Gov. Robert Bentley ... hints at Medicaid expansion.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Monday again hinted that he might try to expand the state's Medicaid program under a controversial provision of Obamacare.

Bentley was touring BayPointe Hospital in Mobile as part of a campaign to drum up support for his $541 million tax initiative when AltaPointe CEO Tuerk Schlesinger mentioned a pilot program that paid for Alabama to provide mental health services to adult Medicaid recipients.

The problem, Schlesinger told the governor, is that states in the pilot program that expanded their Medicaid programs saw a spike in recipients, which caused them to draw down the federal money faster than Alabama and the states that did not expand Medicaid.

"There is a severe shortage down here on the adult side," he said.

Bentley responded by suggesting that the state may seek an expansion under an "Alabama plan," that would expand eligibility but give the state more flexibility in spending it. He said his administration is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a lawsuit that contends Congress authorized subsidies only for people who purchase insurance through a state-run exchange.

A ruling for the plaintiffs could jeopardize the entire Affordable Care Act, including the separate section on Medicaid.

"When that's over, I think things are going to open up however it goes," the governor said.

Bentley has hinted before that he might seek permission from the federal government to get create a hybrid program that would expand coverage, as some other states have done. In December, he raised the possibility of seeking federal expansion funds in a no-strings-attached block grant.

But he has not fully committed to doing so and has been mum on the details. It also is not clear whether the federal government would approve a program that Bentley envisions.

Medicaid expansion is the top legislative priority of the minority Democratic Party in the state senate. Democratic senators reiterated that again last month.

Medicaid expansion remains deeply unpopular among the Republican base. Under the law, the federal government picks up 100 percent of the cost through 2016 of expanding Medicaid to people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line. After that, the state share gradually rises until it hits 10 percent.

Bentley waived off a reporter's question Monday about a possible expansion, saying he preferred to talk about the impact on mental health and disability services if legislators reject his tax proposal.

In an interview, Schlesinger said the pilot program, which included Alabama and 12 other states, provided $75 million over three years to shift mental health patients from emergency rooms to standalone psychiatric hospitals like AltaPointe's BayPointe Hospital in Mobile and EastPointe Hospital in Daphne. He said his agency received about $2 million per year.

Schlesinger said patients in the program were spending about 10 days in the hospital and receiving better care than what doctors can offer in an emergency room setting.

The program was supposed to expire in June, but Schlesinger said the surge in Medicaid enrollment in other states exhausted funding for Alabama last month. States that expanded Medicaid are guaranteed funding for those patients, he said.

According to Schlesinger, a bill on Congress would reauthorize the pilot program in July. But he said Alabama could face the same problem if it does not expand Medicaid.

"I really, totally respect the governor's position on this," he said. "It gives him and his administration a chance to explore" its options.