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Recalcitrant red states have done little — or nothing — to promote Obamacare. Yet their residents are getting health coverage by the millions. Across the country, efforts to resist or undermine the law persist. Calls for repeal haven’t died down. Most of the states with Republicans in control aren’t running their own insurance exchanges, but their residents are still getting covered and still getting subsidies — unless the Supreme Court in an upcoming case rules that the subsidies are illegal in states using healthcare.gov. (Pradhan, 1/29)

The challengers in the latest Supreme Court battle over the Affordable Care Act point to former Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson as evidence of their claim that Congress intended that tax credits go only to qualified recipients in states that had established their own insurance exchanges. Nelson, a Democratic holdout as Congress debated the bill, insisted that states take the lead in establishing the exchanges. And the challengers use that to support their theory that Congress was using the tax credits to induce states into establishing the exchanges, rather than having the federal government do it. But Nelson, who announced his retirement in 2011, speaks for himself in a brief filed by Democratic congressional leaders and others. (Barnes, 1/28)

California officials say more than 90 percent of Obamacare customers renewed their policy for 2015, but the state still faces an uphill climb to reach its goal of 1.7 million enrolled before next month's sign-up deadline. The state's insurance exchange reported renewal figures for the first time Wednesday along with an update on new enrollment. (Terhune, 1/28)

When it comes to health insurance, Californians seem to value consistency. Of the 944,000 people who were could renew their coverage for 2015 through Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, 94 percent stayed in the same plan that they were in last year. About a third of them shopped for other plans available on the exchange, but few ended up making a change. The other two-thirds took no action and were automatically re-enrolled in their plan from last year. (Gold, 1/29)

Maryland health exchange officials told the Senate Finance Committee of the General Assembly Wednesday that 191,000 people had signed up for public and private insurance during open enrollment, which lasts until Feb. 15. The exchange, created under the Affordable Care Act for people who do not get insurance through employers, enrolled more than 96,000 in private plans, and there were 95,000 new Medicaid enrollees. (McDaniels, 1/28)

Gov. Mark Dayton's new budget calls for more Department of Human Services funding to help DHS cover its share of MNsure's expenses. Dayton wants lawmakers to allocate an additional $11.6 million to the department. (Zdechlik, 1/28)

County government officials voiced frustrations Wednesday over their struggles to use MNsure for people who need help from government social service programs. (Snowbeck, 1/28)

Republican lawmakers Tuesday passed two bills out of the Senate to beef up scrutiny of the state health insurance exchange by reviewing executives' bonuses and expanding its performance audit. A bill requiring any pay bonus for Connect for Health Colorado executives to be approved by the Legislative Health Benefit Exchange Implementation Review Committee passed on a party-line vote, 24-11. A bill giving the state auditor authority to conduct an expanded performance review of Connect for Health operations passed unanimously, 35-0. (Draper, 1/28)

Colorado’s health exchange likely will be subject to much more intense financial scrutiny after a bill calling for a full audit passed the Colorado Senate unanimously on Tuesday. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 1/28)

Nearly half of Americans lacking health insurance during the first year of the health law’s marketplaces appeared to be eligible for government assistance, but two-thirds of them said they found the health plans too expensive or were told they didn’t qualify, according to a survey released Thursday. Far fewer cited reasons often mentioned in political circles: a philosophical opposition to the 2010 health law or sign-up difficulties cause by the early technical problems experienced by the government’s healthcare.gov enrollment website, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation survey of 10,502 non-elderly adults. (Rau, 1/29)