(AP) -- The state of Illinois is one step closer to expanding Medicaid coverage to more hundreds of thousands of the state's uninsured.

State Senators passed the expansion Thursday.

It now goes to the House.

The bill is part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul which adds 600-thousand Illinois residents to the state's Medicaid program.

The federal government would pay the entire cost of expanding Medicaid in the state for the first three years.

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