The directors of the Arizona Department of Health Services and the state’s Medicaid agency have resigned, saying the confirmation process overseen by the Republican-led Arizona Senate has become too politicized.
Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the resignations of ADHS Director Jennie Cunico and Carmen Heredia, who ran the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS.
In a statement, Hobbs said the resignations were tied to that Senate confirmation process, which is overseen by a committee run by Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek). The announcement came a day before Heredia was scheduled to go before the committee.
“Unfortunately, the Senate’s unprecedented politicization of the director confirmation process has ended the directorship of two health care professionals who have made our state government run more efficiently and more effectively,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs appointed Heredia when the governor took office in early 2023, and the governor selected Cunico later that year after Hoffman’s committee rejected her original pick to run the state health agency.
While the governor has the power to appoint the people who run state agencies, Arizona law gives the Senate the authority to confirm those selections.
Hoffman, the Republican overseeing the confirmation process, praised the resignations.
“Today’s announcement that not one, but two unqualified nominees were being withdrawn from their roles heading up state agencies is a win for every Arizonan,” he said in a statement.
Hoffman accused Heredia of overseeing “failures, mismanagement and fraud” at AHCCCS, pointing to a judge's finding that the agency improperly issued contracts to health-care companies that provide long-term care services to thousands of people with physical disabilities.
He also blamed Heredia for what Hoffman called a “disturbing” response to a massive Medicaid fraud scandal targeting Native Americans. That scandal spanned multiple administrations, dating back to 2019 under former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
“Legitimate providers were caught up in the mess without AHCCCS providing explanations or due process. Some are still waiting to be reinstated or reimbursed. We are left with a broken system due to Heredia's mismanagement, and our vulnerable populations are caught up in this collapse,” Hoffman said.
And Hoffman claimed Cunico’s resignation follows a “disastrous” meeting with him.
“During this meeting, Cunico double and tripled down on the systemic failures of public health officials during the COVID years, even going so far as to defend policies that even the CDC and WHO have now admitted were wrong and not rooted in science.”
But Hobbs claimed it was the confirmation process, not performance, that led Cunico and Heredia to leave office.
In a statement, the governor’s office pointed out that Hoffman was accused of spreading misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2020 Washington Post story revealed that Hoffman’s digital marketing company ran a social media “troll farm” that spread posts that “suggested baselessly that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is inflating the death toll from the disease.”
The governor praised Heredia for her role in addressing the Medicaid fraud scandal targeting Native Americans and for overseeing an expansion of Arizona’s Medicaid program for children, called KidsCare.
“I am deeply concerned about the escalating politicization of state agency leadership roles under the Republican-led Legislature,” Heredia wrote in her letter of resignation. “The intrusion of partisan agendas that drag professionals through career damaging hearings is not an effective way to attract and retain qualified people in these critical roles and has made it increasingly challenging to serve Arizona agencies effectively.”
Similarly, the governor praised Cunico.
“Jennie Cunico helped increase transparency and accountability in health care licensing following Arizona’s recent behavioral health fraud schemes and the Hacienda Healthcare scandal,” Hobbs said.
She also lauded Cunico for work related to elder care and responses to heat deaths and the fentanyl crisis.
“The decision has been a difficult one for me to make, as I am extremely proud of the work
that has occurred during my tenure and the relationships I’ve built during my time as
Director,” Cunico wrote in her letter of resignation. “However, it is clear to me that there is no path forward to confirmation.”
The resignations are just the latest developments in what has been a contentious director confirmation process that has unfolded since Hobbs took office in 2022, leading to lawsuits and a court order affirming the Senate’s authority to vet the governor’s agency directors.
