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Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's proposed alternative to Medicaid expansion passed its first hurdle in the Idaho Legislature Thursday. The $30 million plan dubbed the Idaho Primary Care Access Program would provide basic health care services to the estimated 78,000 Idahoans who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but also don't qualify for health insurance subsidies. The measure wouldn't cover expensive treatments, hospitalization and most prescription medications for the gap population and would function by providing primary care clinics with an estimated $32 per month for each indigent patient they treat. (Haake, 2/11)

It was a different cast of characters testifying about the need for Medicaid expansion in Utah Thursday. What is typically an unending list of patients pleading with lawmakers to give them access to health insurance, Thursday's meeting was filled with organizational executives, local religious leaders, doctors and other providers, professors and experts, economists and general advocates for Utah's uninsured. (Leonard, 2/11)

Virginia voters want hospitals to pay for Medicaid expansion, don’t want businesses to deny service to gay customers and do support background checks at gun shows, a new poll shows. Christopher Newport University’s Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy surveyed voters on hot-button issues before the General Assembly. ... Support for the general notion of expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act stands at 61 percent with support among a majority of African Americans, ideological liberals and Democrats. More than half of Republicans and conservatives oppose extending coverage to 400,000 uninsured Virginians. (Portnoy, 2/11)

A majority of voters say Virginia lawmakers should accept Virginia hospitals’ offer to cover the state’s share of Medicaid expansion, according to a newly released survey by Christopher Newport University. But respondents are wary of whether Washington would come up with its share of the funding. (Cain, 2/11)