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Medicaid may be the next “third rail” in American politics. Resistance to cutting the health care program for the poor has emerged as a big stumbling block to Obamacare repeal, and Republicans touch it at their political peril. “If they’d gone ahead ... clearly I would think we’d be seeing a transfer of power in a year and a half,” said John Weaver, a GOP strategist for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has called the Medicaid overhaul proposals of his fellow Republicans “unacceptable.” (Pradhan, 7/19)

Washington politics often revolves around numbers. And no number is more important that the “baseline.” When politicians talk about “spending cuts” or “tax cuts,” they are measuring against a baseline. But it’s a process open to manipulation and hypocrisy, so here’s an explanation. (7/19)

Congressional Republicans’ plans to repeal and replace — or even just repeal — Obamacare may be on hold for now, but four Pennsylvania mothers of chronically ill and seriously disabled children said Tuesday they can’t afford to let up on their efforts to preserve the public program that pays for their children’s care. As guests of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN), a statewide health consumer advocacy group, the women spoke out about what cuts to Medicaid – a part of virtually all the GOP’s proposals – would do to working families like theirs. Although Medicaid is most often thought of as a health-care provider for the poor, it also funds care for people with severe conditions that would not be fully covered by private insurance. (Giordano, 7/19)

While controversy rages in Washington and around the country over the Republican effort to kill Obamacare, Maryland leaders are anxiously watching in fear of what they may confront down the road. Total repeal of the Affordable Care Act would deprive state government of $1.3 billion in Medicare and Medicaid payments next year — a staggering amount. Some 1.1 million Marylanders on Medicaid — most of them disabled, children or elderly — could be at risk of losing their health insurance. (Rascovar, 7/18)

In a joint effort with the Georgia Department of Education, the Department of Community Health board voted to approve a nursing services reimbursement program that would draw an estimated $48.6 million in additional federal dollars, assuming no major changes to Medicaid. There were 1,629 nurses and 307 unlicensed health care and clinic workers in Georgia schools last spring. (Tagami, 7/18)