Medicaid expansion stalled in several states

Montana's Democratic governor considers calling lawmakers into special session to take up the expansion despite signs of GOP opposition, while state officials in Utah and Louisiana refuse to approve expansions in those states. Meanwhile, a poll sponsored by the PAC of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, shows three-quarters of voters want Republican lawmakers to accept the governor's expansion plan or come up with their own.

The Missoulian: Special Legislative Session For Medicaid Expansion, Other Issues?
[Montana] Gov. Steve Bullock, some Democratic legislators and others have been discussing whether to call a special legislative session next month to consider Medicaid expansion and other issues, such as funding Bullock's $45 million plan for infrastructure in eastern Montana. Yet at least one Republican lawmaker involved in talks about Medicaid said this week it's a bad idea, and that most Republicans likely would oppose it (Dennison, 5/21).

Salt Lake Tribune: Poor Utahns May Go Without Health Coverage Until 2015
House and Senate Republicans appear unwilling to consider any plan to expand Medicaid until next year, creating the possibility that some 111,000 low-income Utahns who otherwise might be eligible for health coverage will have to go without, possibly until late 2015. It is a setback for Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, who has been trying for weeks to hammer out an agreement to expand health coverage in hopes of getting a program approved by the Legislature this summer. It also pushes any vote on expansion off until after the November elections (Gehrke, 5/21).

The Associated Press:  [Louisiana] House Health Committee Rejects Medicaid Expansion
Efforts to expand Louisiana's Medicaid program appear dead for the legislative session, after a House committee rejected multiple bills to give government-funded health care to more adults. The House Health and Welfare Committee voted 12-4 Wednesday against a Medicaid expansion proposal from Rep. Herbert Dixon, a Democrat from Alexandria.Two other bills sponsored by Democrats were later killed with similar votes. The Senate already had refused the expansion (5/21).

The Richmond Times-Dispatch: Governor's PAC Sponsors Medicaid Poll
[Virginia] Gov. Terry McAuliffe's political action committee has sponsored a poll that shows three-quarters of voters want Republicans to either accept the governor's proposal to expand Medicaid or come up with their own plan for extending health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Virginians. The poll, conducted May 9-12 among 603 voters, also shows that more than half of those surveyed think House Republicans are doing less than the governor to find a compromise on the issue of insurance coverage, according to a memorandum from GarinHartYang Research Group, which conducted the poll (Martz, 5/22).