Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, a Cave Springs Republican, said he doesn’t believe his colleagues will support continuing Medicaid expansion in next year’s legislative session. Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program has faced multiple attempts to kill it or limit who can access it since it began in 2013. Arkansas previously imposed work requirements on Medicaid expansion recipients in 2018, but a federal judge struck down the program after more than 18,000 Arkansans lost coverage. Camille Richoux, health policy director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, said last week that losing Medicaid expansion would be “devastating” for Arkansas. Health experts have credited Arkansas’ expansion for a drop in the state’s uninsured rate and for a reduction in hospitals’ costs for treating patients without insurance.