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• Bumpy Start for Benefits for Same-Sex Military Couples
• Sep. 4, 2013
• Tuesday was the first working day that gays in the military could apply for benefits after the Pentagon announced it would recognize same-sex marriages.

• Feds Extend Indiana's Medicaid Pilot
• Sep. 4, 2013
• President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul envisioned that about half of Indiana’s uninsured residents would get coverage through an expansion of Medicaid, the jointly run federal and state health program for the poor.

• In Kentucky, a Rare Southern Embrace of Obamacare
• Sep. 3, 2013
• Gov. Steve Beshear’s all-out support for President Barack Obama’s health care reform law puts him starkly at odds with Kentucky’s senators — McConnell and Rand Paul — who argue that neither the country nor the state can afford a new entitlement program that they say has already raised premiums and kicked people off their existing plans.

• Oklahoma's Welfare Drug Testing Proves Costly
• Sep. 3, 2013
• Efforts to identify and prevent Oklahomans high on illegal drugs from receiving certain taxpayer-financed welfare benefits cost the state more than $82,700 in the first seven months after a new law took effect.

• Bill to Expand Nurses' Roles to Ease Doctor Shortage Dies
• Sep. 3, 2013
• An effort to ease a shortage of primary-care doctors in some California communities by letting nurse practitioners operate more independently has flat-lined in the Legislature after a fierce lobbying battle. A bill by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) would have allowed nurse practitioners, who have more training than registered nurses, to practice without the direct supervision of a physician. The proposal failed in a committee Friday, under fire from the California Medical Assn., the powerful lobbying arm for the state's physicians. The organization teamed with some specialists and labor unions to mobilize lobbyists, engage doctors across the state and even dedicate Twitter accounts as it waged its campaign against the bill. The group supported a separate measure to permit nurse practitioners and some other non-physicians to perform first-trimester abortions, which lawmakers passed and sent to Gov. Jerry Brown last week. Jockeying over the scope of medical professionals' practice has intensified this year as California prepares for full implementation of the new national healthcare law, which will bring an influx of newly insured patients.

• Breaking Down the Traditional Caseworker Model
• Sep. 1, 2013
• Facing smaller staffs and budgets, nearly every state or local agency serving the poor has struggled to do so in a timely manner. A new approach in Connecticut is getting social services to people cheaper and faster.

• California Tackles Runaway Hospital Pricing
• Sep. 1, 2013
• The state’s competitive experiment, being watched by both the public and private sectors, has dropped the cost of health care without sacrificing quality.

• The IRS and Medicare to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages
• Aug. 30, 2013
• All same-sex couples who are legally married will be recognized as such for federal tax purposes, even if the state where they live does not recognize their union.

• Washington State to Boost Care for Medicaid Youths
• Aug. 30, 2013
• In what all sides hailed as a landmark agreement, the state of Washington has agreed to fundamentally change the way it provides mental-health care to the most troubled children and youth who qualify for Medicaid.

• Michigan Joins 24 Other States Expanding Medicaid
• Aug. 28, 2013
• It took two votes and eight hours of mostly closed-door politicking and vote wrangling, but the state Senate approved a plan late Tuesday to expand Medicaid health care coverage to 470,000 low-income Michiganders.

• As Abortion Access Improved in Iowa, the Number of Women Getting Them Dropped 30%
• Aug. 28, 2013
• A surprising thing has happened since a controversial video-conferencing system tripled the number of Iowa towns where women could obtain abortions: The annual number of abortions has dropped 30 percent in the state.

• Michigan Senate's Long-Awaited Vote on Medicaid Expansion Coming Soon
• Aug. 27, 2013
• The issue has been bubbling in the Legislature since the spring when Gov. Rick Snyder backed the expansion. The House approved the plan in June, but the Senate decided to take up the matter when lawmakers return from their two-month summer break this week.

• Defending Abortion Limits Can Cost States Millions
• Aug. 27, 2013
• Just last week, Idaho was ordered to cover the $376,000 in legal fees a woman there spent on suing the state after she was charged for an illegal abortion, according to the Associated Press. Combined with its past defense of abortion limits, the state has shelled out more than $1 million since 2000. And it’s far from alone.

• L.A. County Foster Care Shortage Reaches Crisis Level
• Aug. 26, 2013
• Los Angeles County's shortage of foster care beds has reached a crisis point, with state officials threatening to impose fines because too many children are languishing in sometimes chaotic holding rooms during traumatic separations from their families.

• N.J.'s New Gay Conversion Therapy Ban Challenged in Federal Court
• Aug. 26, 2013
• The law (A3371) , signed by Gov. Chris Christie on Monday, prevents any licensed therapist, psychologist, social worker or counselor from using sexual orientation change efforts with a children under age 18.