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Vital health care services for more than 17 million of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens could be on the chopping block if the Republican health care bill becomes law. If Medicaid home and community-based services are cut for children with special needs and adults and seniors with disabilities, many would either end up in costly nursing homes, require more assistance from struggling family members or simply do without the care that allows them to live independently. (Pugh, 3/20)

An under-the-radar provision in the Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act would require the millions of Medicaid enrollees who signed up under the Obamacare expansion to renew their coverage every six months — twice as often as under current law. That change would inevitably push many people out of coverage, at least temporarily, experts say, and help GOP leaders phase out Medicaid expansion — a key goal of the pending legislation. (Bazar, 3/20)

Before nursing home patient Carmencita Misa became bedridden, she was a veritable “dancing queen,” says her daughter, Charlotte Altieri. “Even though she would work about 60 hours a week, she would make sure to go out dancing once a week — no matter what,” Altieri, 39, said. “She was the life-of-the-party kind of person, the central nervous system for all her friends.” (O'Neill, 3/21)

South Carolina’s must vulnerable citizens could lose access to health care if massive Medicaid cuts proposed by congressional Republicans become law. The American Health Care Act – President Donald Trump and the GOP House leadership’s plan to replace and repeal President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law – would make big changes to Medicaid, the federal healthcare program for the poor. A quarter of S.C. residents — 1.2 million of 4.8 million — now get their healthcare via Medicaid. (Self, 3/20)

For the past three years, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and legislative leaders were able to block debate on expanding health care for the disabled and working poor via Medicaid, a component of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Not anymore. In last year's primary and general elections, Kansas voters — frustrated by chronic budget problems caused in large part by income tax cuts that Brownback pushed through the Legislature — replaced several conservative incumbents with moderate Republicans and Democrats who promised to stabilize the state's finances, fund public education and push for Medicaid expansion. (McLean, 3/20)

Proponents of expanding KanCare, the privatized Medicaid program in Kansas, think it should happen regardless of what changes to healthcare are coming at the national level. ... Health care advocates testified to a Senate panel Monday morning in favor of HB 2044, legislation that would expand health coverage to thousands of low-income Kansans if passed into law. (Woodall, 3/20)

House Speaker Paul Ryan told the National Review's Rich Lowry he has been hoping to reform health care for the poor since his frat-party days. "So Medicaid, sending it back to the states, capping its growth rate, we've been dreaming of this since I've been around — since you and I were drinking at a keg. ... I've been thinking about this stuff for a long time," Ryan said. "We're on the cusp of doing something we've long believed in." ... A video of the discussion was posted on YouTube on Friday.(Dahler, 3/20)