The Wall Street Journal reports that with healthcare reform stalled in Congress, legislators in at least 11 states are pursuing their own efforts to expand healthcare coverage. The Journal reports that California and Missouri bills would create statewide single-payer systems, while Virginia and New Jersey, among others, are mulling expansions of state aid.

        Virginia Senate approves preemptive individual mandate exemption. The Washington Post (2/2, Helderman) reports, "Virginia's Democratic-controlled state Senate passed measures Monday that would make it illegal to require individuals to purchase health insurance, a direct challenge to the party's efforts in Washington to reform healthcare." According to the Post, "The bills, a top priority of Virginia's 'tea party' movement, were approved 23 to 17 as five Democrats who represent swing areas of the state joined all 18 Republicans in the chamber in backing the legislation." The Post adds, "The action in Virginia...could indicate that the president is failing to reassure members of his own party that current reform efforts remain worthwhile."

        Conservatives push state constitutional amendments against health insurance mandates. The AP (2/2, Lieb) reports, "Conservative lawmakers in more than two-thirds of the states are forging ahead with constitutional amendments to ban government health insurance mandates." Because federal law trumps those of the states, such measures may have little effect, but the AP asserts it shows "the continued political potency of the issue for conservatives, who have used it extensively for fundraising and attracting new supporters."

The New York Times (2/2, McNeil) reports that President Obama's budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services was $81.3 billion, compared to $79.6 billion last year. According to the Office of Management and Budget, "the first priority...was to support health insurance reform by strengthening policy on the use of computerized records, financing research to compare the effectiveness of different medical treatments, and creating health centers to get more care to populations that lack it."

        CQ HealthBeat (2/2, Norman, subscription required) reports that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "said the budget is aimed at strengthening working families, investing in a foundation for future growth and 'bringing a new level of accountability and transparency to government.'" It includes "$25.5 billion for a six-month extension of Medicaid money" intended to continue "an increase in the federal match." Meanwhile, Obama proposed to cut anthrax vaccine research, a Children and Families Services job demonstration program, three congressionally earmarked projects in the Health Resources and Services Administration in Alaska and Mississippi and the Rural Communities Facilities Program.

        The Washington Post (2/2) reports that the administration requested "$1.6 billion more for child care and an additional $290 million for community health centers." The Wall Street Journal (2/1, Yoest, subscription required) also mentioned the increase in requested funding for health information technology and comparative effectiveness research, with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality getting $611 million next year. Additionally, $561 million would go towards dealing with Medicare fraud. Reuters (2/1) reports that the budget request does not include specific spending from healthcare reform legislation.

        The AP (2/2, Alonso-Zaldivar), the Time (2/1, Pickert) "Swampland" blog, CQ Today and Kaiser Health News (2/1, Carey, Appleby) also covered the story.