Arkansas governor urges lawmakers to keep Medicaid plan

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' Republican governor is urging lawmakers to keep the state's Medicaid expansion program despite a federal judge's ruling blocking the state from enforcing a work requirement.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday that he wants the federal government to appeal the ruling against the state's requirement that those people covered by its Medicaid expansion work or lose coverage. A federal judge in Washington on Wednesday blocked Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas.

Hutchinson said he didn't believe the ruling should threaten the future of the expansion, which covers 235,000 low-income residents.

The state Senate on Wednesday approved the budget for Medicaid and the expansion and it faces a vote in the House on Friday.

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