Bo Offord will become the Alabama Medicaid commissioner next week, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Thursday.
Offord has worked for the agency that provides medical and long-term care for more than 1 million Alabamians since 2010. He most recently served as the agency’s general counsel.
“…Offord has diligently helped guide the Alabama Medicaid Agency for close to two decades, serving as assistant general counsel, deputy general counsel and general counsel,” Ivey said in a written statement. “He has demonstrated the necessary expertise to ensure the agency remains on the sound footing Commissioner (Stephanie) Azar established, and I look forward to his leadership as he assumes his new role of Medicaid commissioner.”
The appointment is effective Wednesday.
Azar led Medicaid for 13 years and became the executive director of the State Employees’ Insurance Board last month.
“As Alabama’s longest consecutively serving Medicaid commissioner, Stephanie Azar has proven herself a skillful manager of the state’s public health insurance program for low-income families,” Ivey said. “She successfully directed annual Medicaid budgets for more than 13 years and shepherded the passage of legislation to create and fund the first Alabama Medicaid Reserve while maintaining a balanced budget. I am grateful to Stephanie for her years of invaluable service, and I am confident she will continue to serve the state well through her new position at SEIB.”
Offord is a graduate of the University of Alabama and Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law. He has practiced law since 2007 and joined the Medicaid agency in 2010.
“It is an honor to be appointed by Governor Ivey to serve as the next commissioner of the Alabama Medicaid Agency,” Offord said. “I am sincerely thankful for the opportunity to serve the citizens of Alabama in this capacity. I had the privilege to work with Commissioner Azar for 15 years, witnessing firsthand her professionalism and leadership. I am certain she will have nothing but success at the State Employees Insurance Board.”
The Medicaid commissioner is one of about two dozen agency leaders in the governor’s cabinet. As of last year, the position paid about $258,000 annually.