NBC Nightly News (3/30, story 5, 2:40, Todd) reported that "last week some insurance companies claimed that vague language in the new law meant they could deny coverage of children with pre-existing conditions until 2014. Well, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a harshly-worded letter to insurance companies saying that was not the intention of the law. Well guess what? The insurance company sent a letter back saying they would comply with the Obama Administration's interpretation of these new rules."

        ABC World News (3/30, story 3, 2:15, Tapper) also reported that there is now "some clarity...on the confusion over whether or not the new law requires insurance companies to provide insurance for children with pre-existing conditions. The Obama Administration has said they will have the HHS Health and Human Services issue guidelines making it clear that insurance companies do have to do that as of September and the insurance industry has just said they will abide by those regulations."

        The New York Times (3/31, Pear) quotes Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, as saying, "Health plans recognize the significant hardship that a family faces when they are unable to obtain coverage for a child with a pre-existing condition. ... We await and will fully comply with" the new rules." According to the Times, the White House "immediately claimed victory. In a Twitter message, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, scored the tug of war as 'Kids 1, insurance 0.'"

The AP (3/31, Cooper, Chereb) reports, "Republican governors in two western states want to join in legal challenges to recent federal healthcare legislation, but each is meeting stiff resistance from the same obstacle: an attorney general from the rival party." The AP says that "amid campaign-year jockeying, high-profile healthcare disputes have erupted between the states' top elected officials in both Arizona and Nevada." For instance, "in Nevada, Democratic Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto rebuffed demands Tuesday from Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons that she join 14 of her colleagues in suing the federal government over health reform." Similarly, "in Arizona, Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat, also is declining to sue on his state's behalf."

        Utah's AG Contemplates Suit Challenging Federal Mandate On Insurance Exchanges. The Salt Lake Tribune (3/31, Stewart) reports that in addition to a lawsuit "challenging the constitutionality of healthcare reform," Utah State Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is also "contemplating...challenging the federal mandate that states create exchanges, which are marketplaces for purchasing health insurance. Utah is one of two states that already have exchanges, and the federal government has no right to tell Utah how to run it, contends Shurtleff." While he has not yet decided whether to file the suit, Shurtleff "said it could come as a separate cause of action within the lawsuit filed earlier this month by 13 states in Florida, or as a sister lawsuit in Utah's federal court."

        Georgia AG's Criticism Of Reform Suit Sparks Impeachment Calls. The New York Times (3/31, A14, Brown) reports, "In 14 states across the country, attorneys general have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the recent federal healthcare overhaul," but Georgia's Democratic attorney general Thurbert Baker "has rejected such lawsuits as 'frivolous' and 'a waste of taxpayer money.' Now that position has led to calls from Republican lawmakers for his impeachment. Thirty-one Republicans in the state legislature signed a resolution Tuesday calling for the impeachment of...Baker," who "is also a Democratic candidate in the race, expected to be closely fought, to succeed Gov. Sonny Perdue (R)."

        The resolution "claims Baker...is required by the Georgia constitution to follow Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue's direction and challenge the Democratic-backed healthcare bill," the AP (3/31, McCaffrey) reports. Nevertheless, "Perdue has said he will bypass Baker and appoint an outside counsel as a special attorney general to pursue a lawsuit pro bono on behalf of the state.

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