory’s 2012 campaign, was heaped with praise Wednesday, her 32-month tenure at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services was marked with controversy.

….She was at the agency’s helm during the rocky launches of two major benefits systems, which left tens of thousands of North Carolinians without access to emergency food assistance and delayed payments for months to Medicaid providers around the state.

…The major goal of her administration, to bring changes to the state’s Medicaid system, remains unfinished, as the legislature decides whether to move Medicaid administration to its own department and open the massive $14 billion state Medicaid system to the private market.

The N&O:

It was an odd show of emotion Wednesday when both Gov. Pat McCrory and Adona Wos, his secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, choked up at a news conference announcing Wos was resigning.

Why the tears when so many others at DHHS, in the legislature and around the state were relieved?

….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.

Last but not least, Wos’ hometown paper the N&R:

In fairness, DHHS was a bloated tangle of inefficiency and poor management well before Wos got there. And there have been accomplishments on her watch, most notably the recent announcement that the state’s Medicaid program ended the fiscal year with a surplus of more than $130 million.

Wos will leave knowing she gave her all to a position for which a warm heart and good intentions were not enough. “It has been a long two years and seven months,” she told reporters Wednesday, as if she were counting the minutes.

Speculation now is what Wos’ resignation will impact the debate over Medicaid expansion in North Carolina. I would say don’t expect it anytime soon.