It marks the third straight year Medicaid expansion efforts by Democratic legislators have died at the hands of their Republican colleagues.
The Senate’s Health and Welfare Committee voted 5-3 against the legislation, which would have provided health insurance to upward of 240,000 Louisiana residents.
The vote was largely — as in past legislative efforts — along party lines with all five “no” votes coming from Republican senators.
Down the hall, the House Health and Welfare Committee voted 9-7 against a different measure with the same goal.
Legislation sponsor Rep. John Bel Edwards predicted that the expansion would occur sooner rather than later. But the unfortunate thing is the state will miss out on 100 percent federal funding, said Edwards, D-Amite.
Gov. Bobby Jindal has been a staunch opponent of Medicaid expansion, claiming it builds on a broken system and would be too costly down the road.
