Arkansas lawmakers vote to keep hybrid Medicaid expansion

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Arkansas lawmakers vote to keep hybrid Medicaid expansion

By ANDREW DeMILLO
Mar. 30, 2017 7:09 PM EDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Lawmakers voted Thursday to keep Arkansas' hybrid Medicaid expansion for another year as the state's governor prepares to seek new limits on the first-in-the-nation program.

The House approved by a 77-13 vote the state's Medicaid budget, which includes the hybrid expansion. The proposal now heads to Gov. Asa Hutchinson's desk. More than 300,000 people are on the program, which uses Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents.

The measure advanced a day after the bill fell short of the three-fourths support needed for most budget bills in the majority Legislature. It took three separate votes for the Senate to also clear that threshold.

The program has sharply divided Republicans, who control both chambers of the Legislature, since it was crafted in 2013 as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law. Hutchinson effectively saved the program last year after it fell short of the votes needed by voiding part of a budget bill that called for the program's end.

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Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c9462c83d35c4ceeb3c01d4c87f26637/arkansas-lawmakers-vote-keep-hybrid-medicaid-expansion

[samnsara]

1. sometimes Arkansas gets it and sometimes they dont!!