State issues

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.

In one the most unusual potential partnerships inspired by President Obama's healthcare reform law, West Virginia is talking to the Virgin Islands about possibly partnering to create an insurance exchange, Kaiser Health News reports.

The law requires states to have insurance exchanges in place by 2014 or have the federal government run things. The law allows states to band together, but insurance officials warn that joint exchanges are complicated because states have widely varying insurance laws and carriers.

West Virginia already processes Medicaid claims for the U.S. territory, KHN reports, making the state a logical partner.

California can't slash its Medicaid payments to hospitals despite getting the go-ahead from the Obama administration, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Los Angeles-based Judge Christina Snyder granted an order stopping cuts of more than 20 percent for skilled nursing services provided by hospitals, Bloomberg reported. 

"The state's fiscal crisis does not outweigh the serious irreparable injury the plaintiffs would suffer absent the issuance of an injunction," Snyder wrote.

California said it will appeal the decision.

The ruling comes after the Obama administration approved California's request for massive cuts earlier this year. The cuts would help Gov. Jerry Brown shore up the state's dismal finances but could jeopardize President Obama's healthcare reform law, which expands Medicaid to 15 million low-income Americans.

The liberal group Progress VA launched a petition Wednesday that seeks to pressure Virginia state lawmakers into severing ties with an industry-funded association that wrote the state's challenge to President Obama's healthcare reform law.

Progress VA says the state has spent $232,000 over the past decade so lawmakers can attend meetings of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an association of conservative lawmakers that writes pro-business legislation that state legislators can then introduce as their own. 

ALEC drafted Virginia's ban on requiring people to have health insurance, a measure that has been adopted by 14 states so far. The "Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act" is on the ballot in Montana, Wyoming, Alabama and Florida next year.

Michigan has hit a roadblock with its healthcare exchange, The Associated Press reports.

Medicare penalties for readmissions could be a tough hit on hospitals serving the poor, reports Kaiser Health News.

The law on who controls the rights to embryos when a couple break up remains unclear, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A two-year doc fix is still in play as the House prepares to vote on the payroll-tax package, Modern Healthcare reports.