Republican-led legislative panels on Thursday rejected expanding Medicaid eligibility to 320,000 Michigan residents next year but left open the possibility of reversing course in coming months if changes can be made to the health insurance program for the needy. {…}

The U.S. government would cover the full cost of new Medicaid enrollees for three years, phasing down to 90 percent in 2020 and after. The state would save $200 million a year initially because more people receiving mental health services and medical care with state aid would instead be covered with federal money. Snyder proposes tucking away half of the savings, so Michigan effectively would not owe anything for covering more people until 2035.

“As attractive as the front-end dollars are, we feel it is more prudent to examine the long-term sustainability of this,” said Sen. John Moolenaar, a Midland Republican who chairs the Senate health budget subcommittee that voted 3-0 for a Department of Community Health spending plan without the expansion. The lone Democrat on the panel abstained from voting.

Also Thursday, the GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee approved a broad budget bill along party lines without Medicaid expansion, following the lead of a subcommittee that first nixed the expansion three weeks ago.