DENVER (AP) -- State health officials won't commit to expanding Medicaid under the new health care law, saying it's too soon to know whether Colorado can afford to expand health care for the needy.

The governor won't speculate until after a December tax estimate what Colorado will do. That was according to Gov. John Hickenlooper's chief of staff, Roxane White. She told a conference of health activists Wednesday that it's too soon to say whether Colorado will further expand Medicaid.

Medicaid is one of the two main ways the federal health law expands coverage to most U.S. residents. Under the law, Medicaid will be expanded to cover people up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $15,400 for an individual. That would add about 225,000 people in Colorado.