Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday signed into law the Department of Human Services' Medical Services Division appropriation for the coming fiscal year, Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said Thursday.
The measure is Senate Bill 30, which will grant $8.2 billion for the traditional Medicaid program and the Medicaid expansion called Arkansas Works in fiscal 2019 that starts July 1.
With the help of votes of two senators who oppose the Medicaid expansion program, the bill cleared the short-handed Senate on Tuesday with the required 27 votes for approval. The Senate has 32 senators and three vacant seats.
Then, SB30 zipped through the House on Wednesday with 79 votes, four more than the 75 required for approval. The House has 99 representatives and a vacant seat.
The spending authority granted to the Medical Services Division under SB30 includes $5.7 billion in federal revenue, $1.2 billion in state general revenue, $468 million in other revenue and $766 million in unfunded appropriations, said Human Services Department spokesman Amy Webb.
The department has projected that the Arkansas Works program will cost about $135 million in state funds and about $1.95 billion in federal funds in fiscal 2019. Arkansas Works provides health insurance for about 285,000 Arkansans. The state covers 6 percent of the cost of the program this year, 7 percent next year and then 10 percent in 2020 under current federal law.
-- Michael R. Wickline
A Section on 03/09/2018