Arkansas Senate Passes Medicaid-Private Insurance Proposal
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An Arkansas proposal to use Medicaid money to buy private insurance for poor residents was passed by the state Senate, aiding efforts to implement the Obama administration’s health-care overhaul in states with Republican-led legislatures.
Twenty-seven lawmakers voted for the legislation today, while eight opposed it, according to Senate spokesman John Reed. The bill now goes to Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat who received informal approval Feb. 18 from the federal government to use money for Medicaid expansion under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act to instead buy private coverage.