Â鶹ŮÓÅ

A top Wyoming lawmaker says the debate over whether to expand the federal Medicaid system in the state this year isn't over yet. House Speaker Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, said House members will bring up amendments to a budget bill this week seeking to expand Medicaid to offer insurance coverage to thousands of low-income adults. ... The Senate this month shot down a Medicaid expansion bill. That prompted House committee considering a similar bill to drop the matter, and many lawmakers pronounced the issue dead. (Neary, 2/15)

Since California embraced the federal health care overhaul, the state's Medicaid program for the poor has added more than 2.7 million people, a surprisingly high number that has left the state to grapple with making sure there are enough doctors to care for all of them. Medi-Cal, the $95 billion joint federal-state program, covers 12 million people — nearly one in every three residents — for their doctor visits, hospital care, pregnancy-related services, as well as some nursing home care, making California the largest health care purchaser in the state. (Lin, 1/15)

Wisconsin could save $345 million over the next two years if it adopts a full expansion of Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act, according to a new estimate prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The revised estimate comes as the Legislature gears up to consider Gov. Scott Walker's $68 billion biennial budget, which cuts $300 million from the University of Wisconsin System among other austerity measures in the face of a more than $2 billion shortfall. (Defour, 1/15)

Shirley Fulton, a retired Superior Court judge from Charlotte, presided Monday over a mock grand jury hearing designed to shame North Carolina legislators into expanding Medicaid. Activists assembled in the legislative office building at noon to make arguments for extending government health insurance to impoverished adults who lack access to Medicaid or subsidized private plans. (Helms, 1/16)