Gov. John Hickenlooper Thursday announced that Colorado hopes to find $280 million in Medicaid cost savings over the next 10 years so that it can afford to enroll tens of thousands of adults in the health care program for the needy.

The expansion would cost Colorado some $128 million over the next 10 years, the governor said, far less than the $858 million estimate calculated by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Urban Institute last year.

The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing is working to control costs in Medicaid in a number of areas, including increasing effectiveness in care delivery, reforming payment systems, leveraging health information technology and redesigning administrative infrastructure.

Combined, these efforts are projected to save the state $280 million. These savings are expected to help cover the cost of an expansion of Medicaid, as authorized by the federal Affordable Care Act, according to a release from Hickenlooper's office.

"We worked diligently over the past several months to find savings in order to expand coverage," Hickenlooper said. "Not one dollar from the state's general fund will be used for this expansion, even in 2017 when the federal government begins to