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North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration on Wednesday announced the state will expand Medicaid on Oct. 1 — even though lawmakers have yet to approve the funding to do so. The unusual move, agreed to by the Biden administration, puts additional pressure on the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to either pass a budget or fund Medicaid expansion separately — something the Democratic governor and his health and human services secretary, Kody Kinsley, have been calling for since lawmakers failed to reach a spending deal earlier this month. (Messerly, 7/26)

Minnesota has delayed the re-enrollment deadline for a second group of Medicaid beneficiaries so they will have more time to submit required documentation for renewing government-funded health insurance. The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) announced the change on Wednesday for people with Medicaid-related coverage who were facing a July renewal deadline. (Snowbeck, 7/26)

Republican candidate Daniel Cameron said Wednesday that he would move quickly as Kentucky’s governor to revive a push to require some able-bodied adults to work in exchange for health care coverage through Medicaid. If he succeeds in unseating Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear later this year, Cameron said his administration would seek federal permission to impose the Medicaid work requirement. The proposed rule would exclude able-bodied adults who are “truly vulnerable,” including those with children or who are pregnant, his campaign said in a follow-up statement. Cameron declared that connecting Medicaid coverage to work for some Kentuckians would raise workforce participation in the post-pandemic era. (Schreiner, 7/26)

Virginia paid insurers to cover Medicaid services for patients who had already died, a nearly $22 million mistake over three years that the state is working to recover and repay. A recent federal audit found that the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, the state’s Medicaid office, accidentally paid out capitation payments – or monthly fixed payments for each enrollee – to Medicaid managed care organizations on behalf of dead patients from 2019 through 2021. (Mirshahi, 7/26)

Warning against “foot-dragging,” a federal judge has rejected a request by the state to put on hold a ruling that requires Florida’s Medicaid program to make changes aimed at keeping children with complex medical conditions out of nursing homes. U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks issued a seven-page order Tuesday denying the state’s request for a stay of a ruling and an accompanying injunction that he issued July 14. The state wanted the stay while it appeals the ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. (Saunders, 7/26)