Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says a special session will likely be needed to take up recommendations on an alternative for covering the thousands of people on the state's compromise Medicaid expansion.
Hutchinson told reporters on Thursday he'd prefer that the recommendations of a task force looking at the future of the state's "private option" be considered in a special session rather than when lawmakers return to take up the state's budget next year.
The Republican governor said he doesn't want the new program to be identical to the private option, which uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for the poor. Lawmakers voted to reauthorize the program another year while a 16-member task force looks at new ways for covering the people on it.