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NC Senate budget revives Medicaid expansion debate, putting law in ‘conflict’ with House

The Senate budget unveiled Monday cuts state laws that regulate hospital competition, placing Medicaid expansion, and health coverage for thousands of low-income North Carolinaians, in conflict. During last year’s Medicaid expansion negotiations, a key agreement between the House and the Senate was Certificate of Need laws, which limit where hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities can be built. The Senate wanted to pass expansion with Certificate of Need changes but the House did not. But this year, there was a breakthrough, and in early March, the Senate and House announced that they had reached a compromise deal: Medicaid expansion…
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Gov. Reynolds signs bill intended to increase medical access in rural Iowa

Gov. Kim Reynolds signs House File 424 on Wednesday as state representative and hospital staff watch at the Washington County Hospital and Clinics in Washington, Iowa. The law will allow physician assistants to more easily address the health care needs of Iowa’s underserved communities. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette) Gov. Kim Reynolds smiles and claps with state legislators and hospital staff Wednesday after signing House File 424 at the Washington County Hospital and Clinics in Washington, Iowa. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette) WASHINGTON, Iowa — Physician assistants in Iowa will no longer be required to be supervised and have a written agreement with a…