LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ governor says he doesn’t expect federal officials to approve the state’s plan to lower the eligibility cap for its Medicaid expansion program anytime soon after a similar proposal was rejected last month.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters Wednesday that the state hasn’t received a formal denial of its proposal, which would have lowered the eligibility cap for Medicaid expansion from 138% of the federal poverty level to 100%. President Donald Trump’s administration has rejected a similar partial expansion proposal from Utah.
Arkansas’ proposal would have moved 60,000 people off its Medicaid expansion program.
Hutchinson says his focus has been on the state’s Medicaid expansion work requirement, which has been blocked by a federal judge. That decision has been appealed