COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Kasich administration will ask the controlling board at its next meeting for authority to spend about $2.5 billion in federal aid over the next two years to expand the state’s Medicaid program to cover Ohio’s working poor.

Approval from the board, which meets Oct. 21, would clear the last hurdle toward expanding Medicaid in Ohio to cover people with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty level. That group would be able to start getting health insurance coverage on Jan. 1, 2014, said Greg Moody, director of the state's Office of Health Transformation.

Moody acknowledged Friday that the state will seek the controlling board's approval to spend the money. The announcement comes one day after the state received authority from the federal government to expand the program and would be eligible for aid promised under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In its notice to the state, the federal government pledged about $3 billion in aid for federal fiscal 2014, which began Oct. 1, and fiscal 2015. The state's request to the controlling board, $2.5 billion, differs slightly because its fiscal calendar is different.

Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, has lobbied for Ohio to expand Medicaid coverage to the working poor since unveiling his budget plans in early February and has repeatedly called on the General Assembly to authorize the expansion.

His calls have been echoed by thousands of Ohioans. The expansion has support from major hospitals and physician organizations, coalitions of churches, health care advocacy groups, labor unions and business organizations like the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

But Republicans in the Legislature have refused to grant the expansion. Some have cited opposition to such a major expansion of a public support program. Others have cited concern about size of the national debt. General opposition to health care reform, commonly called Obamacare, also is a reason.

Ohio law requires that before money can be spent, it must be formally appropriated. Typically that is done through a vote of the General Assembly. But the Controlling Board also has the authority to adjust appropriations as needed. In this case, it would involve authority to spend newly received federal revenues.

The administration publicly has expressed a preference for a vote through the Legislature, but Moody said the Controlling Board option was identified early on.

“This has always been an option. Early on we identified several paths to get this done,” Moody said Friday. He noted, though, that the administration views it as legislative approval, too, because six of the seven members of the Controlling Board are members of the General Assembly.

That point was reiterated by Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols.

“Only the General Assembly can authorize Medicaid to spend funds in this way, either through a bill or the Controlling Board,” Nichols said Friday in a statement. “The Administration has been preparing to implement this change when the General Assembly gives its OK and we’ll be ready.”

Republicans on the board are Reps. Ron Amstutz and Cliff Rosenberger and Sens. Chris Widener and Bill Coley. The Democratic members are Rep. Chris Redfern and Sen. Tom Sawyer. The board is chaired by Randy Cole, a policy analyst for the Office of Budget and Management.

Under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, the federal government is pledged to provide 100 percent of the cost of expanding Medicaid over the first three years, beginning in fiscal 2014. After that the federal support would gradually be reduced, reaching 90 percent in 2020.

Ohio would be in line for an estimated $13 billion in federal aid over that time.

In its notification to the state, the federal government agrees to provide about $1.05 billion in funding to cover the program for the first year and nearly $2 billion for the second year, Northeast Ohio Media Group has learned.

While getting the approval to spend the money is needed before expansion could happen, the state has been preparing for it all year.

While the state administers Medicaid in Ohio, it is a federal program. As such, any changes to the state’s plan must be approved by the federal government. For that reason, the state has been talking with federal authorities all year about the possibility of expanding the program.

And in an interview earlier this year, Moody said the administration, hoping that the General Assembly would act, was preparing for expansion so that it could be ready for Jan. 1, just in case.

He said Friday that the state appears to be on track for that to happen, if it gets that Controlling Board approval to spend the money.