WASHINGTON — Ohio could receive $1.6 billion in new federal money over the next five years if Congress approves a proposal to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, a consumer group estimates.

According to a recent report by Families USA, a liberal-leaning consumer health organization, Ohio could receive, on average, nearly an additional $345 million in federal support per year for the next five years. This year, the state is scheduled to receive nearly $158 million.

The SCHIP program expires Sept. 30. It started in 1997 and provides health coverage to children with family incomes that are too high to qualify for Medicaid, but not high enough to purchase other forms of health insurance.

In Ohio, there are nearly 245,000 uninsured children and about two-thirds of them are eligible for state health insurance or Medicaid, according to the report.

If SCHIP undergoes a major expansion, these children would be more likely to be insured, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. Not expanding SCHIP funding could cause about 1.5 million children across the United States to lose their health insurance coverage because of rising health care costs, he said.

The report is based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and used the current SCHIP allocation formula to compute the estimated figures. SCHIP money becomes available through state matching funds.

Both the U.S. Senate and the House passed budget resolutions in March setting aside $50 billion — on top of the current spending level of $25 billion — for SCHIP and Medicaid over the next five years. However, this money would not become available unless SCHIP is reauthorized and Congress provides the money by either increasing taxes or cutting expenditures.