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Kansas health care organizations are opening their checkbooks to back legislative candidates who support Medicaid expansion. The Kansas Hospital Association is the biggest player. Its political action committee has contributed more than $112,000 to legislative candidates this year -- $38,551 in the primary and $73,692 in the general, according to reports filed this week. In past elections KHA, like many organizations, spread its contributions fairly evenly, backing incumbents of both parties regardless of their positions on issues. But it abandoned that strategy this year by giving mainly to candidates who publicly support expansion even if that meant backing challengers over longtime incumbents. (McLean, 11/4)

Higher than anticipated Medicaid spending in Louisiana and Iowa could create trouble for governors of both political parties. (Pradhan and Ehley, 11/7)

Sandra Cook got in line midday on a recent Friday for dental care that she wouldn’t receive until the next morning. Hundreds more like her showed up at Riverview Elementary and Middle School here, many planning to spend the night, just as buses brought kids home and volunteers arrived by the hundreds to turn the school into a makeshift dental, eye and medical clinic run by Remote Area Medical, a nonprofit charity program. ... The decision by states like Virginia not to expand Medicaid and the lack of dental and vision coverage even for those with insurance have meant that the demand for RAM’s free mobile clinics has stayed strong. (Varney, 11/7)