Latest news with #HB233
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Georgia now has official state stew, bread
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (WSAV) — Georgia officially has a state stew and a state bread! House Bill 233 was signed into law Monday that marked Brunswick stew as the official state stew. The stew is a Georgia classic, made with meat, tomatoes and fresh vegetables. According to the bill, a plaque on an old iron pot in Brunswick declares the first Brunswick stew was made in it on July 2, 1898, on nearby St. Simons Island. 'Contrary to claims by other states, Georgia, and specifically Brunswick, Georgia, is the birthplace of Brunswick stew,' the bill said. Georgians know that cornbread often goes hand in hand with Brunswick stew, and the state decided it would stay that way. HB 233 also designated cornbread as Georgia's official state bread. 'Corn is grown, ground, and made into cornmeal at historic mills like Prater's Mill, Berry College Mill, and Ogeechee River Mill and modern mills like Southeastern Mills and Logan Turnpike Mill,' the bill said. 'Cornmeal is then sold in stores and served in eating establishments throughout the state, and cornbread is enjoyed by young and old at home and in restaurants' Cornbread enjoys a singular stature in Georgia history and culture that is rivaled only by its undeniable appeal as a versatile and satisfying food It also designated the fourth Friday in November as 'National Sugarcane Syrup Day' in Georgia. Legislators said that making it the day after Thanksgiving is particularly fitting, 'as it is not only a time when families gather and celebrate together, but also a time when some say sugarcane is at its sweetest in Georgia.' Read the full bill here: HB-233-1Download Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Mexico expands health insurance coverage for diabetic foot ulcer treatments
The American Diabetes Association said New Mexico is the first U.S. state to require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover medically necessary treatments for diabetic foot ulcers. (Photo by Getty Images) More New Mexicans will be able to receive treatment for diabetic foot ulcers, thanks to a first-in-the-nation requirement for some health insurance plans to cover the costs. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on April 7 signed into law House Bill 233, which requires state-regulated health insurance plans to pay for medically necessary treatments for diabetic foot ulcers starting in 2026. In a news release on April 8, the American Diabetes Association applauded the new law and said it makes New Mexico the first U.S. state to require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover these treatments. Diabetes-related foot ulcers affect approximately 15 to 25% of all people with diabetes at some point in their lifetime, the ADA said in the news release, and 15% of people with a diabetes-related foot ulcer will require an amputation. In New Mexico, approximately 217,400 adults, or 13.1% of adults in the state, have diagnosed diabetes, with an estimated 9,800 adults receiving the diagnosis each year, according to the state Department of Health's analysis of HB233. Diabetic foot ulcers can lead to loss of the ability to walk, infection, hospitalization, lower-extremity amputation and death, according to a review article in the ADA's journal Diabetes Care. Christine Fallabel, the ADA's director of state government affairs, told Source NM that people with these ulcers have found that insurance does not cover the specialized podiatric treatments to fight the infection and save the foot. Other states have not tried to introduce similar legislation, Fallabel said, because there is a lot of stigma around diabetes and foot health, and policymakers generally don't know about the problem. Fallabel, who has lived with Type 1 Diabetes for the last 25 years, said one of those treatments, called topical oxygen therapy, has resulted in a 71% reduction in amputations, an 88% reduction in hospital visits and a six times higher likelihood of healing within three months, she said. 'There's really good data coming out about targeting diabetic foot ulcers with this high-pressure oxygen therapy that, until this bill was signed, most insurers wouldn't cover for one reason or another,' Fallabel said. Other services that podiatrists could try and would be covered by health insurance under the new law could also include antibiotics or physical therapy, Fallabel said. State-regulated health insurance plans include a range of private health insurance plans managed by the state government, Fallabel said. It does not include Medicare or Medicaid patients, she said. Some state Medicaid programs cover these kinds of treatments but New Mexico's does not, Fallabel said. During the recent legislative session, some lawmakers expressed interest in returning in a future session to change the Medicaid program to cover these treatments too, she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill to ban Planned Parenthood from teaching health in Utah schools advances, despite broad language concerns
SALT LAKE CITY () — A bill to block Planned Parenthood from teaching health classes in public schools is close to passing the Utah Legislature, despite concerns from opponents regarding its broad language. Opponents say the language of the bill is broad enough that it could block large hospital system employees — like the University of Utah or Intermountain Health — from teaching those school health programs. HB 233, being run by Nicholeen Peck (R – Tooele), blocks districts from 'allowing entities that perform elective abortions' — like Planned Parenthood — 'to provide health-related instruction or materials in public schools.' No elimination of Utah's social security tax, says state budget chair But critics worry the bill's language could encompass and ban trained health educators who work for the U of U at places like Primary Children's Hospital or Intermountain Health, who also may provide abortions and teach maturation or health-related curriculums. 'When I reached out to the bill drafters, they did confirm to me that that was the case,' Sen. Jen Plumb (D – Salt Lake City) said during Monday's 'These are some of our most dedicated, knowledgeable, pediatric folks in these huge systems, and so I wonder… how you would think about that — that we'd be eliminating that pool of educators,' Plumb asked the Peck to explain. Peck responded that the bill was not intended to do that, but rather it was meant to target those who perform 'elective' abortions. 'A hospital is not an elective abortion provider,' Peck said. 'A hospital might perform something that might be termed an abortion like a procedure… but it wouldn't be a place where a woman would just walk in and say, 'I want to have an abortion today.'' However, the bill does not define what constitutes an 'elective abortion provider,' meaning it could be interpreted to apply to any group who provides any type of abortion, whether medical or elective. Plumb gave the example of a child who may be pregnant as a result of rape, who may need to go to the hospital to receive specialized abortion care, which is allowed under Utah law. Plumb argued that the language could accidentally eliminate the potential for all those health professionals who worked at the hospital to teach in schools. Peck disagreed. 'Any medical professional that is not funded by an elective abortion provider is going to be allowed to teach,' Peck said. Sen. Daniel Thatcher (R – West Valley) also voiced concerns, saying he is 'not a fan' of abortion or Planned Parenthood, but he agreed there was a 'huge challenge' with the language as written. 'If we're trying to make it so that (Planned Parenthood) can't provide maturation curriculum, but the language we use is that we say, 'anyone that performs elective abortions,' then it's not restricted to just Planned Parenthood,' he said before voting not to move the bill forward. The bill's language reads as follows: '(A district) may not allow an entity employee, representative, or affiliate that performs elective abortions or provides debranded maturation curriculum to: deliver instruction or programs on all health or health-related topics in a school that receives state funding; provide materials or media on a health topic for distribution or display in a school that receives state funding, if the materials or media are created by, funded by, donated by, or bear the identifying mark of the entity or the entity's affiliate.' Despite the concerns, the bill narrowly passed the Senate committee 4-3, sending it to the full body. It has already passed the House and awaits its final votes before heading to the Governor's desk. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
