MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) – A federal judge has approved Wisconsin's request to join a lawsuit challenging health care reform.

Judge Roger Vinson's decision also allows Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, Wymong and Maine to join the lawsuit. In all, 26 states have entered into the challenge.

Wisconsin Attorney J.B. Van Hollen said Tuesday that the health care measure is unconstitutional because it forces Americans to buy health insurance by 2014 and because it would convert Medicaid into what he says is a federally-imposed universal health care regime.

“I've taken on this fight because it's the right thing to do and because the people of this state do not want Congress overstepping its bounds,” Van Hollen said in a prepared statement.