Here is my story on state models for federal health care reform, published over the weekend:

Facing budget deficits and Medicaid costs already on the rise along with unemployment, governors around the country are wary of what federal health care reform could mean for the economic welfare of states. As Congress works to put forth and approve a bill, governors are hoping the legislative body looks to the states for models of success.

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So far, though, only about a third of states have either enacted or are moving toward comprehensive health care reform. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-partisan health care think tank, as of last month three states have enacted and begun to implement a health care reform plan that aims to cover nearly all of their residents.

These states are all located in New England: Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont. All three ranked in the top 10 of the Commonwealth Fund's health system performance scorecard, which looks at "access, quality, avoidable hospital use and costs, equity, and healthy lives," according to the report.

You can read the rest here.