State issues

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted the recent federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in California and touted her support for policies that would strengthen the rights of cannabis patients.

"I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana to alleviate the suffering of patients in California," she said in a statement earlier this week.

Pelosi joins other lawmakers in criticizing the recent crackdown, including Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who called the recent government actions "bad politics and bad policy."

The efforts "undermine a policy that has been in place under which the federal government did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws," Pelosi said.

Federal authorities have shut down more than 200 dispensaries in the Golden State — where the sale and consumption of marijuana is permitted in some cases — since President Obama took office in 2009, according to Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group.

Officials sent warning letters to an additional 10 cannabis dispensaries in Santa Barbara County this week, calling them "illegal marijuana stores," according to reports.

Pelosi, who represents part of San Francisco, called the matter a "states' rights issue" and asked the federal government to respect the wishes of the people in the states who voted to legalize medicinal marijuana.

“I have long supported efforts in Congress to advocate federal policies that ... prevent the federal government from acting to harm the safe access of medicinal marijuana provided under state law," she said.

While campaigning for president in 2008, Obama advocated a more hands-off approach to the enforcement of federal laws concerning the drug.

"What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state laws on this issue simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism," he said in an interview with the Marijuana Policy Project.

"We've got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with."

Faced with questions, Obama has since sought to clarify his administration's position on the issue, telling Rolling Stone earlier this month, "What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana."

He added that he can't "nullify congressional law."

Medical marijuana is currently legal in 16 states.

Frank said Obama is making a “grave mistake” with federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) on Thursday defended Planned Parenthood and criticized Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) for excluding the organization from the state’s healthcare program.

Pennsylvania is considering a referendum to let citizens ban laws forcing people to obtain health insurance in violation of the federal health law, Bloomberg reports.

Tea Party groups are lambasting House Republicans' federal medical malpractice bill, Talking Points Memo reports.

Romney couldn't escape birth control questions while campaigning in Illinois, CNN reports.

NPR talks to patients in Texas and Massachusetts — the two extremes when it comes to insurance coverage — about what it's like to need healthcare in those two states.

The Atlantic showcases 10 graphs that help visualize where Americans' health dollars are going.

They argue that Congress' attempt to reform medical malpractice damages infringes upon states' rights

Texas passed regulations barring "affiliates of abortion providers" from participating in the state's Medicaid program.

States vary widely in how effective they are at creating systems that help healthcare providers and insurers share health information such as insurance claims and medical data, according to a new study from two researchers at the Brookings Institution.

The report looked at five states — Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Tennessee and California — that have created state-level health information exchanges. It found that Massachusetts and Indiana have been more successful "across a number of metrics."

The Georgia Supreme Court struck down the state's assisted-suicide law, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Nearly half of elementary school children can still buy junk food at school, The Washington Post reports.

A new Commonwealth Fund survey finds a third of low-income Americans have lacked health insurance for at least two years.

California has to grapple with the healthcare costs of its aging inmates, the Merced Sun-Star concludes.

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association compiles the top 10 advances in cardiovascular and stroke research in 2011.

With less than a year to go, states are missing key federal guidance on how to create health insurance exchanges, Kaiser Health News reports. 

The Virginia Senate passed legislation requiring an ultrasound before an abortion, The Washington Post reports.

Consumers Union applauds HHS for starting online disclosure of bloodstream infections at hospitals.

Aetna saw a 73 percent jump in profits last quarter, the AP reports.

New York is again trying to pass a health insurance exchange bill, Kaiser Health News reports.

Winning the 2012 election is Republicans' only shot at repealing the healthcare reform law, Talking Points Memo opines.

Diabetes costs the average American $160,000 in lost wages, according to a new study in Health Affairs.

Nicotine replacement therapies don't work, says a new Harvard study.

The Association for Community Affiliated Plans is proposing a new model of care for so-called "dual eligibles" in which states would contract with qualified health plans or provider groups to provide federally mandated benefits.