OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma should use its existing Insure Oklahoma program as a framework to take advantage of increased federal Medicaid funding and expand health insurance coverage to as many as 274,000 low-income uninsured residents, a health consultant told state health officials on Thursday.

Utah-based Leavitt Partners presented its much-anticipated report to the governing board of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state agency that oversees the federal Medicaid program. The firm was hired to help Oklahoma answer the question of how to expand health insurance coverage after Gov. Mary Fallin rejected an opportunity to expand the state's Medicaid program under the federal health care law, the Affordable Care Act.

The Insure Oklahoma program uses Medicaid and Oklahoma tobacco tax money to help about 30,000 people buy private insurance, but the federal government has denied a waiver that allows the program to operate. It is set to expire on Dec. 31.