COLUMBUS—Gov. John Kasich said Thursday he expects Ohio’s Medicaid expansion to continue under the federal health-care law without again having to resort to a budgetary panel to sidestep lawmakers to drawn down the funds.

The governor’s $72 billion, two-year budget currently in the Ohio House anticipates continuing the coverage expansion largely to working adults even as some lawmakers don’t expect it to make the final plan that reaches his desk by June 30.

“I would not anticipate (using the Ohio) Controlling Board,” Mr. Kasich said during a news conference in which he announced $2 million in shared research dollars for Ohio’s Children’s Hospitals across the state to develop better treatment systems for pediatric asthma and pneumonia.

The money comes from a federal performance bonus to the state for enrolling more children in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“There’s a recognition that these dollars have made a difference…,” Mr. Kasich said. “The providers have to be engaged in this…I couldn’t conceive of a half a million people all of a sudden waking up one day and having no health care coverage as provided under this (expansion) program.”

Senate President Keith Faber (R., Celina) told The Blade’s Editorial Board last week that he doesn’t expect the expansion to remain a part of the budget but rather be moved into a separate bill for debate. He said he’s willing to allow a floor vote on the expansion and believes there would be enough votes to pass it, but he doesn’t believe a majority of his caucus supports the expansion.

"The Controlling Board is still an option," he said.

Mr. Kasich turned to the quasi-legislative controlling board in the fall of 2013 after fellow Republicans stripped the expansion from the budget and then never voted on it as a separate measure. The board agreed to draw down nearly $2.6 billion in federal funds under the Affordable Health Care Act for the first year and a half of operation.

The expansion has added roughly 500,000 people, mostly working adults, more than originally expected, with household incomes of up to 38 percent over the federal poverty line.

First Published April 9, 2015, 8:04 p.m.