Jan. 2 -- Dale Folwell closed the door this week on his second four-year term as state treasurer as Brad Briner was sworn into the office Thursday.

It marks the end of his job of overseeing the state's pension plan, fighting for lower health care costs and managing bond obligations.

"I'm most proud of being the best treasurer money can't buy, advocating for the invisible and building a culture of conservatism and common sense in the treasurer's office," Folwell said in a recent interview as he was wrapping up things.

Folwell, 66, was elected to the post in 2017. This year, he opted to seek the Republican nomination to run for governor but came up short.

The treasurer's duty, he said, is to be "the keeper of the public purse. We manage about 260 billion dollars," Folwell said. "To put that in some context that's eight times the size of the state budget."

Half of that is funding for the pension plan for state and local employees.

"Nearly a million people who teach, protect and otherwise serve depend on it," Folwell said.

He's worked to improve health care in the state and has not minced words as to what he believes.

"North Carolina has some of the highest health care costs in the United States. The policies that these corporations -- who disguise themselves as nonprofits -- use to break people's kneecaps for not paying their bills are some of the worst in the United States.

"None of your readers consume health care. It consumes them," he said. "It's the only thing in their life that they don't know the price or the value of, even after they've consumed it."

Folwell said his office has had discussions with healthcare systems such as Atrium or Novant to try to reduce prices and change their collection policies. Folwell calls the systems "cartels."

"So the General Assembly could, in the matter of an hour or two, make North Carolina a magnet for low-cost health by repealing the Certificate of Need laws; by making sure these multi-billion dollar corporations are matching the charity care with their tax benefit; and by passing legislation that protects widows and widowers and other kinds of people from these debt-collection activities."

As treasurer, Folwell said he advocated for the "invisible." They are the people for whom the security of the state pension and the state health plan are among the most important things in life.

During his tenure, Folwell said his offices has retired 60% of the state's obligation debt.