The Wyoming Senate has given preliminary approval to a bill to expand the Medicaid program to cover roughly 17, 600 low income state residents.

The bill still faces two more Senate readings before a final vote is taken.

Senators on Monday approved an amendment by Senate Majority Floor leader Eli Bebout (R-Riverton) to require participants who are not disabled to work up to 32 hours per week. Under the amendment that state will not expand Medicaid without a work requirement.

But bill sponsor Sen. Micheal Von Flatern  (R-Gillette) called the amendment a "poison pill' because he says the federal government will not go along with such a requirement. Von Flatern also warned the fact that the amendment reference to "disabled" could be a problem in terms of who makes a decision about what "disabled" means.

But the Senate ended up adopting the amendment.

Despite giving overall initial approval to the bill, opponents again warned that the federal government cannot be trusted to continue to pick up at least 90 percent of the cost of the program.

Senator Bruce Burns (R-Sheridan) said if he thought the the federal government would continue to pick up at least 90 percent of the cost "I'd probably be for this bill".

But he warned that with the federal government facing large budget deficits and pressure to balance the budget, there is a very good chance that budget realities over the long term will make that impossible.

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