State Highlights: N.Y. Reaches Mental Health Coverage Agreement With Upstate Insurer; Texas Bill Would Keep Docs From Asking About Guns

The Associated Press: NY Settles With Excellus For More Mental Health Coverage
The New York attorney general has reached agreement with the largest upstate health insurer to cover more mental health and addictions treatment for its 1.5 million members. The settlement with Rochester-based Excellus Health Plan cites recent state and federal laws requiring mental health coverage at the same level as medical treatment. (3/18)

The Texas Tribune: Bill Would Prohibit Doctors From Asking About Guns
While legislation expanding how and where Texans can carry weapons is dominating the Legislature this week, one state lawmaker is targeting the doctor's office as a place to keep the federal government from learning who owns guns. Over the objections of the medical community, state Rep. Stuart Spitzer, R-Kaufman, has filed a bill that would prohibit doctors from asking patients whether they own a firearm and makes the Texas Medical Board, which licenses physicians, responsible for doling out punishment. (Walters, 3/18)

The Boston Globe: AG Maura Healey Proposes Ban On Sale Of E-Cigarettes To Minors
Attorney General Maura Healey on Tuesday proposed banning the sale of e-cigarettes to people younger than 18 and subjecting the devices to the same sales restrictions applied to traditional cigarettes. The regulations, which Healey can put into effect after seeking public comment, would help standardize practices around the state, where Boston and 151 other municipalities, representing nearly two-thirds of the population, have enacted age-based limits on e-cigarettes. (Freyer, 3/17)

The Seattle Times: Vashon Parents Try To Get Along Despite Deep Divide Over Vaccination
Every few years, stories appear about Vashon Island and its high percentage of unvaccinated kids. It happened again a few weeks ago in the wake of reports of measles outbreaks nationwide. Then the temporary publicity fades and this island of 11,000 goes back to the same old, same old. Which is: a deep divide between the pro and con camps that in most other ways are so much alike. Except that this time it got pretty vitriolic. (Lacitis, 3/17)

The Associated Press: Arizona House Again Sets Debate On Abortion Restrictions
The Arizona House has scheduled debate on a bill barring women from buying any health care plan through the federal marketplace that includes abortion coverage after a one-day delay. Debate on the proposal backed by the Center for Arizona Policy is now set for Wednesday. (3/18)

USA Today: Montana House Passes Bill Banning Tele-Abortions
The Montana House backed a bill this week that would ban abortion via telemedicine while rejecting a motion to amend the legislation to "protect" men from vasectomy in the same manner. House Bill 587, sponsored by GOP Rep. Keith Regier of Kalispell, Mont., would make it a crime for doctors to administer pregnancy-ending pills without being in the same room — but telemedicine abortion is not happening in the state now. Regier said his concerns with abortion via telemedicine are that the doctor prescribing the pills may not have determined exactly how far along in a pregnancy the woman is nor whether she may have complications from an ectopic pregnancy. (Inbody, 3/17)

Stateline: States Not Eager To Regulate Fertility Industry
The Utah Legislature took a step last week into territory where state lawmakers rarely tread. It passed a law giving children conceived via sperm donation access to the medical histories of their biological fathers. The law itself stirred no controversy. The oddity was that the legislature ventured into the area of “assisted reproduction” at all. Assisted reproductive technology (ART) helps infertile couples to conceive. Compared to many other industrialized nations, neither the U.S. nor state governments do much to oversee the multibillion-dollar industry. (Ollove, 3/18)

Los Angeles Times: Health Agency For The Poor Spends $476,000 On Meals, Entertainment
Los Angeles County supervisors chided officials with the L.A. Care public health plan after an audit found that the agency spent $476,000 on meals and entertainment between October 2013 and January of this year. The audit released last week found that the health plan -- an independent tax-exempt agency that has a $4.1-billion annual budget and provides managed healthcare services to low-income county residents -- was in good financial shape and that administrative costs were lower than those of other similar plans. (Sewell, 3/17)