Wisconsin joins suits against Affordable Care Act fees

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Wisconsin and five other states are suing the federal government and various federal agencies over a part of the Affordable Care Act that they complain has cost them millions of dollars.

The lawsuit targets a part of the Affordable Care Act that imposes fees on health insurers. According to the formal complaint filed Wednesday in a U.S. District court in Texas, the fees came in response to the windfall that President Obama and federal lawmakers believed insurers would receive after most Americans found themselves required under the act to enroll in health coverage.

The complaint alleges that states have since been told by the federal government that is they themselves that in fact must pay the fees. Wisconsin, as a result, found itself spending more than $23 million on the fees in 2014 and 2015.

The suit, which was also filed by Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Indiana and Nebraska, is seeking an injunction of the fees and reimbursement of the money already spent on them. The action is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Wisconsin is being represented in the suit by Deputy Solicitor General Dan Lennington. Besides the federal government, the defendants are the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Sylvia Burwell, secretary of Health and Human Services; the U.S. Internal Revenue Service; and John Koskinen, commissioner of Internal Revenue. Follow @TDR_WLJDan