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Medicaid expansion has given a budget boost to participating states, mostly by allowing them to use federal money instead of state dollars to care for pregnant women, inmates, and people with mental illness, disabilities, HIV/AIDS, and breast and cervical cancer, according to two new reports. States that levy assessments and fees on health care providers, which have collected higher revenues as a result of expansion, have reaped extra benefits. (Ollove, 4/29)

Senate Democrats Tuesday evening pushed through a resolution stating their support for an expansion of Medicaid. The resolution – passed with most Republicans abstaining – comes a week after a GOP-backed resolution urging no expansion of the program brought the Senate to a halt. Democrats said the resolution did not speak for them and threatened to slow down work in the chamber after it passed. (Lyman, 4/28)

If you've only half paid attention to what's happening in Baton Rouge, you probably already know lawmakers are trying to agree on the best way to patch a $1.6 billion hole in Louisiana's budget. And you may have heard this week that the state's private hospitals are working with House leaders to try to come up with one solution the Louisiana Hospital Association thinks would be mutually beneficial — and that puts Medicaid expansion squarely on the table as key to helping fill that funding gap. ... Here are a few questions and answers that have surfaced in our recent coverage. (Catalanello, 4/28)

Lawmakers are again considering proposals to expand Louisiana's Medicaid program, to give government-funded health insurance to the working poor. The House and Senate health committees have scheduled Wednesday hearings on the coverage expansion legislation. (DeSlatte, 4/29)

Supporters of Medicaid expansion said Tuesday morning outside Columbia City Hall that if the federal government offered Missouri an additional $400 million to build roads and bridges, the state would take that money without question. The group of 20 people, including city and county elected officials and health care providers, called on the Missouri General Assembly to act quickly to expand Medicaid before the legislative session ends May 15. The Republican-controlled legislature’s unwillingness to debate and positively act on Medicaid expansion illustrates “the conflict between ideology and logic,” Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid said. (Jackson, 4/28)

Colorado officials are considering hiking user fees for the health exchange as high as 4.5 percent, a significant jump over the current 1.4 percent rate and well over the fees for the federal exchange. “Obviously, the level at which we are currently at is not adequate,” said exchange board member Arnold Salazar. “In any configuration, we’re probably going to have to look at a rate increase. The question is whether we look at 3.5 percent or 4.5 percent.” If Colorado’s exchange fees jump higher than the 3.5 user fees for those who buy on Healthcare.gov, calls to scrap Colorado’s troubled exchange and fold it into the federal exchange could grow significantly louder. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 4/28)

Rep. Joe Courtney has plunged into the latest fight over the Affordable Care Act, attacking the so called “Cadillac tax” that will eventually be implemented on high-cost health care policies. The ACA will impose a 40 percent excise tax on premiums over $10,200 per person and $27,500 per family. Although implementation of the tax has been delayed until 2018, companies are wrestling with it now as they plan employee benefits. ... Courtney, D-2nd District, on Tuesday introduced a bill to repeal the tax and is among a growing number of Democrats seeking to eliminate it, even as they support most other aspects of the ACA. (Radelat, 4/28)

The Obama administration’s top health official defended the federal overhaul that has boosted health insurance rolls nationally and said the government will move aggressively to support precision medicine. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, secretary of Health and Human Services, told more than 800 people gathered in Boston Tuesday for the World Medical Innovation Forum, sponsored by Partners HealthCare, that government leaders must team up with businesses and consumers to assure further progress in integrating health care delivery and holding down costs. (Weisman, 4/28)