© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Federal Judge Rules Against DeWine on Affordable Care Act Lawsuit

photo of Mike DeWine
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU

  The lawsuit filed by Ohio’s attorney general, a county and four state universities over a provision in the Affordable Care Act isn’t over. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports.

It was almost a year ago when Mike DeWine filed the suit, teaming up with officials from Warren County along with Shawnee State, Bowling Green, Youngstown State Universities and the University of Akron. With DeWine, they argued a $6.25 million federal tax bill on their public employee health plans was unconstitutional.

“We don’t find the authority in there for the federal government, for the Obama administration, to tax the state.”

Federal Judge Algenon Marbley disagreed, saying the Affordable Care Act is constitutional because it regulates state and local governments in their capacity as employers. The AG’s office says it will appeal.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.