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The Kansas House gave final approval to a bill that would expand Medicaid in the state, just days after the expansion effort looked like it never would make it to the House floor. Lawmakers voted 81-44 Thursday to pass the bill, three votes shy of the margin needed for a veto proof majority. It will now head to the Senate where its chances to pass are unclear. The effort to expand Medicaid in Kansas almost never made it out of a House committee. (Woodall, 2/23)

Medicaid expansion passed its second and final House vote on Thursday, but even if it passes the Senate, it remains vulnerable to potential veto by Gov. Sam Brownback. Medicaid expansion lost a few supporters compared to the initial vote a day earlier, bringing the final tally to 81 in favor and 44 against. The threshold for a veto-proof majority is 84 votes. (Llopis-Jepsen, 2/23)

Brownback has opposed expanding Medicaid throughout his tenure, pointing mainly to the cost. “Kansas should not tie itself to this failed program of the past just before its inevitable demise,” he said in a statement earlier this month. House Minority Leader Rep. Jim Ward, the Wichita Democrat who pushed earlier in the week for the House to debate Medicaid expansion, said it was an “incredible opportunity” to boost economic development in Kansas. He suggested a potential Brownback veto could “alienate” the Legislature further and draw more lawmakers toward the side of expansion. (Salazar, 2/23)

Indiana expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act in 2015, with a few extra conditions that were designed to appeal to the conservative leadership in the state. The Federal government approved the experiment, called the Healthy Indiana Plan, or HIP 2.0, and it is now is up for another three-year renewal. But a close reading of the state's renewal application shows misleading and inaccurate information is being used to justify extending HIP 2.0. (Harper, 2/24)

Winning a contract to manage part of Pennsylvania's $12 billion in Medicaid benefits is a big prize. That's why losing bidders with a long-term presence in the market of 2.3 million participants are not taking lightly the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services' decision last month to cut them out of all or part of Medicaid management in Pennsylvania. Insurance giants UnitedHealthcare and Aetna came out empty-handed in January. AmeriHealth Caritas, a subsidiary of Philadelphia's Independence Blue Cross, was bumped out of a region that stretches from the Lehigh Valley to Fulton County and where it had the largest market share in December. (Brubaker, 2/23)