Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Last Ditch Legislative Effort To Kill Medicaid Expansion Fizzles In Arkansas
As expected, opponents of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s Medicaid expansion plan made an unsuccessful last-ditch effort Tuesday to kill [the] program. ... Passage of the motion would have cleared the way for a vote to override the veto, but the motion failed in a voice vote. With only 10 of the 35 senators opposed to Arkansas Works, any attempt for a veto override was expected to fail. (Lyon, 4/26)
About 267,000 Arkansans are provided health insurance coverage through Arkansas' Medicaid expansion, and most of them receive the coverage under the "private option," which uses federal dollars to purchase private health insurance. ... Arkansas' Medicaid expansion has deeply divided Republicans ever since the GOP-controlled Legislature and then- Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe authorized its creation in 2013. The House and Senate have narrowly authorized the use of federal funds for the program during each of the past four years. (Wickline, 4/27)
Most Utahns want the Legislature to expand Medicaid further, according to a UtahPolicy poll — the first survey on the topic since state lawmakers decided to extend Medicaid to around 16,000 of the poorest Utahns. The poll, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, found that 51 percent of respondents believe Medicaid should be expanded to cover all remaining low-income uninsured Utahns. ... Chris Karpowitz, co-director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at BYU, said the results are consistent with previous polls. (Chen, 4/26)
