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A top Senate Republican is holding up the confirmation of President Biden’s nominee to lead Medicare and Medicaid, he told STAT. In a brief interview, Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) said he had placed a hold on the confirmation of Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the pending administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, using a phrase that refers to a senators’ ability to temporarily block a nomination from advancing to a vote. His opposition, he said, stems from the Biden administration’s recent rejection of Texas’ request to extend its Medicaid waiver, which the Trump administration had previously approved. (Cohrs and Facher, 4/20)

[Cornyn] accused the Biden administration of playing “political chicken” by rescinding federal funds for Texas in a bid to pressure the state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ... The Biden administration moved last week to rescind a Medicaid waiver given to Texas in the final days of the Trump administration. That waiver extended federal funds that reimburse hospitals for providing care for uninsured people. (Sullivan, 4/20)

The Arkansas House voted Tuesday to keep the state's Medicaid expansion for another year, breaking a deadlock that left the program's future uncertain. The House voted 78-15 to approve the budget for Medicaid and the expansion program, sending the legislation to Gov. Asa Hutchinson's desk. The measure needed at least 75 votes to advance. (4/20)

While low-income residents rely on Medicaid for health care, state lawmakers working on the 2021-22 state budget are proposing some major cuts in dollars for the Medicaid program. The proposed reductions come at a time when many advocates have been pushing to expand Medicaid for low-income families. Florida is among a dozen or so states that haven’t expanded Medicaid, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has been against the expansion. (Morgan, 4/20)

Florida lawmakers met this past weekend to begin ironing out the differences between the House and Senate budgets. Budget leaders came closer on at least one remaining difference in the health care budget. House Speaker Chris Sprowls has thrown his weight behind a move to give new mothers Medicaid coverage for a year after they give birth. (McCarthy, 4/20)

During a floor session that ran late into Tuesday night, the Oklahoma House advanced a bill to halt privatization of the state’s Medicaid program.Senate Bill 131 would require the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to oversee the program and implement new elements like a prevention component assessing social health risks. Medicaid expansion in Oklahoma takes effect July 1. An estimated 200,000 residents will be newly eligible. (Trotter, 4/21)

Progressives in Congress, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, have ramped up pressure on President Biden to honor his campaign pledge to lower the Medicare eligibility age to 60 — but their push is likely to hit a hospital industry-sized roadblock. The Biden White House hasn’t concretely committed to including a major health care initiative in its next legislative push, which is expected to be geared toward family-centered policies including paid leave and child care, but Sanders (I-Vt.) told STAT in a brief interview Tuesday he hasn’t lost hope. (Cohrs, 4/21)

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has left an estimated tens of thousands of Americans with long-term debilitating symptoms, has prompted a renewed push to provide full palliative care services to seriously ill patients in their homes. Palliative and hospice organizations are in talks with the Biden administration to create such a benefit as a demonstration project in Medicare, the health plan for older Americans. If successful, they hope it would become a permanent benefit in Medicare and then be offered under Medicaid, the federal/state program that covers lower-income Americans, and commercial insurance plans as well. (Ollove, 4/20)