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Whether you believe that politics has become a blood sport or sports have become too political, it’s hard to dispute the long-standing comparisons between the two. So on Tuesday, when key North Carolina lawmakers came together to talk about the state Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to put an indefinite pause on the long-awaited transformation of Medicaid to a managed care system, Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Republican from Winston-Salem, offered a sports analogy. (Blythe, 2/12)

Missouri State Reps. Kip Kendrick and Martha Stevens, both Democrats from Columbia, appeared on Politically Speaking to talk about Medicaid expansion, the possible repeal of Clean Missouri and other topics. Both Kendrick and Stevens support the Medicaid expansion initiative that is expected to appear on the ballot later this year. (O'Donoghue, 2/11)

Every Missouri child who is eligible for Medicaid should be enrolled in the program. That’s something House lawmakers agreed on at a Monday evening budget hearing.“ I don’t want to deny services to anybody that qualifies,” said Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles. Wood, vice chairman of the House Budget Committee, said Monday that he stood by a statement he made in January, when he said that some of the roughly 100,000 children who were removed from the program were likely still eligible for coverage. (Stewart, 2/11)

The CMS will be making changes sometime this year to prior authorization regulations, according to CMS Administrator Seema Verma during a speech at the American Medical Association's National Advocacy Conference in Washington D.C. Verma offered few details on what the changes will be, only mentioning that automation of the process can improve efficiencies. The CMS didn't immediately respond to a request for additional details. (Castellucci, 2/11)