LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas House failed Tuesday to renew the state’s compromise Medicaid expansion plan, leaving in limbo the future of a program heralded as a model for Republican-leaning states to implement the federal health overhaul.

The House voted 70-27 to reauthorize funding for the “private option,” falling five votes shy of the 75 needed in the 100-member chamber to continue the program. Under the private option, Arkansas is using federal Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance for thousands of low-income residents. The program was approved last year as an alternative to expanding Medicaid’s enrollment under the federal health law.