State Highlights: Vt. House Votes To End Philosophical Vaccine Exemption; Mo. Home Health Wage Plan Hits Legislative Roadblock

The Associated Press: Vermont House Votes To End Philosophical Vaccine Exemption
Reversing an action it took three years ago, the Vermont House voted Tuesday to go along with the Senate's long-standing wish to end the philosophical exemption that allowed some parents not to get their kids fully vaccinated. The House voted 85-57 to end the exemption and make full immunization a condition of attending school. The vote came after nearly four hours of impassioned debate that pitted concern for improved public health versus maximizing personal choice. (Gram, 5/12)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Home Health Workers' Fight For Higher Wage Hits Roadblocks
A years-long battle to raise the base pay for certain Missouri home health workers has hit significant roadblocks during the closing days of the legislative session. A committee voted Tuesday to delay a wage plan agreed to by the workers’ union and a state board, a move that gives state lawmakers until next year to decide whether to permanently block the proposal. (Shapiro, 5/13)

The Washington Post: Bill De Blasio Proposing National Paid Family Leave That His Own Employees Don’t Get
When New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio rolls out his liberal response to the Contract with America today in Washington, his 13-point plan will call for a $15 minimum wage, universal pre-kindergarten programs — and paid family leave. That left some New York City employees scratching their heads: The half a million people who work for the city don’t receive paid maternity or paternity leave through their own health plan. In fact, New York City’s health plan lags far behind even the most basic Affordable Care Act plans when it comes to maternity care. The health-care plan is one of a number of plans grandfathered into the ACA, which means it doesn’t have to meet standards the law requires of other plans. (Wilson, 5/12)

The Associated Press: Indiana's HIV Outbreak Grows To 153 Confirmed Cases
State health officials say southeastern Indiana’s HIV outbreak tied to needle-sharing among intravenous drug users has reached 153 confirmed cases. The number announced Tuesday is up from a total of 150 confirmed and preliminary positive cases that were reported last Thursday. (5/12)

Kaiser Health News: With Specialists In Short Supply, L.A. County Turns To e-Consulting
Doctors called it the black hole. If their low-income or uninsured patients needed specialty care, they put in a referral to the massive Los Angeles County health care bureaucracy and then waited — for weeks or even months. It could take eight months to see a neurologist, more than three to see a cardiologist. (Gorman, 5/13)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: More Georgia Rural Hospitals Opt Out Of Birthing Babies
More than 30 small-town hospitals in Georgia have shuttered their labor and delivery units over the years, and Emanuel Medical is slated to become one of them. The closings have escalated in the past five years to about two a year, said Pat Cota, executive director of the Georgia OBGyn Association. (Anderson, 5/12)

Georgia Health News: Governor Vetoes Agency For Older Georgians
As expected, Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have created a separate state agency devoted to older Georgians. House Bill 86 had passed overwhelmingly in the General Assembly session. It would have moved the current Division of Aging Services out of the Department of Human Services. The new agency, the Adult and Aging Services Agency, would have been attached to the Department of Community Health. (Miller, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Will Scott Walker’s Budget Troubles Hurt His Potential 2016 Bid?
The promised revenue from the Republican governor’s previous budget moves has not fully materialized, leading Walker and GOP lawmakers to propose another round of reductions — including cuts in funding for public schools, the university system, health-care programs and a slew of other programs. The Republican-controlled legislature says it won’t be raising taxes, no matter what, though it might increase fees for registering a car or visiting a state park. (Johnson, 5/12)

California Healthline: Coalitions Form To Get Slice Of Budget
Two coalitions of health care providers, advocates and medical groups announced their formation in the past week and said they would try to ramp up pressure for a couple of key budget issues as the state budget talks intensify. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has until Friday to release his May revision of the state budget. The Legislature will begin public hearings on the budget next week, beginning May 18. (Gorn, 5/12)

Minneapolis Star Tribune: With Clock Ticking At Capitol, Budget Talks Continued Into Night
Gov. Mark Dayton and top DFL and GOP legislative leaders continued private meetings Tuesday on the two-year state budget, trying to bridge broad disagreements over education spending, tax cuts, transportation and health programs. ... DFLers, meanwhile, drilled in on the Republican proposal to end MinnesotaCare, a public health insurance program with about 90,000 participants. Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said budget talks had stalled because the GOP would not surrender that provision. “That’s a nonstarter,” Bakk said. The time available to work all this out is shrinking quickly. To avoid a special session, lawmakers must pass a complete two-year budget by midnight on Monday. (Condon and Simmons, 5/13)

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Minnesota Teachers' Salaries Stall, But Health Spending Soars
The amount Minnesota school districts spend on teacher salaries and benefits outpaced the rate of inflation between 2003 and 2014, with the largest growth recorded in the cost of pensions and health care. A Star Tribune analysis of compensation data showed that teachers’ take-home pay has declined an average of 2 percent statewide after adjusting for inflation. But the cost of benefits such as health care and pensions, paid by districts, has risen 29 percent above the rate of inflation during that same period. (Lopez, 5/13)

San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News: Bay Area Sleep Clinic Operators Targeted By Feds In Fraudulent Billing Suit
The United States has joined a whistleblower case alleging that two operators of more than a dozen Bay Area sleep clinics fraudulently billed Medicare for sleep diagnostic tests that did not meet federal standards, officials announced Tuesday. Saratoga residents Anooshiravan Mostowfipour, 57, and Tara Nader, 56, own and operate sixteen sleep clinics throughout the South Bay, under the name Bay Sleep Clinic, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. Mostowfipour and Nader also own Amerimed Corporation, which distributes medical equipment under the name Amerimed Sleep Diagnostics. (Nelson, 5/12)

The Oregonian: Marijuana Politics In Oregon Legislature: Outlook Still Hazy
Oregon legislators still appeared at an impasse Tuesday over a controversial bill that would put new limits on the medical marijuana industry in Oregon -- but key legislators played down the idea that it would lead legislative leaders to dissolve the House-Senate marijuana committee. (Mapes, 5/12)

North Carolina Health News: Tanning Bed Bill Headed To NC Senate Floor To Keep Teens Away
With his widow in the room, the committee green-lighted a bill named for the late Rep. Jim Fulghum, who died in the summer of 2014 after a sudden, quick battle with late stage cancer. The Jim Fulghum Teen Skin Cancer Prevention Act would keep teens under the age of 18 from using tanning beds ahead of proms and trips to the beach. (Hoban, 5/13)

Reuters: Arizona Prosecutors Charge Woman Who Faked Cancer
An Arizona woman was charged with fraud and identity theft after faking cancer to get the state to pay for her late-term abortion five years ago, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Chalice Renee Zeitner, 29, also faces one count each of felony theft and forgery stemming from the scheme in Phoenix between March and 2010, according to a statement from the state Attorney General's Office. (Schwartz, 5/13)