As millions of newly eligible Americans sign up for Medicaid health insurance for the poor under the Affordable Care Act, pressure builds on states and their Republican governors that have balked at going along with the health law's expansion of the program. Under the law, states have a choice about whether to participate in the expansion of Medicaid benefits. There are 26 states and the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid in 2014. The Obama administration has said nearly 9 million people were determined eligible for Medicaid in the four-month period that ended Jan. 31 of this year while a new report this week from research firm Avalere Health estimates that up to 3.5 million enrolled in Medicaid during the same time frame.
