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The Alaska House has given notice that it plans to keep fighting Gov. Bill Walker's authority to expand Medicaid on his own, drawing criticism from minority Democrats who oppose continuing the legal battle. Lawmakers faced a deadline for whether to appeal a judge's decision dismissing a lawsuit initially filed last summer by the Legislative Council, which is made up of House and Senate members. Attorneys representing the council filed a notice of appeal on behalf of the House on Thursday and said they planned to seek an order substituting the House for the Legislative Council in the litigation. (Bohrer, 5/7)

“Given the magnitude of the issues our state is currently facing, we find this very disappointing,” Walker wrote in an email. The Legislative Council, on behalf of the full Legislature, sued Walker’s administration in August to stop him from unilaterally expanding the health care program for low-income Alaskans. The case was dismissed in Superior Court in March. Thursday's move bypasses a vote by the full House and Senate, which would have been necessary to continue the appeal by the Legislative Council. (Andrews, 5/6)

Democratic lawmakers say the House leadership doesn’t have the authority to act on their own in pursuing the appeal. Democrats point to an opinion by the Legislature’s nonpartisan Director of Legal Services, Doug Gardner. Gardner informed Senator Gary Stevens in March that both houses of the Legislature would have to vote to pursue an appeal. Those votes never occurred. (Kitchenman, 5/6)

When it comes to expanding Medicaid, all three Utah candidates for governor have very different views. Democrat Mike Weinholtz wants full expansion, Republican challenger Jonathan Johnson wants to keep medicaid the way it is, and Governor Gary Herbert is in the middle. (Decker, 5/8)

Some of Wyoming’s unemployed energy workers would now be eligible for health coverage if the state had expanded Medicaid to low-income Wyomingites, Gov. Matt Mead said. “As you see these coal miners being laid off, people in oil and gas being laid off, there’s no question some of those people would have been eligible had we expanded Medicaid,” Mead said Thursday evening in Casper. “We’re trying to do our best to find them jobs. But jobs are part of it, health care is part of it. And so I think the state missed an opportunity last time on Medicaid expansion.” (Hancock, 5/9)

Department of Health and Hospitals officials are "highly confident" they'll receive federal approval to use data from food stamp applications to qualify people for Medicaid, the first state in the country to use such a method through what's known as a state plan amendment. Six other states use a similar approach, but they applied through a much longer process known as a waiver. Louisiana will become the first state to use the quicker state plan amendment method. (Litten, 5/6)