BATON ROUGE- Gov. John Bel Edwards' plan to expand Louisiana's Medicaid program is facing its first legislative test. The Democratic governor's administration is seeking support to hire new health department workers to sign people up for the expanded coverage.

The Department of Health and Hospitals wants to add 248 new employees to handle enrollment of the thousands of people expected to newly qualify for Medicaid.

The joint House and Senate budget committee, whose members are majority Republican, is scheduled to consider the hiring plan Friday, at its first meeting since Edwards took office this month.

The hiring proposal would cost $10.3 million this budget year, according to information provided to the committee, with $7.3 million paid by the federal government. The remaining $3 million would be paid by health providers, like hospitals and clinics.