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After President Obama’s Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, Republicans at both the state and federal levels seemed to speak with one voice in flatly rejecting it. But in subsequent years, though most Republican governors remained critical of the health care law, nine accepted a central but optional element, expanding Medicaid programs to cover many more low-income residents of their states. At least four others, urged on by hospitals and business groups, will try to do so this year. And now, briefs filed last month in support of a major legal challenge to the law — King v. Burwell, which is now before the Supreme Court — are raising new questions about divisions within the Republican Party over the law. (Goodnough, 1/11)

Uncle Sam could take a bigger bite at tax time for consumers who received too much government help last year with their Obamacare premiums. That may be just one of several surprises for millions of Americans in advance of the first tax deadline involving the Affordable Care Act. The majority of Americans who get their health insurance at work should see few changes when filing their taxes. Most will just need to check a box on their tax return indicating they had coverage in 2014. (Terhune, 1/9)

[Genesis Matos] Rodriguez was born with asthma and Middle Lobe Syndrome, which causes mucus to build in her lungs. Two years ago, her right lung collapsed; surgeons removed half. Her monthly medical bill to ward off fluids, including Pulmozyme and Albuterol, can hit $4,000. ... Her mother, legally the head of their household, made $9,000 last year working part-time — a few thousand dollars short of qualifying the family for premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Nearly 4 million Americans and 800,000 Floridians live in this limbo of patchwork health care: They are not eligible for Medicaid; they don’t make enough money to afford ACA coverage. Florida, like many states that recently elected (or reelected) Republican governors, has decided not to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. (Paquette, 1/9)

Hospitals across Illinois will receive $400 million in federal funding under the Affordable Care Act. Gov. Pat Quinn said Saturday he traveled to Washington last month to lobby for the funding bump. It will allow the state to increase its funding to hospitals to care for more inpatient and outpatient clients and cover a greater volume of people newly enrolled in the Affordable Care Act. (1/11)