BATON ROUGE - Gov. Bobby Jindal says his health department leaders aren't readying the agency for a Medicaid expansion, though his successor has made that one of his top priorities. 

The Republican governor said Monday he continues to think expanding the Medicaid program to provide government-funded insurance coverage to the working poor is a bad idea.

Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who takes office Jan. 11, has said he'll work to roll out an expansion early in his administration. 

But while Jindal opposes the expansion, the governor suggested in a speech to the Press Club of Baton Rouge that his health department officials weren't obstructing expansion plans Edwards might enact.

Jindal says there simply wouldn't be a lot of prep work needed for Edwards to roll out the expanded insurance coverage.