Arkansas governor uses veto to save Medicaid program

Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas vetoed part of a Medicaid budget bill that that would have ended the subsidized insurance for more than 250,000 people, saving the first-in-the-nation hybrid Medicaid expansion.

"A lot of courage on all sides of this issue led to this result today," Hutchinson told reporters after issuing the veto.

The hybrid Medicaid program was created as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under Obamacare, Arkansas was the first state to win approval for its hybrid Medicaid program. With the veto, Hutchinson ends a standoff where Republicans had tried to block the program by refusing to approve a Medicaid budget that funded it.

"We put the people of Arkansas first," House Minority Leader Michael John Gray, a Democrat from Augusta, said in a statement. "Democrats stood together to protect the well-being of children and families across our state."

Hospitals and health professionals have credited the expansion of the program with dropping the rate of uninsured Arkansans from 22.5 to 9.6 percent, as well as cutting the amount they are paying to treat patients without insurance.

Without the expansion of coverage, Hutchinson and legislative leaders warned of a budget deficit of $100 million leading to cuts of budgets for schools, prisons and many other state services. The cuts would have been needed to increase funding for the state's traditional Medicaid program and for hospital care for those without insurance, reports ABC News.

"We are making the best judgment for health care in Arkansas based upon federal policy right now," Hutchinson said. "That's all a governor can do. That's all legislators can do. What's the best thing right now?"