Trump won't approve full federal funding for partial Medicaid expansion

The Trump administration made a very big decision over the weekend: It won't approve full federal funding for a partial Medicaid expansion.

Why it matters: The partial expansion had looked like a key weapon in red states' continued resistance to the ACA. Without it, Medicaid enrollment likely will keep growing.

Between the lines: Although the reasoning is different, the Trump administration is now adopting the same policy as the Obama administration — a decision many experts believe the law compels.

Details: Utah voters approved the full ACA expansion last year, but the state legislature overruled them to pass a more limited version.

• Utah believed that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would approve full federal funding even for the partial expansion, which prompted other red states to explore the same idea.

The intrigue: While the Obama administration rejected these requests on the grounds that federal law dictates the terms of a Medicaid expansion, the Trump administration went a different route, per the Washington Post.

• "White House advisers argued that it did not make sense to approve generous federal funding under the ACA while the administration is arguing that the entire law should be overturned," the Post reports.

The bottom line: Utah has a backup plan in place — the full Medicaid expansion that Utah residents voted for in the first place.

• Partial expansion was mainly attractive to red states facing pressure to expand but had leaders who didn't want to. With that option off the table, don't be surprised if more states end up just going along with the expansion.

Go deeper: Red states' Medicaid gamble: Paying more to cover fewer people