Capitol Comments

California Forbids Trans Fats

California became the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants July 25 when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 97 into law. The new law will phase out trans fats from restaurants beginning in 2010 and from retail baked goods by 2011.

And California, although first in the nation for such a move, is going even further with the ban by fining those who break the law anywhere from $25 to $1,000, according to the Associated Press.

Talk about a stick approach to health.

New report examines health reform strategies in Midwest

State strategies to contain health care costs and reform health systems are the focus of a new Midwestern Legislative Conference report, released last week in conjunction with the nonpartisan association’s four-day meeting in Rapid City, S.D.

Using case studies from each of the 11 Midwestern states, the report examines several key health care issues and highlights innovative efforts being implemented or explored in the region.

“Our nation’s health care system is ripe for transformation, innovation and reform, and as the case studies in this report show, this region and its policymakers can help lead the way,” said South Dakota Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tom Dempster, chair of the MLC.

Oklahoma Law Mandates Ultrasounds Before Abortions

A new law in Oklahoma set to take effect Aug. 1 requires all doctors to show ultrasound imaging to women considering abortions. The ultrasound imaging is mandatory for all abortions, except in an emergency.

Fifteen states—Ohio and South Dakota joined the list this year—require doctors to give women the option of seeing an ultrasound of the fetus before an abortion.

Oklahoma Senate Bill 1878 requires doctors to make the image of the unborn baby available to women in addition to performing an ultrasound on all women (except in life-threatening situations). It also requires doctors to discuss the condition of the fetus, including details about the arms, legs, hands, feet, facial features, beating heart and other functioning organs, according to Stateline.org. This must happen at least an hour before the abortion. The law does not provide any exceptions in cases of rape or incest, according to Stateline.org.

Oklahoma Sen. Todd Lamb authored the bill and told Stateline.org that it was intended to “ensure 100 percent informed consent. We’re short-changing these moms if they’re not receiving an ultrasound so they can see how their child is being formed.”

Alzheimer's and the Aging Population

Do you know the impact of cognitive impairment in your state?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with the states to collect that data to identify the health problems in each state to support health policy development, according to Lynda Anderson, chief of Healthcare and Aging Studies at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Anderson detailed the CDC’s work in the workshop, State Policy Challenges as More Seniors Live Longer, Friday during The Council of State Governments 75th Anniversary Spring Meeting.

The states lack information on cognitive impairment, she said. The CDC project, she said, has developed data to show what is happening in 100 cities across the country.

States Face New Challenges as Seniors Live Longer

Health Policy Task Force—State Policy Challenges as More Seniors Live Longer
Friday, May 30
8:30-10:15 a.m.
Griffin Gate Marriott, Terrace Ballroom, 1st Floor

The baby boomers are here, and that can only mean more challenges for state governments.

Mike Splaine, director of State Policy and Advocacy Programs for the Alzheimer’s Association in Washington, D.C., said as more people live longer, more will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

“The fast growing nature of the oldest old population in most states sets us up for more people with Alzheimer’s and related disorders than we know what to do with,” Splaine said.

Splaine will present new figures on Alzheimer’s disease and discuss state policy options as part of the Friday morning health workshop, State Policy Challenges as More Seniors Live Longer.

States Can Take Action to Strengthen Medicaid

The federal government could be doing a lot more to help strengthen state Medicaid programs. But states shouldn’t wait for that action to come, said Vikki Wachino, who spoke about strengthening Medicaid programs during a Health Policy session Thursday.

Wachino, a consultant with the Strengthening Medicaid Initiative at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, said there are many things states can be doing to address the continuing challenges facing the Medicaid programs.

Four external elements—the declining availability of private health insurance, current economic conditions, increasing health care costs, and the stress economic conditions place on state budgets—are putting pressure on Medicaid programs, Wachino said.

The Strengthening Medicaid Initiative, she said, is a project to look at new approaches and develop new programs to make Medicaid stronger across the country.

Strengthening State Medicaid Programs Becomes Central Issue

The number of uninsured Americans is the highest on record. There’s been a serious decline in the amount of privately available coverage, especially for low-income Americans.

Those two facts, according to Vikki Wachino, mean “the need for Medicaid coverage now is as great or greater as it’s ever been.”

Wachino, an independent consultant with the Strengthening Medicaid Initiative at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said Medicaid plays a large role in states’ health care systems and that role is only going to grow.

Federal Government Still Bans Funding for Syringe Exchange

State syringe exchange programs that provide clean needles to drug users and others to stop the spread of HIV are not allowed to use federal funds. Since 1988, the federal government has prohibited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding to be used for syringe exchange programs.

And because of that, states that allow the syringe exchange programs—and states that even fund them—are struggling with funding in some cases with the absence of federal dollars and also federal policy support for the idea.

“It has a chilling effect, when you have the federal government saying that the science is not all there—it gives people an excuse not to do it or they actually believe what the government says,” Allan Clear, executive director of the California-based Harm Reduction Coalition, said of the federal ban on syringe exchange funding.

Rescuing Lost Seniors

Every year, hundreds of seniors and others with dementia wander away, on foot or driving, and if not found within 24 hours, at least half suffer serious injury or death, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.  As baby boomers age, the toll is expected to multiply.

Eight states offer a program called Silver Alert, which aims to help family members and providers deal with that problem. The program is patterned after a national program for missing children known as Amber Alert and has resulted in the safe return of a majority of those reported.

Breakthrough in Stem-Cell Research

Groundbreaking new stem-cell research that uses ordinary skin cells instead of human embryos has done little to quell the moral quandary over stem-cell research.

President Bush in his State of the Union address Jan. 28 said the new research “has the potential to move us beyond the divisive debates of the past.”

That hasn’t happened since the breakthrough last November.

Instead, scientists around the world quickly cautioned that years of work remained to perfect the technique, and continuing work on embryonic stem cells is an essential part of that process. And, scientists said, they also need money to continue embryonic studies.

Several states—California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin—have continued to lead the world in financial and political support for stem-cell research. Three states—Iowa, Massachusetts and Missouri—have made the research legal, but not offered state funding, while six states—Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota—have taken the path of most developed countries and restricted the studies.

For more information, visit Stateline.org.