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With the Affordable Care Act headed for the U.S. Supreme Court this week, the NAACP and Democratic state lawmakers are renewing calls for North Carolina to accept the law's Medicaid expansion. ... [If the court strikes down the subsidies] it could mean the end of coverage subsidies for around half a million North Carolinians, warned Rep. Rosa Gill, D-Wake, at a news conference Monday morning. "It could be devastating to the Carolinas," Gill said. "Insurance companies, medical professionals and others may lose their financial stability." Yet, Gill and state NAACP President Rev. William Barber say the state should accept the federal Medicaid expansion provided under another section of the ACA. (Leslie, 3/2)

The Texas Senate on Monday gave the federal government what amounted to an ambitious list of preconditions for any negotiations about expanding Medicaid in the state, demanding President Barack Obama loosen regulations and make recipients here work and pay premiums and missed-appointment fees before any widening of eligibility is considered. In a letter to the White House, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Senate Republican Caucus said growth in the nearly $30 billion Texas Medicaid program, which is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, is on a "clearly unsustainable" path that is limiting many other needs. (Rosenthal, 3/2)

For Texas Independence Day on Monday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Senate’s 20 Republicans vented their frustration over Medicaid’s costs and federal requirements. Patrick complained about “overreaching federal mandates” and demanded the leeway to “manage our own Medicaid.” He and the chamber’s Republicans sent President Barack Obama a letter demanding flexibility to revamp Texas’ version of Medicaid, a state-federal health insurance program for the poor, elderly and disabled. (Garrett, 3/2)

In their latest attack on the Affordable Care Act, House Republicans are questioning why the Obama administration transferred money last year from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to pay for the operation of the federal health insurance marketplace. (Galewitz, 3/3)