DES MOINES (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad said Iowa’s state budget is already being squeezed by health care costs, even before a federally mandated expansion of the state’s program takes effect next year as part of the 2010 health care act signed by President Barack Obama.

But if Branstad and other Republican governors hoped to exempt their states from that expansion, they also received that answer on Monday.

The administration said Iowa and other GOP-led states seeking flexibility must commit to fully expanding their Medicaid programs in order to receive maximum funding under the new law.