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The debate over President Trump’s pick to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court is heating up, and health care is at the very center of the fight. From the day Justice Kennedy announced his resignation, we all knew that abortion rights and Roe v. Wade would be a key point in the nomination battle. Trump warned us himself as a candidate! And those of us from this part of the country know all too well Vice President’s Mike Pence’s longtime effort to shortchange women’s reproductive health (and shutter Planned Parenthood everywhere). But as the experts analyze Brett Kavanaugh’s rulings and stances on the issues, Trump’s nominee is emerging as a threat to health care far more broadly. The Affordable Care Act itself is at risk. (Kim Greene, 8/24)

Governors leave legacies. Some are programs. Some are policies. And sometimes a legacy is how he (someday, she) campaigned to win the governorship, a job the Ohio Constitution says holds "the supreme executive power of this state." Republican John Kasich's two-term governorship will end Jan. 14. And there's a strong case to be made that Ohio's Medicaid expansion, an incontestably positive move Kasich accomplished despite the opposition of some other Statehouse Republicans, will be seen as Kasich's lasting legacy. (Thomas Suddes, 8/25)

You might know Mary. Maybe you shop at the same grocery store, belong to the same church or have the same favorite Indians player. Mary takes medication to control her diabetes. A few years back, she lost her job and could no longer afford her medicine or her regular visits to the doctor.vWhen her symptoms got bad, she got scared and went to the emergency room. It happened more than once. Then, in 2014, Ohio expanded Medicaid, the government program that provides health coverage to low-income adults, children, pregnant women, the elderly and the disabled. (Akram Boutros, 8/26)

In 2015, Florida lawmakers rejected a plan to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Ahead of the 2018 elections, a panel of the state’s leading voices is urging the next governor and legislature to revisit that politically charged battle, calling it the most pressing health care matter facing the state. In the latest survey of the Florida Influencers, respondents were asked to rank six proposals to address health care concerns in the state by order of importance. A clear majority -- 69 percent -- said Medicaid expansion should be at the top of the list. (Adam Wollner, 8/26)

Put this one under the category of nothing makes sense in the world any more. The state of Kansas is looking to extend a contract with a Medicaid application processing company that by most accounts provided lousy service. Under the new arrangement, the state would pay Maximus Inc. of Reston, Virginia, more while absorbing some of the administrative duties involved. Huh? (8/27)

For more than four years, against strong Republican opposition, the General Assembly battled a proposal to expand Medicaid coverage to nearly 400,000 lower-income Virginians. Finally, this year, expansionists prevailed. Soon the additional people will be covered. But before popping the champagne, consider who is still left behind. The Virginia Mercury, a new online news and analysis outlet, reported that as many as 323,000 Virginians will still have no health-care coverage. They will be left to the mercy of free health clinics and hospital emergency rooms if something goes wrong. (Peter Galuszka, 8/24)

As a nation, we’re experiencing one of the best economies that we’ve had in decades. Unemployment is down, wages are up, and with over six million available jobs across the nation, there’s never been a better time to be a job-seeker. And that means that there’s no better time than now to move the millions of able-bodied adults currently trapped on welfare off the sidelines and into these available jobs. Congress and the Trump administration have capitalized on this unique opportunity by pushing for historic welfare reform that expands work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving food stamps in the House Farm Bill and by rolling out the same work requirement for state Medicaid programs. (Kristina Rasmussen, 8/26)

For more than a decade, we have witnessed bipartisan failure by Congress to pass meaningful health system reform. Obamacare was neither affordable nor protective for patients; the uninsured who have been “covered” by Obamacare have illusory benefits at an enormous price. The junk insurance now being offered as Trumpcare is just a meaner version of bronze plans. This bipartisan failure is killing Americans, their family budgets and our federal government. Preventable injury to hospitalized patients is the fifth leading cause of death in this country. If the safety record of American hospitals were true of the airline industry a 747 would crash every other week. (8/26)