Hello State Budgets? It's Me, Medicaid.

Medicaid: Hello, state budget? It's me, Medicaid. A new report finds that states are spending more than ever on the federal-state health program for the poor, with Medicaid now averaging slightly more than 23 percent of states' budgets, Alicia Caramenico reports for FierceHealthcare.

Research Chimps: In a victory for animal rights advocates, chimpanzees will no longer be used in new research funded by the U.S. government, James Gorman reports for the New York Times.

Health Reform: Lots of action on this front today, with the unveiling of the Republican Wyden-Ryan compromise proposal to overhaul Medicare and a defeat for Florida, which had asked to waive a key health reform requirement on what insurers must spend on medical care, but was turned down by federal health officials.

Year in Medicine: Medscape offers its 20 important developments in medicine in 2011, and health reform figures prominently.

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Photo credit: Images of Money via Flickr