A Kansas group is gearing up to push again for an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program as encouraged by the federal health care overhaul, despite strong opposition from Republican legislators.

About 30 advocates gathered Monday for a program sponsored by the Kansas Medicaid Access Coalition. The group began lobbying earlier this year to bring more people into Medicaid’s health coverage for the needy and disabled.

Instead, the Republican-dominated Legislature included provisions in budget legislation blocking an expansion.

The 2010 federal health care law encourages the expansion by promising to pay the entire cost though September 2016, then the vast majority of it after that.

The coalition contends an expansion would help thousands of Kansans, but GOP lawmakers question whether the federal government can keep its funding promises.