Secretary of State Jon Husted said Thursday his colleagues in the Republican-controlled state Legislature should set the issue aside for the lame duck session and work on a bipartisan basis.

Proposed election law changes sparked partisan rancor in the state Legislature this year. And Ohio’s rules on early voting and provisional ballots have been the subject of recent legal disputes.

Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus  has said that when the Legislature returns next week, he’ll appoint a small working group to review whether the law needs to be updated.

Niehaus said ideas need to be discussed while the election is fresh in people’s minds.

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson rejected the government’s argument that it has the power under the Constitution to require people to buy health insurance. Hudson said the decision to purchase or decline coverage is beyond the Constitution’s historical reach. Incoming attorney general Mike DeWine says he agrees with the ruling.

“The judge today, the federal judge, basically said the same thing that I’ve been saying and that is, that the Commerce Clause does not give Congress does not give the federal government the power to pass a mandate to compel every citizen of this country to buy health insurance,” says DeWine.

But what about citizens, who, for example, live in states where car insurance is mandatory? Peter Shane, a professor at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, says the issue centers on whether Congress has the authority to require certain purchases. Shane says the judge’s objection would not prevent states from mandating the purchase of health insurance.

“It’s pretty hard to argue the decision whether or not to buy health insurance is not an economic decision,” Shane says. “But the judge nonetheless reaches that resolve and in this highly technical, highly formulistic way reaches a conclusion that is different from the other judges who have decided the same issue thus far.”

Two other federal judges have upheld president Obama’s health reform law. The matter might ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A tea party group called the Ohio Liberty Council wants voters amend the state constitution so Ohio won’t take part in the new and sweeping federal law.

Attorney General Richard Cordray said Thursday that a summary of the issue offered for the November ballot is a “fair and truthful” reflection of the amendment.

Ohio health care and anti-poverty advocates had argued that the language understated the amendment’s impact and urged Cordray to reject the language.

The Ohio Ballot Board must still sign off on the proposed issue before its supporters can begin gathering petition signatures.

Blasting the federal mandate that everyone have health insurance or face fines, opponents of the law are labeling it unAmerican, arrogant and unconstitutional.

But as more and more people become insured under the just passed federal legislation, what’s the impact on the local clinic? Columbus Neighborhood Health Center Director Tom Horan only sees positives. For starters, he predicts that people with neighborhood clinics will still use those clinics.

“They’re going to go to the place that they’re most comfortable within their neighborhood to receive that care so we fully expect that we will see an increasing demand for services because they’re convenient still, they’re located in neighborhoods where people live and they see the health center as part of their community,” Horan says.

Horan says he expects an increase in visits as more people become Medicaid and Medicare eligible. In the long term, he says, community clinics will be able to add physicians and staff to meet the growing need.

“The more folks that will be covered under these different programs that are being reimbursed based on their costs, we’ll be able to see more, we’ll be able to add more providers and we’ll be able to expand our services as the need and demand for services is going to increase,” Horan says.

Horan says the health insurance overhaul is especially good news for the uninsured between the ages of 20 and 65. The legislation aims to insure them by 2014.

“Those are the ones that will be insured further down the line, who are really the ones that have really been lost in the system for a very long time,” Horan says. “So we’re very excited that those folks will be able to come in early. We see so many of those folks now, they have chronic illnesses: hypertension, diabetes; if they can come in early and start treatment early it’s going to make a big difference in the health outcomes in the long term.”

Horan says that people will not only have better health, but the health care system will save money by treating the chronically ill before they need expensive emergency treatments.

The state’s Republican delegation is expected to vote against the health care overhaul. How Ohio’s Democratic delegation votes is less clear. 15th District Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy was unavailable for an interview Monday; 18th District Congressman Zack Space’s office did not return phone calls. Dennis Kucinich representing the 10th District said Monday he did not want to talk about how he’d vote.

Meanwhile a new $1.3 million dollar ad campaign will target a group of House Democrats this week urging them to support the president’s plan. The ads are funded by labor unions and other groups backing health care reform. One of those targeted is Ohio’s 16th District Congressman John Boccieri who earlier voted against the measure. Boccieri faces intense pressure to switch his vote.

15th Congressional District Representative Mary Jo Kilroy spoke with some of seniors at the Canterbury Senior Apartments. Kilroy, a democrat, voted yes on the bill. Kilroy said the bill did not include everything she wanted but she said it’s a step toward increasing access to health care for millions of Americans.

She did not like the amendment that prohibits government subsidies or public insurance plans from paying for abortion procedures.

Kilroy voted no on the amendment but yes on the entire package. When asked if she would vote again for a bill that did not include an abortion provision she said…

“I’m not saying no to that possibility. I’m hoping that the senate works out better language than the house bill. But if it doesn’t I want to see health care pass,” Kilroy said.

Republican Steve Austria represents Ohio’s 7th district. He voted no on the bill. Austria insists it will raise taxes. But he would consider voting for a bill if the reform process were slowed and focused lowering costs by means of tort reform and expanding health savings accounts.

“I certainly would be open to a bill of that nature. Unfortunately this bill does the opposite. It costs a trillion dollars. As a result it’s going to raise taxes,” Austria said.

The bill that passed Saturday included a public option but not one as broad as some democrats would have liked. Kilroy is confident the Senate also will have a public option in its version. Austria is optimistic, too, but for a different outcome. “I would oppose a government run or takeover of our health care system. And it certainly appears this plan is heading in that direction,” he said.

When asked if there is anything at all that would cause the congresswoman to cast a no vote to the Senate bill Kilroy said naming deal breakers in her words “is a dangerous place to be.”

“Not something that I want to say. I would like the Senate bill to respect women’s rights. I would like a Senate bill that puts a public option into the bill. But I’m waiting to see what they will do,” she said.

While republicans and democrats are having a tough time at compromise, Austria said he did not dislike everything about the bill.

“I liked the fact that the bill did look at helping those individuals with pre-existing conditions. I think it’s very important that we be focused in that area,” Austria said.

12th District Congressional Representative Republican Pat Tiberi said in a written statement he is for health care reform that actually lowers health care costs.

Tiberi says current proposals do not address the cost of practicing defensive medicine, that is, ordering multiple tests to try to protect health care providers and medical facilities from malpractice cases.

Tiberi says he agreed completely with President Obama’s reference to the idea of selling health insurance across state borders, just as auto, homeowners and other types of insurance policies are currently sold.

Tiberi says he has reservations about adding a public option to the list of possible insurers

Pat Tiberi represents the 12th Congressional District in central Ohio.

Since 2008, Ohio State University Medical Center has used an electronic system to keep up with patients’ health records. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said this kind of program is a “building block” to a reformed healthcare system.

Republicans and Democrats in both chambers are at odds over a healthcare overhaul. Sebelius remains optimistic for a bipartisan bill, but she said party loyalty runs deep.

“I was, um, dismayed to hear a prominent senator involved in these discussions suggest that even if the bill had everything he liked he was unlikely to vote for it unless more members of his party were to vote for it. I hope we get beyond that,” Sebelius said.

One major point of contention in the healthcare overhaul is a public option or a government run insurance plan. Both Sebelius and Democratic Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy favor one. They say a public option would cuts costs and create competition in the private sector. But Critic says a public plan would be costly and put private insurers out of business.

Kilroy said even if a public option were taken out of the House legislation the bill still would have many good components. But she remains non-committal.

“So would I vote for a great bill if it didn’t have one piece of it? You know, I want to make sure that we don’t lose this momentum. I want to see if we can take advantage of this point in time to make it happen,” Kilroy said.

Sebelius said the country is closer to healthcare reform than it has been in 70 years.

“We were able to successfully convince leadership to postpone any full House consideration on the floor until after the first of September,” Space said. “That’s a good thing. It gives not just members of Congress the time they need to digest this very comprehensive and very complex legislation – over a thousand pages – it also gives the American public a chance to understand it and know what we’re getting into.”

“I, along with just about every other member of, not just the Blue Dogs, but the Democratic Caucus – and I think a lot of Republicans – believe that we have to fix health care in this country; we have no choice but to deal with the problems of how it’s delivered, how it’s consumed, and almost all of us are committed to getting something done this year,” Space said. “I just think getting something done this year is a far cry from getting something done this week.”

President Barack Obama told a health care forum in North Carolina that he doesn’t expect Congress to vote on legislation until the fall, because bills aren’t even out of committees. But he said it’s “OK” that Congress missed the deadline, adding, “We don’t want to just do it quickly, we want to do it right.” Still, he signaled that he won’t be patient if negotiations continue to drag.