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Hospitals' non-reimbursed costs for treating patients would be $4.5 billion lower next year if Medicaid coverage was expanded to the poorest residents in states that haven't done so, according to a new White House report out Thursday. The 28 states that have already expanded Medicaid -- the polarizing healthcare program for the poor and disabled -- are on track to reduce these uncompensated care costs by almost the same amount, an estimated $4.4 billion in 2016, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 6/4)

More than 71 million people were enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program in March, which is a 21.2 percent increase since the health care law’s most significant coverage expansions took place. The growth in the early part of this year has been steady but not dramatic. Medicaid and CHIP grew by 534,845 additional people from February to March, less than a 1 percent increase, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Adams, 6/4)

Several states that chose to expand Medicaid eligibility under ObamaCare now are facing deadline pressure to pay for it, the result of more signups than anticipated -- and, a looming reduction in how much of the bill the federal government will cover. (6/5)