Former NC Health Secretary and Wilmington native joins board at Healthier United
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) — Healthier United, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to improve public health on behalf of Americans, is proud to announce that former North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley has joined the board of its 501(c)(3) arm.
“I want to improve health by building strong, cross-partisan coalitions that can create real change,” said Kinsley. “Healthier United shares that goal, and that’s why I’m joining the team.”
Healthier United recently expanded its work to North Carolina, beginning with the “Disagree Healthier” initiative, aimed at improving the quality of our political dialogue. Founded 12 years ago as Healthier Colorado, the organization recently launched its new national vehicle, Healthier United, to bring its approach to states across the country.
“What makes Kody’s record remarkable is not just the scale of what he’s accomplished, but the way he built bridges to get it done,” said Jake Williams, CEO of Healthier United. “He’s a perfect fit for us, and his insight will be valuable in North Carolina and beyond.”
Kinsley served as North Carolina’s DHHS secretary from 2022 to early 2025. He worked with a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled General Assembly to expand Medicaid – which had been debated for more than a decade in North Carolina – then oversaw implementation as the program quickly enrolled and provided health coverage for more than 600,000 North Carolinians. Kinsley also helped broker a 2024 deal with the state’s hospitals to erase more than $6.5 billion in medical debt for 2.5 million North Carolinians.
“Growing up without health insurance in North Carolina, I learned early that health is an economic consideration for a lot of families and that the system wasn’t really built around them,” Kinsley said. “What I’ve seen throughout my career in Washington and in Raleigh is that the best policy lives or dies by whether real people actually have a voice in shaping it. That’s what Healthier United is trying to fix, and that’s why I’m glad to be a part of it.”
