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One of the nation's poorest, least-insured and unhealthiest states is launching a major effort Wednesday to expand Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of low-income residents. Hospitals and other healthcare providers there say it can't happen soon enough. Surprisingly, the state's Republican-controlled Legislature is largely going along, in part because the big infusion of federal Medicaid money will ease the state's dire budget problems. But the expansion still doesn't solve the problem of a big budget shortfall that's threatening the survival of some of the state's nine formerly public safety net hospitals, an issue that may take lawmakers into a special legislative session this month. (Meyer, 6/1)

Democrats in red states will often try to place distance between themselves and the health care law signed by the president in 2010, but in Louisiana, two candidates for Senate are doing the opposite. Foster Campbell, a wealthy businessman, and Caroline Fayard both issued statements praising their state on Wednesday – the first day its government began issuing cards for its new Medicaid expansion program, Healthy Louisiana. (Yokley, 6/1)

Enrollment specialists across the state spent Wednesday enrolling people into the new, expanded Medicaid program in Louisiana. Open enrollment started Wednesday and thousands of people in the state wasted no time signing up. "Tons will be eligible because it's so many people that, you know fell into that range of no coverage," said Stephanie Harold, an enrollment specialist at Care South in Baton Rouge. Previously, a household of three had to have an income of less than $3,500 a year. Now, that income limit has jumped significantly to around $27,000 a year. (Reynold, 6/1)

Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the executive order to expand Louisiana's Medicaid program on Tulane Medical School resident Sarah Candler's birthday, Jan. 12. On Wednesday, Candler got to tell Edwards what it was like to inform her patients that they could sign up for the health care coverage. "Many of them are newly eligible today, so that means patients I've wanted to prescribe certain medications to, I've wanted to get screening tests for and haven't been able to do so because they didn't have enough health insurance," Candler said. "Today that changes." (Litten, 6/1)

The plan targets childless adults who are chronically homeless, involved in the justice system, or in need of substance-abuse or mental-health treatment. It also expands coverage to low-income parents with dependent children previously not covered by Medicaid. Officials originally estimated that about 16,000 people would be covered through the expansion, but that estimate has been tapered. ... The health department began accepting public comment last month on the proposal, which it must soon finalize and submit to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for approval. Only 13 people ... testified at the three public hearings, held in Salt Lake City and Logan. The department had received 23 written comments on the draft as of Wednesday. There is about a week until the public comment period closes. (Stuckey, 6/1)