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The Department of Housing and Urban Development has for years neglected to enforce its own environmental regulations, resulting in lead poisoning of children in at least one public housing development and potentially jeopardizing residents’ health in thousands of other federally subsidized apartments near contaminated sites, according to an inspector general report obtained by The Washington Post. The agency’s watchdog reviewed HUD’s efforts to identify and mitigate health risks to residents of public housing near toxic waste dumps after the East Chicago, Ind., apartment complex, where tenants had been living with lead contamination for more than four decades, was deemed uninhabitable in 2016. (Jan, 2/17)

In news about health insurance coverage in New Mexico and Kentucky —

Through May 15, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Exchange, beWellnm, is offering an open enrollment period for uninsured New Mexicans. The three-month reopening of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, is also an opportunity for those who have lost job-based insurance during the pandemic to enroll in the marketplace and find affordable coverage. “BeWellnm encourages all uninsured New Mexicans to begin the enrollment process as soon as possible because of the limited amount of time to find comprehensive, affordable health insurance options,” said Maureen Manring, spokeswoman for beWellnm. More than 56,000 New Mexicans qualify for significant premium reductions, she said. (Nathanson, 2/17)

Gov. Andy Beshear has joined in urging Kentuckians who lack health insurance to take advantage of new opportunities now available to sign up for coverage. The sign-up window for government insurance markets runs through May 15. President Joe Biden ordered those markets that ended their annual enrollment periods in December to reopen. Beshear, who calls health care a basic human right, said the coronavirus pandemic has underscored how “expanded health care in Kentucky has helped us to have fewer deaths than most states.” (2/18)

In other news from Utah, New Mexico and California —

An effort to bar transgender girls from competing in female K-12 sports continued to make headway in the Utah Legislature, gaining passage through the House on a largely party-line vote. Opponents of the bill — titled “preserving sports for female students” — warned that it would further stigmatize youth who are already vulnerable and at higher risk for suicide. They said it would draw a legal challenge that Utah would likely lose. And they said it could undermine Utah’s prospects for hosting future sports tournaments and even the Olympics, given the probability that event organizers would choose to boycott the state. (Rodgers, 2/17)

Saturday, as the chill of a polar vortex descended outside, the state House Judiciary Committee took testimony via Zoom on a bill that if passed could allow terminally ill patients to die in a way less cold, less cruel. When it was over, the committee voted 7-3 to send House Bill 47 to the floor. Then it’s the Senate’s turn to do what it will with the Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signaled she will sign. It’s the third time the bill, modeled after similar laws in other states, has come before the Legislature, including 2017 when Whitefield, her voice raspy between gasps from a trach tube, testified about the dire need to give those like her facing a painful, certain death from a terminal illness the legal, physician-approved option to end their lives in peace, with a modicum of dignity and at a time of their choosing. (Gutierrez Krueger, 2/17)

KHN: California Aims To Address The ‘Urgent’ Needs Of Older Residents. But Will Its Plan Work?
Even as the pandemic derailed some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s biggest health care proposals, such as lowering prescription drug costs, it crystallized another: the pressing need to address California’s rapidly aging population. Already nine months into their work when Newsom issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order last March, members of a state task force on aging watched as the coronavirus disproportionately sickened and killed older people, and left many isolated in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and their own homes. (Young, 2/18)

In news from West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Vermont —

Meeting in person for the first time in months, Charleston City Council voted Tuesday to move forward in surveying city first responders on their opinions of harm reduction in the community. The resolution passed with an amendment removing language that requested agencies uncertified by the state to pause needle distributions in Charleston while the council continued deliberating legislation that could outright ban such programs. The City Council meeting came five days after officials from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented to the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department’s HIV task force, calling the county’s HIV crisis “the most concerning” in the nation. (Coyne, 2/17)

After an especially bloody year of shootings in the District, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser on Wednesday formally declared gun violence to be a public health crisis in the city and announced a new “whole-government” approach to combating the scourge, emphasizing more than just police work and prosecutions. With an initial investment of $15 million and more money to come, said Bowser (D), the city is establishing a “gun violence prevention emergency operations center,” to be staffed by the D.C. government’s “best and brightest” in the fields of education, job training, mental health counseling, housing and other services. (Duggan, 2/17)

Gov. Phil Scott signed a proclamation on Wednesday naming it “Recovery Day” in Vermont, which he called one small way to help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and substance use disorder. “More importantly, highlighting this day also sends a message to those who are struggling that there is hope,” Scott said in a written statement. “To those who need support, please know that help and services are available, and there are many of us who care about you. Recovery is possible, and we want to do all we can to help you get there.” (2/17)