Group asking court who will pay for premium increases?

Lower courts have ruled in the state's favor in the lawsuit.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A trade group representing Ohio nursing homes is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to decide who should pay for increases in premiums to the state's injured-worker insurance program.
Lower courts have ruled in the state's favor, ordering nursing homes to pay the additional amount. The nursing homes are asking that the state cover payments for increases that occurred when the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation ended the discount provided to businesses on its premiums.
The discounts began after the agency decided in 1995 to keep its surplus at 3 billion and return any additional money to employers. Over the years the bureau returned 9.3 billion. The bureau discontinued the program in 2003 because Ohio's economy had soured and the bureau founded it more difficult to meet its demand for injured worker payments.
Since the lawsuit began in 2003, the bureau has been wracked by a scandal that found it had lost more than 300 million in investments, including money stolen from a 50 million rare-coin fund managed by Republican fundraiser Tom Noe, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for stealing from the coin investment.
Lawsuit's contention
The lawsuit filed by the Ohio Academy of Nursing Homes, which represents about 230 homes for senior citizens and the mentally ill, says that the end of the discounts amounted to a state mandate and that the increases should be covered by Medicaid payments from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The state contends that the premiums are part of the cost of doing business and that the nursing homes should cover the costs themselves.
Both the Franklin County Common Pleas Court and the 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Columbus have sided with the state. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case last month and is expected to rule later this year.
Many lobbyists for the industry said they weren't aware of the lawsuit or knew little about it.
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