Senate approves Medicaid expansion

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana senators have approved a Medicaid expansion that they hope will allow them to receive billions in federal aid to enroll more people in the state's medical savings accounts.

The Senate voted 44-6 Tuesday in favor of expanding Medicaid using the same principles as the state's Healthy Indiana Plan.

More than 400,000 low income residents would qualify for Medicaid under an expansion and the federal government would shoulder most of the cost.

Gov. Mike Pence has asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to approve using the Healthy Indiana Plan for the Medicaid expansion. The state's actuary estimates that using HIP would cost about the 3 percent less than using traditional Medicaid.