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If you care about the politics of Obamacare and the future of health care reform, Arkansas's new Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson just gave one of the most important health-care speeches in recent memory. For the past two years, Arkansas has played a significant role in getting a number of conservative states to accept Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. The state's previous Democratic governor, Mike Beebe, in early 2013 struck a deal with Republican state lawmakers and the Obama administration to use federal Medicaid expansion dollars to purchase private coverage for low-income adults. (Millman, 1/22)

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday he will ask the Legislature to continue the so-called private option for two more years and create a task force to explore alternative solutions the state could implement after that. In a much-awaited speech at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Hutchinson said hospitals should not have to face “a traumatic cliff” every time the Medicaid expansion program known as the private option is up for renewal. He said he will ask the Legislature to continue the program through Dec. 31, 2016. (Lyon, 1/22)

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday he wants to end his state’s Obamacare Medicaid experiment, which has been a national model for conservative states. The Arkansas program uses federal funds to buy people private health plans on the Obamacare exchange. Dubbed “the private option,” it was an innovation designed to draw support of red-state lawmakers otherwise opposed to President Barack Obama’s health care law. (Wheaton, 1/22)

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, asked lawmakers Thursday to keep the state’s alternative to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act in place for two more years. In the meantime, he said, a task force will come up with recommendations for changing or replacing it. The program, known as the private option, has used federal funds to buy private insurance for more than 200,000 poor people through the HealthCare.gov marketplace instead of adding them to traditional Medicaid. (Goodnough, 1/22)

Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson called on the Legislature to keep the state's private-option approach to Medicaid expansion backed by his Democratic predecessor through 2016 so that roughly 200,000 low-income residents won't lose access to insurance coverage. But Hutchinson, in a highly anticipated speech Thursday, also called for the creation of a legislative task force to study other options for providing insurance to those who can't afford it in the future. (Demko, 1/22)

Ohio Gov. John Kasich told a small group of Montana legislative Republicans they should not oppose expansion of Medicaid on the basis of "strict ideology." "I gotta tell you, turning down your money back to Montana on an ideological basis, when people can lose their lives because they get no help, doesn't make a lot of sense to me," Kasich told Republican lawmakers. Kasich, a possible 2016 Republican presidential contender, is touring state legislatures across the West to drum up support for a constitutional convention to modify the U.S. Constitution to include a balanced budget amendment. (Adams, 1/21)

Ohio is one of the 28 states that has expanded Medicaid as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act. Montana and Utah are among the states that are still debating that action, which has been unpalatable to the state's conservatives. Kasich said he didn't see it as inconsistent to expand an entitlement program and at the same time calling on the federal government to balance its budget. He said if the constitutional amendment passes, many federal programs, including Medicaid, may need to be reconsidered, but that doesn't mean the destruction of the social-safety net. (Canham, 1/22)

A co-chair of the [Alaska] Senate Finance Committee said the state is not on a path to expanding Medicaid. But Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, said Thursday that he would keep an open mind to the possibility. Kelly made his comments as the committee discussed hiring former state health commissioner Bill Streur as a consultant. Streur served under former Gov. Sean Parnell, who resisted expanding Medicaid coverage, citing cost concerns. (Bohrer, 1/22)