Gov. Sean Parnell announced Friday that Alaska will not participate in Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, describing it at a news conference as a "failed experiment."

Expansion would benefit between 26,000 and 40,000 Alaskans who currently are uninsured, mainly low-income adults without children. It would also help hospitals and doctors by reducing the amount of uncompensated care they have to write off, and would bring millions of dollars of federal money into the Alaska economy.

The Affordable Care Act provides 100 percent of the cost of increasing Medicaid coverage to all people whose income is 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The federal share would drop to 90 percent by 2020.

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Around Alaska, pressure on Parnell to expand Medicaid has been increasing in recent weeks and months.

The Anchorage and Alaska chambers of commerce, the Anchorage NAACP, the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Anchorage Faith and Action Congregations Together, and Democratic legislators and candidates all have pushed for the expansion.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.