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CT: HMO pullouts upend Connecticut Medicaid
By Jane Zhang, The Wall Street Journal (subscription)
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - What started as a legal-aid lawyer's effort to improve health care for poor people has left Connecticut's Medicaid program in turmoil, jeopardizing health care for thousands of poor residents.
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TN: Bredesen budget cuts jobs, TennCare, pre-K
By Richard Locker, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) (registration)
Funding for state universities will be cut $56 million and 80,000 fewer people with huge medical bills will be enrolled in TennCare.
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NC: Easley tax proposals greeted coolly
By Mark Binker, The News & Record (Greensboro)
Gov. Mike Easley's proposal to raise taxes on alcohol and cigarettes ran into nearly immediate skepticism from senior lawmakers Monday, who characterized the idea as anywhere between "ambitious" and "unlikely."
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WI: Medical copter lacked two safety upgrades
By Stacy Forster and Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The company that operated the medical helicopter that crashed near La Crosse is updating its fleet with the latest safety equipment but had not retrofitted that aircraft, officials said Monday.
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DE: Del. AG finds abuse at hospital
By Lee Williams, The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington)
The Delaware Attorney General's Office has found "systemic violations" of the state's Mental Health Patient's Bill of Rights during a 10-month investigation into allegations of patient abuse at the Delaware Psychiatric Center.
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FL: Inmates say prison food made them sick
By Alex Leary, St. Petersburg Times
Florida's prison system had already fined its food provider $241,000 this year over staffing and supply issues. And then 277 inmates said they became sick last month after eating chili.
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HI: HMSA offers free Part D talks
By The Star-Bulletin Staff, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Members of Hawaii Medical Service Association who have questions about their medications under Medicare Part D plans can get the answers from a free HMSA program.
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IA: State to shrink Hawk-I ad budget
By Tony Leys, The Des Moines Register
Iowans will see fewer billboards and TV ads for the Hawk-I insurance program starting in July, but administrators remain optimistic that they can enroll thousands more children using other means.
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IL: Lawmakers hear, see diabetic study
By Aaron Chambers, Rockford Register Star
If lawmakers can see the prevalence of diabetes in their communities on a big screen, they may be more motivated to set aside dollars necessary to better prevent the disease.
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LA: Bill would cut N.O.'s health care
By Jan Moller, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
The New Orleans region could lose up to $70 million a year in health care financing under a bill approved overwhelmingly by the Senate on Monday that aims to redistribute the way money is divided among southern Louisiana charity hospitals.
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MN: At The Capitol / Health bill OK'd in House, Senate
By Bill Salisbury and Rachel E. Stassen-Berger, St. Paul Pioneer Press (registration)
Minnesota lawmakers defied a veto threat from Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Monday in approving a reform measure that would define affordable health care, offer more Minnesotans state-subsidized health care and promote public health.
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NC: Funds for mental health in governor's plan
By Lynn Bonner, The News & Observer (Raleigh) (registration)
Gov. Mike Easley's proposed budget seeks to improve the state's troubled mental health system, shoring up local services and state hospital care. But Easley, legislators and others concerned about mental health services said still more needs to be done.
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NC: Easley seeks escalation in 'sin taxes'
By Benjamin Niolet, Dan Kane and Mark Johnson, The Charlotte Observer (registration)
Gov. Mike Easley's plan to give teachers dramatic raises and spend $68 million to reform the mental health system depends on his ability to sell increases in so-called "sin taxes" to the legislature in an election year.
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NJ: N.J. hospital workers rally against proposed budget cuts
By Tom Hester Jr., The Associated Press, The Philadelphia Inquirer (registration)
TRENTON, N.J. -- Gov. Corzine said yesterday that he was "bound and determined" to right troubled state finances as New Jersey hospital workers rallied outside the Statehouse against his plan to cut state hospital aid by 14 percent.
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OH: Gay rights groups launch hospital ratings
By David Crary, the Associated Press, Toledo Blade
NEW YORK - Just over half of 88 hospitals got top marks under a new rating system created by two national gay-rights organizations that hope the standards will result in more compassionate treatment of gay and lesbian patients.
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PA: Rendell says he'll veto weakened ban on smoking
By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A House-Senate panel had been expected to adopt a compromise bill yesterday outlining which workplaces had to be smoke-free, but Gov. Ed Rendell changed things with just a few words at a news conference.
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TN: $100M fund to attract jobs
By Tom Humphrey, Knoxville News Sentinel (registration)
Gov. Phil Bredesen proposed Monday a revised state budget that puts $100 million into a new economic development "contingency fund" while cutting $80 million from a TennCare program for the "medically needy."
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TN: Bredesen focuses cuts on three areas
By Theo Emery and Jennifer Brooks, The Tennessean (Nashville)
The state should cut from TennCare spending, higher education and employees' salaries to respond to its deepening economic downturn, Gov. Phil Bredesen told lawmakers Monday, saying the state must act "decisively and conservatively" to weather its financial crisis.
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TN: Bredesen focuses cuts on three areas
By Theo Emery and Jennifer Brooks, The Tennessean (Nashville)
The state should cut from TennCare spending, higher education and employees' salaries to respond to its deepening economic downturn, Gov. Phil Bredesen told lawmakers Monday, saying the state must act "decisively and conservatively" to weather its financial crisis.
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WA: Washington holds mental health summit
By Austin Jenkins, Northwest Public Radio
Washington state has embarked on a five-year effort to transform the way mentally ill people are diagnosed and treated. The idea is to bring a public health approach to mental health -- that means a focus on prevention.
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WI: State lawmakers set plan to fix budget
By Steven Walters, Patrick Marley and Stacy Forster, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Legislative leaders on Monday announced a budget-repair package they intend to pass over the next two days - a plan Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle said he expects to rework with vetoes when it hits his desk.
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Parents turn to states for autism help
By Daniel C. Vock, Stateline.org Staff Writer
(UPDATED 4 p.m. EDT, Thursday May 1) One of the toughest problems facing autism patients, their families and policymakers is paying for treatment. Families are increasingly relying on states to help them cope with the financial, medical and educational needs.
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Medicaid: Biggest insurer is a budget buster
By Daniel C. Vock, Stateline.org Staff Writer
Medicaid went largely unnoticed when it first came into being in mid-1965, meriting only passing mention from President Lyndon B. Johnson at a bill-signing ceremony in Independence, Mo., where he trumpeted passage of the Medicare health plan for Americans over age 65. But four decades later, Medicaid’s numbers are eye-popping. It is now the nation’s largest health insurance program, covering 59 million poor people, or one in six Americans, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. It pays for 37 percent of all births in the United States and helps foot the bills for more than 60 percent of all patients in nursing homes.
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