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State health officials confirmed Tuesday they have asked the Obama administration to keep a 15-month lifeline of federal Medicaid money flowing into Texas to help hospitals treat uninsured patients. That money would offer temporary relief to health care providers who face losing the funds — some $3.1 billion annually — over state leaders' refusal to provide government-subsidized health coverage to low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act, President Obama's signature health law. (Walters, 4/19)

Health care providers that predominantly rely on Medicaid funding are balking at the Labor Department’s proposed overtime rule. The health care groups provide services to people with disabilities. They say that doubling the salary threshold for overtime pay to $50,440 — under which virtually all workers qualify — is unworkable for an industry that can’t boost prices to cover added costs. (Levine and Pradhan, 4/20)

“You really see democracy in action,” state Department of Health and Human Services Sec. Rick Brajer said Monday evening. He was referring to the series of public hearings convened by his department to receive feedback on the state’s impending proposal to move Medicaid from a fee-for-service model to one administered by private managed care companies and local provider-led entities. (Sisk, 4/19)