Medicaid options: What the state would pay
The federal government has offered to pay the health-care costs for the estimated 250,000 eligible Arkansans until 2017. By 2020, the state would take on 10 percent of the cost of health care for this new population. There would still be some expense to the state in the first three years because the federal offer does not cover administrative costs.
Arkansas legislators are weighing three options, all of which will cost the state something. They can help 250,000 poor Arkansans purchase private health insurance, expand the traditional Medicaid program or do nothing.