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Nearly 200,000 people have signed up for Medicaid in the first week of Louisiana’s expanded health care eligibility, state officials say. ... Enrollment began June 1, and the latest tally released Wednesday — 197,026 — includes thousands who have been reached through the Louisiana Department of Health partnering with other groups that serve the working poor and low-income families and have similar eligibility requirements. (Crisp, 6/8)

The state has received more than 130 comments on its plan to extend Medicaid to fewer than 16,000 Utahns — and many of those commenters still are calling for full-scale expansion. After years of debate and protests over Medicaid expansion, the state legislature this year passed — and the governor signed — a small-scale plan. Initially estimated to expand coverage to about 16,000 people, the current proposal would cover only about 9,000 to 11,000 of the poorest Utahns. (Stuckey, 6/9)

Gov. Jay Nixon signed legislation on Thursday that could expand Medicaid eligibility for Missourians who are elderly or living with a disability. For decades, Missourians who were elderly, blind or disabled could only have $1,000 or less in savings. The bill Nixon signed would gradually raise that asset limit to $5,000 for an unmarried person and $10,000 for a married couple. (Bouscaren and Rosenbaum 6/9)

Missouri seniors, the blind and those with disabilities soon will be able to save more money but still qualify for Medicaid health care benefits under a new law signed Thursday by Gov. Jay Nixon. The idea behind the bill, which passed with bipartisan support in the GOP-led Legislature, is to allow people who receive health care through the state program to keep more in savings that could help pay for unexpected expenses. Nixon said the new law will help “thousands of Missourians live more independent lives.” (6/9)

Hospital costs for uncompensated care have decreased in states that opted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but have remained stagnant in the states that have not, a report released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation says. Uncompensated care is how hospitals measure the care provided throughout the year for which they don’t receive any payment, which can lead to hospitals incurring bad debt. Total uncompensated care in 2013 cost $34.9 billions in hospitals nationwide, with about $16.7 billion incurring in states that expanded the program and $18.1 billion in states that did not. In 2014, total costs fell to $28.9 billion nationwide, falling about 17 percent. Nearly all the decrease occurred in expansion states, the report says. (McIntire, 6/9)

A new study by Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute found stark differences between states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act and those — like Kansas and Missouri — that haven’t. (Thompson 6/9)