NC health agency picks LA official for Medicaid

Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Aldona Wos announced Carol Steckel, director of the Center for Health Care Innovation with the Louisiana state health and hospitals department, is the new director of the Division of Medical Assistance. She's replacing Mike Watson, who retired last week as Gov. Beverly Perdue's administration ended, HHS said.

Medicaid in North Carolina insures 1.8 million people — most of them poor children, older adults and the disabled — and spends $12 billion in state and federal funds annually.

"I am so pleased that she will be bringing her energy, enthusiasm, and considerable talent to the department as we strive to become more efficient, more effective and more accountable to our consumers," Wos said in a news release.

Steckel, previously Alabama's Medicaid agency commissioner, had been Louisiana's lead official for responding to the Affordable Care Act. North Carolina and other states are deciding how to comply with the federal health care overhaul related to health care exchanges and expanding Medicaid coverage to more uninsured.