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Work in the Alabama Senate Tuesday came a halt over a resolution opposing efforts to expand Medicaid in Alabama. The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, ultimately passed the body on a 22-8 vote, but not before sharp criticisms from the Democratic minority, who have made the expansion offered under the Affordable Care Act a priority for years. Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, threatened to slow down future business of the Senate over the vote. (Lyman, 4/21)

Democrats in the Alabama Senate today said they would try to lock down the rest of the session with filibusters because the Republican majority passed a resolution opposing Medicaid expansion. "We tried to reach out to them, letting them know this is our No. 1 priority," said Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, the Senate minority leader. "So why burn down the house? Why cause such a train wreck over a resolution that means nothing?" Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Mobile, said the resolution does carry meaning -- a statement that the Legislature will not allocate funds to support Medicaid expansion. "The reality is we can't sustain the health care we have and we sure don't need to expand," Pittman said. (Cason, 4/21)

The Alabama Senate locked down Tuesday in a partisan quarrel as GOP senators pushed through a resolution opposing Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Senators voted 22-8 for the resolution saying that the position of the Alabama Legislature is against Medicaid expansion and lawmakers have no intention of allocating funds to an expansion. The resolution caused the first large partisan fight so far this year, and one that Democrats vowed will spill over into the rest of the session. (Chandler, 4/22)

A conservative leader says he's dropped a potential plan that sought to undermine Gov. John Kasich's expansion of Medicaid through a vote Wednesday in the Ohio House. State Rep. Jim Butler, R-Oakwood, had toyed with the idea of forcing a vote on a budget amendment to prohibit Ohio from spending state taxpayers' money on Medicaid expansion. ... But late Tuesday, Butler told The Enquirer he had abandoned the idea. (Thompson, 4/21)

The issue is highly partisan: accepting Medicaid expansion could be seen as giving in on the Affordable Healthcare Act, since Medicaid expansion is a major part of the heath care system forged by President Barack Obama. But could Louisiana's current "acute budget crisis," as put by state Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, be the factor that takes politics out of taking the money since Louisiana desperately needs money to close its $1.6 billion revenue shortfall? According to top Republicans, including one of just two Republican senators who last year intentionally voted in favor of a bill related to the expansion of Medicaid: it's not going to happen. (Lane, 4/21)

New Jersey lawmakers on Monday scrutinized the state's handling of thousands of low-income residents' Medicaid applications, as the Christie administration asserted it had made progress in reducing the backlog. Gov. Christie expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and 400,000 residents have gained health insurance through the government program since 2014. However, thousands of applications have languished at understaffed county welfare agencies, in part because of the state's antiquated computer systems. (Seidman, 4/21)

Four clients of the state's Medicaid program want a say in the lawsuit challenging the legality of the program's 2013 expansion, arguing they don't trust the state to defend the controversial move. (Pitzl, 4/21)