DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa residents have a chance to weigh in on the state’s plan to expand low-income health coverage.  A public hearing is scheduled for this (Monday) afternoon in Des Moines on the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan. The hearing is part of the process the state must go through to get federal approval for the plan.

Under the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan, the state will accept federal dollars offered to states that expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. That funding will be used to provide health coverage for as many as 150,000 low-income residents by putting some on a new state-run program and to pay the premiums for others to get private insurance on the new health care exchanges.

Another hearing will be held Tuesday, in Council Bluffs.  It begins at 11:30 a.m., at Iowa Western Community College, Looft Hall Auditorium (2700 College Rd.).

(Today’s meeting in Des Moines takes place 2-p.m., at  River Place, Room 1, 2309 Euclid Ave.)