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Marion County's public health agency is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strip legal protections for millions of Americans in a monumental case that experts say could dramatically weaken federal benefit programs. The Health & Hospital Corp. of Marion County wants the nation's high court to throw out a lawsuit over poor care at one of its nursing homes in a case that could also bar beneficiaries of safety net programs like Medicaid from suing if their rights are violated. (Cook and Magdaleno, 10/6)

Most Americans have a favorable opinion of Medicaid, a survey from Morning Consult and the Modern Medicaid Alliance found. The survey included 10,026 registered voters, and results were weighted by gender, age, educational attainment, race, marital status, home ownership, race by educational attainment, 2020 presidential vote and region. The poll was conducted from Aug. 8 to 14, and the Modern Medicaid Alliance released the results Oct. 3. (Wilson, 10/5)

After three months and nearly losing her job, Shavondra Smalley of Natchez is hopeful her 8-year-old daughter can now get the medical care she needs so the mother can get back to work. Smalley, who struggled to find nurses to care for her bed-bound daughter, is hopeful the situation will improve thanks to a proposed increase in pay from Medicaid for private duty nurses and rewritten doctor’s orders that specifically allow for the use of licensed practical nurses when registered nurses aren’t available. (Royals, 10/5)

While braces may be a right of passage for many teens, it’s a much more difficult appointment to make for kids entering state custody. “Because if you’re in foster care, you’re on Medicaid. And Medicaid doesn’t cover braces or anything that it deems unnecessary that seems really wild to me,” Francis Abbot, foster parent, said. “It’s such a huge need and the fact that it’s not included right now kind of blows my mind, I didn’t expect that at all.” (Bennett, 10/4)

Here are 7 Medicaid contract updates Becker's has reported since Aug. 10. (Wilson, 10/5)

North Carolina might see its own expansion of Medicaid as former Republican opponents indicate newfound support for the proposal. After being only one of 12 states in the U.S. not to expand Medicaid since the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion in 2014, the North Carolina Healthcare Association has made a proposal that may finally get the ball rolling in the state. (Patterson, 10/4)

After COVID-19 ravaged low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in New York, state officials are seeking federal approval to spend $13.5 billion through Medicaid to address the long-standing systemic racism and inequality that fueled the stark disparity in pandemic suffering. From improving access to health care and medicines to overhauling housing and food insecurity programs, the plan targets flaws in the complex web of social, economic and medical factors that determine New Yorkers' health and wellbeing. (Robinson, 10/6)

Kentucky’s Medicaid program has received a 2022 Medicaid Innovation Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Academy for State Health Policy for enrollment innovations implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The nonpartisan award recognizes states for demonstrating creativity, leadership, and progress in their programs despite significant public health challenges in recent years. (10/6)

Richard von Glahn, organizing director for Missouri Jobs with Justice, said the Medicaid expansion is injecting billions of dollars into the state’s economy while ensuring hundreds of thousands of people. “It will protect rural hospitals, it will protect jobs in the health care industry, and it will provide lifesaving care to the people of this state,” von Glahn contended. “It is, frankly, good policy to have more people covered by health insurance.” Incentives under the Affordable Care Act have the state covering 10% of the cost of the expansion while the federal government provides the rest. (10/5)

Georgia has spent over a decade debating Medicaid expansion. And as voters near the 2022 General Election, this issue has become a key one in the governor's race. (Lindstrom and Richards, 10/5)

Top Puerto Rico officials are pushing for increased federal funds to boost their fragile Medicaid program after Hurricane Fiona ripped through the island last month. The asks come from Gov. Pedro Pierluisi (D) and Rep. Jenniffer González-Colón (R), each of whom recently sent congressional leaders separate letters obtained by The Health 202. (Roubein, 10/5)