Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
N.C. Governor Won't Decide On Medicaid Expansion Until After SCOTUS Rules
Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said Wednesday he won鈥檛 make a recommendation whether North Carolina should expand insurance to more of the uninsured through the federal health care law until after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. (Robertson, 2/19)
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would use a combination of state and federal money to expand Medicaid to about 10,000 Montanans. Republican Rep. Nancy Ballance of Hamilton brought House Bill 455 before the House Human Services Committee on Wednesday. (Baumann, 2/19)
The debate over expanding Medicaid is moving forward in states including Utah and Montana while stalling at least temporarily in North Carolina after the Republican governor there said he wants to wait until a Supreme Court ruling on federally-subsidized private health insurance this summer. Even in states that are not weighing Medicaid expansion, the health care program for the poor is under examination, in large part because it is one of the largest components of state budgets. In Illinois, GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner is proposing cuts of almost $1.5 billion to Medicaid. (Adams, 2/19)
In California, lawmakers聽decide to revisit a moratorium on some Medi-Cal providers --
On Wednesday, legislators directed the Department of Health Care Services to revisit its policy to regularly extend a moratorium on certain fee-for-service Medi-Cal providers that dates back to 1999. (Gorn, 2/19)
