State Highlights: States Consider Death-With-Dignity Policies

Stateline: More States Consider 'Death With Dignity' Laws
Medical aid-in-dying has been approved through a variety of routes. Oregon (the first state where it became legal in 1997) and the state of Washington passed ballot measures. Vermont’s legislature adopted a law. And in New Mexico, as in Montana, it was allowed by the courts. A New Mexico district court judge ruled in January that medically assisted suicide was legal. The state attorney general has appealed the case to the state Court of Appeals and a ruling is expected in a few months. (Ollove, 3/9)

The Chicago Tribune: Legislation To Let Terminally Ill People Try Experimental Drugs Debated
Terminally ill patients would be allowed to try experimental drugs and treatments that have yet to be approved by the federal government under legislation being pushed by several lawmakers in Springfield. A handful of bills before the state legislature dubbed "Right to Try" would give patients with terminal illnesses the chance to use investigational drugs, biological products or devices that have gone through the first phase of clinical trials but have not been approved for general use by the Food and Drug Administration. If the measure is approved, Illinois would join at least four other states with similar laws on the books. Another 20 states are considering related measures. (Hellmann, 3/6)

The Washington Post: Maryland Weighs ‘Death With Dignity’ Legislation
Terminally ill patients and those who have cared for them asked Maryland lawmakers on Friday to give people facing death the right to end their lives on their own terms. The emotional testimony comes as the Maryland General Assembly weighs a “Death With Dignity” bill, a measure that would allow doctors to prescribe lethal medications to terminally ill patients. (Wiggins, 3/6)

NJ Spotlight: Slow-moving Review Process Snags Medicaid Payments To Nursing Homes, Patients
The computer system and county offices that determine whether New Jerseyans are eligible for Medicaid to pay for nursing home are antiquated and making the state the slowest in the region for determining benefits eligibility, according to nursing-home industry representatives. (Kitchenman, 3/6)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Insurance Issues Complicate New Pa. Health Official's Job
Ted Dallas knew he was walking into a crisis the late-January day he accepted the job as Pennsylvania's acting secretary of the Department of Human Services. He knew that, since early December, thousands of Pennsylvanians with alcohol and drug addictions had been locked out of treatment centers. And he understood the seriousness of their situation. (Calandra, 3/8)

Arizona Republic: Budget Packs Wallop For Universities, Hospitals
The loss of more than half a billion dollars in federal matching funds for Medicaid. Deep cuts at Arizona's three universities. Community colleges in the state's two largest counties losing all of their state funding. Counties and cities losing tax revenue. The budget state lawmakers approved Saturday hits several Arizona constituencies hard, in ways that could have long-term implications for the state's economy. (Nowicki, Pitzl and Wingett Sanchez, 3/7)

The Chicago Tribune: Eye Drop Bill Aims To Refill Gaps
Anthie Koromilas' right hand stiffens around the bottle of eye drops as she pulls down her cheek with her left and delicately squeezes the nozzle, just a few inches above her eye. She can't afford, she said, to waste a drop. People with chronic eye conditions like glaucoma would benefit from HB3137. (Hirst, 3/6)

The Texas Tribune: In Funding Fight, Cancer Care Could Be Collateral Damage
Kathleen Riley has had 14 rounds of chemotherapy and seven surgeries since she first found a lump in one of her breasts in April. It’s a regimen Riley says she wouldn’t have started if it weren’t for the medical team at Memorial Health System of East Texas. Unable to afford a mammogram after discovering the lump, Riley, 47, received a free cancer screening at the system's Livingston facility, a private specialty clinic that participates in the joint state-federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program. Doctors there helped her enroll in Medicaid to cover costs related to treating her cancer, including a double mastectomy performed two weeks ago. (Ura, 3/6)

Reuters: West Virginia Bans Abortions After 20 Weeks Over Governor's Veto
The Republican-controlled West Virginia legislature on Friday banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, overriding the governor's veto and joining 11 other states in prohibiting abortion at that point. The state Senate voted 27-5 to override the veto by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, a Democrat. The state House of Delegates had voted to override his veto on Wednesday. (3/6)

The Hill: West Virginia Overrides Veto To Ban Abortions After 20 Weeks
The West Virginia legislature on Friday voted to override Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's (D) veto over banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The move comes after Republicans in Congress also tried to pass a 20-week abortion ban but had to drop the effort in January after a revolt from female members and centrists. (Sullivan, 3/6)

Kansas City Star: Kansas Debates Regulation Of Mental Health Drugs For Medicaid Patients
During this legislative session, state health regulators have been working to repeal a 2002 law prohibiting the state from regulating mental health drugs used for treating Medicaid patients. The state, however, can regulate other drugs for treating heart disease, high blood pressure or cancer. ... Repealing the law would give the state the ability to limit access to drugs that could pose safety risks or be more expensive by requiring prior authorization for prescriptions. It could potentially save the state about $7 million, a figure hotly contested by mental health advocates. ... Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka urged lawmakers against rushing forward with the proposal until health officials adequately answered the concerns from mental health advocates. (Cooper, 3/8)

Kansas Health Institute News Service: Midwives Seek To Sever Physician Partnership Requirement
Kansas midwives who say they can safely help women deliver babies without formal physician partnerships made their case this week before a legislative committee. In a presentation that noted that midwifery dates back to ancient times, Johnson County midwife Catherine Gordon told the House Health and Human Services Committee that more women nationwide are turning to midwives rather than hospitals to help them during childbirth. (Marso, 3/6)

The Des Moines Register: Is Medicaid Privatization About Money Or Health?
Iowa Medicaid leaders stress that the main reason they're shifting the $4 billion program to private management is because they hope doing so will improve participants' health. But some people fear the real point is to save serious money by limiting services. At a public hearing in Des Moines Friday, Department of Human Services Director Charles Palmer called the shift "a major venture" and "a journey." The department plans to turn over most of the state's Medicaid program to two to four managed care companies, starting next January. (Leys, 3/6)

North Carolina Health News: New Mental Health Center To Serve 11 Western NC Counties
Department of Health and Human Services grant funding will be used to provide a 24-hour urgent care and crisis facility for mental health and addiction treatment. (Sisk, 3/9)

The Des Moines Register: Project Assists With Managing Diabetes
Pam Matthews admits she was in denial when she was diagnosed with diabetes in 1997. She didn’t know much about what to do and didn’t want to bother managing it. More than a year ago, she was asked to participate in a pilot project through UnityPoint’s family medicine clinic at Eagle Grove that helped her find ways to better control her blood sugar. She had finally found a doctor she trusted, Dr. Dustin Smith, and his clinic was enrolling patients in a new diabetes management program. (Villanueva-Whitman, 3, 8)

Los Angeles Times: Health Benefits Are A Promise School Districts Find Hard To Keep
California school districts once viewed lifetime healthcare coverage for employees as a cheap alternative to pay raises. That decision is coming back to haunt school leaders, and districts are scrambling to limit the lucrative benefit promised decades ago. The price tag for retiree healthcare obligations has reached about $20 billion statewide — an amount systems are not prepared to absorb. (Torres, 3/7)