- No Obamacare Ceasefire in Red States Politico by Rachana Pradhan—After the collapse of the GOP’s repeal bill, most states refusing Medicaid expansion won’t give up the fight. The epic collapse of the Obamacare repeal bill created an odd opportunity for 19 states that have long shunned Medicaid expansion. Billions in Obamacare cash remain on the table. And for the first time, that cash comes with a Trump administration promise to give states unprecedented flexibility to remake the program with a conservative slant — for instance, by imposing work requirements or requiring more recipients to pay premiums. Yet with few exceptions, most of the holdout states are walking away from the money and what they regard as a broken entitlement program.
- Kansas Governor Vetoes Medicaid Expansion, Setting Stage for Showdown New York Times by Abby Goodnough and Mitch Smith—Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas vetoed a bill on Thursday that would have expanded Medicaid in his state, setting up a potential showdown next week with a legislature that, while heavily Republican, has come to favor extending the largely free health coverage to as many as 180,000 additional poor adults. Although the bill was easily approved in both chambers of the legislature, supporters would need to muster three additional votes in the House and two in the Senate to override the veto by Mr. Brownback, a conservative Republican.