Where states opt against Medicaid expansion, working poor likely to lose

News outlets also report the latest developments regarding the Medicaid expansion debate in Michigan and Mississippi.

Bloomberg: Working Poor Losing Obamacare As States Resist Medicaid
Rose Ruiz collects $8 an hour cooking, cleaning, checking the oxygen tanks and changing the diapers for a 67-year-old diabetic confined to a studio apartment on the south side of Austin, Texas. Ruiz, a home health aide to Medicaid patients, has no medical insurance herself. Her best shot at getting access to doctors and medicines for her own needs was through President Barack Obama's expansion of the federal-state Medicaid programs. That hope was scuttled for Ruiz and thousands of other health-care workers across Texas when the state opted out of the Medicaid expansion earlier this month (Wayne and Mildenberg, 6/25).

MLive: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Plans Statewide Talks On Medicaid Expansion Proposal Stalled In Senate
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who recently blasted Senate Republicans for beginning summer break without voting on a Medicaid expansion and reform plan, is heading out on the road to tout the benefits of the proposal. Snyder's office on Monday announced "A Conversation With the Governor," a series of informal discussions with various audiences across the state (Oosting, 6/24).

Detroit Free Press: Snyder Won't Force Senate Back In To Vote On Medicaid Expansion
Gov. Rick Snyder said Monday that he won't try to legally force the Michigan Senate to return from summer vacation to vote on his Medicaid expansion plan. For one thing, it's unclear whether he has the legal power to do so, he said (Erb, 6/24).

Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger: Special Session Thursday Won't Include Medicaid Expansion Talk, Governor Says
State lawmakers are expected to be back at the Capitol on Thursday to deal with Medicaid funding and reauthorization, but Gov. Phil Bryant hasn't included Medicaid expansion as an option for discussion. ... House Democrats, pushing for Medicaid expansion to cover up to 300,000 additional "working poor" in Mississippi, blocked the regular funding and reauthorization of the program, trying to force a vote on expansion. Republicans, although in the majority, were a few votes shy of preventing this. Republicans used procedural maneuvers to block a vote on expansion and also killed Senate measures that would have reauthorized the program for the coming year (Gates, 6/24).