Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: In Pushing For Legislation, N.J. Gov. Turns Up Heat On State's Largest Insurer; Ohio Senate Approves Budget With Trims to Medicaid, Other Human Services Programs
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie amped up pressure on the state鈥檚 largest health insurer on Wednesday, blasting what he said are systemic failures by the company while pushing for legislation he has proposed to give the state more control over its finances. At a news conference, the governor said Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has been the subject of repeated state-enforcement actions for more than a year, including a $15.5 million fine levied on Monday. (King, 6/21)
The Ohio Senate on Wednesday passed a $65.4 billion two-year state budget after making more than 150 changes to the bill passed by the House, setting the stage for a week of behind-the-scenes maneuvers and compromises between the two chambers...聽Senate Republicans closed the anticipated $1 billion gap through cutting state agency spending across the board, eliminating with unspent funds and trimming Medicaid administration costs. (Borchardt, 6/22)
The foster care system in Kansas has problems, but a national child welfare group sees one area where it could lead the way for other states. Tracey Feild, director of the child welfare strategy group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said work on childhood trauma by KVC Kansas, one of the state鈥檚 two foster care contractors, could be a model for others. The Casey Foundation sponsors the annual Kids Count report and other child-focused research. (Wingerter, 6/21)
UT Health San Antonio has received more than $2.3 million from the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund to study treatments for cancer and heart disease...聽In addition to the five individual awards, UT Health also received $75,000 for a pilot study on the molecular mechanisms of anticancer drugs. (Pound, 6/21)
A new Georgia State University study has found that one of the areas with high incidence of inflammatory breast cancer is in South Georgia...聽They found 聽that South Georgia; Dallas, Texas; and communities in聽 North Carolina appear to contain the bulk of the 鈥渉ot spots.鈥 (Miller, 6/21)
A decade of health-care reform had filtered more people than ever into hospitals and doctor鈥檚 offices, but preventive care stayed out of reach for most of the 11 million people in the country without legal status...聽The health of 11 million people was left to a patchwork of charity and community clinics. It was a safety net full of holes:The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that undocumented immigrants are significantly less likely than legal immigrants to see a doctor, visit the emergency room or report themselves in good health. (Woods, 6/21)
The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed an expansive rewrite of the voter-approved marijuana legalization law Wednesday night 鈥 a bill that would alter major aspects of the referendum backed by 1.8 million voters just seven months ago...聽The House bill would sharply raise total pot taxes to a mandatory 28 percent, from a maximum of 12 percent in the ballot question. (Miller, 6/21)
