JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The Republican-led Mississippi House passed a bill that would expand Medicaid benefits to hundreds of thousands more residents.

Rep. Missy McGee (R-District 102) introduced the Republican version of Medicaid expansion bill on Wednesday, February 28.

McGee began her introduction of House Bill 1725 by acknowledging the politics surrounding the issue, but says this is what Mississippi needs to provide better health outcomes.

The bill was passed by the House in a 96-20 vote.

No House members had any questions on the bill before it went to vote. The passage was met with applause from some lawmakers. The bill now heads to the Mississippi Senate.

According to the proposal, those making up to 138% of the federal poverty level, or $20,120 annually for a single person, would be eligible under the proposal. The measure could extend benefits to about 250,000 people.

Mississippi has the highest rate of preventable deaths in the U.S. Its top health official has said it ranks at the bottom of virtually every health care indicator and at the top of every disparity. Hospitals are struggling to remain open. The state also has one of the nation’s lowest labor force participation rates. Expansion proponents have said the policy could help ameliorate these conditions.

The move follows years of Republican opposition to the expansion allowed under the Affordable Care Act, a 2010 federal health overhaul signed by then-President Barack Obama. Opponents of Medicaid expansion say the program would foster government dependency, increase wait times for health services and push people off private insurance.

Until this year, Mississippi’s legislative Republicans never held a hearing to consider Medicaid expansion. Debate stalled due to opposition from party leaders, including Gov. Tate Reeves, who on Tuesday repeated his stance that the government “should not run health care.” But new Republican House Speaker Jason White, who sponsored the Medicaid expansion bill with McGee, says he wants legislators to consider the policy as a way to bring hundreds of millions of federal money each year to the state.

At the center of the debate is a provision that requires people to work at least 20 hours per week in order to become eligible for the expanded benefits. Among the 10 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid, only Georgia has managed to tie a work requirement to a partial expansion of benefits.

Mississippi Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who will play a key role in shepherding any Medicaid expansion bill through the state Senate, said Georgia offers a model for Mississippi.

But the Biden administration could likely refuse to grant a waiver for Medicaid expansion that includes a work requirement. If that happened, Mississippi could sue the federal government or adopt expansion without a work requirement.

McGee said the state Division of Medicaid would do its best to negotiate with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that would need to approve a waiver for a work requirement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.