Factbox: States and healthcare reform

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many states are worried that the healthcare reform plan approved by the House of Representatives on Sunday will usurp their sovereignty and place more demands on their already stretched budgets.

The plan provides funding to help states through the healthcare overhaul, which would require Americans to have health insurance and cover more people under the Medicaid system for the poor that states and the government administer.

Some states may sue, while others are trying to pass their own laws and constitutional amendments to keep health insurance optional. Below are some of the steps they are taking:

* At least 36 state legislatures are weighing legislation to limit, alter or oppose the federal healthcare reform, and 26 of those are considering amending their state constitutions by ballot. Arizonans will vote on an amendment in November.

* Virginia was the first state to react legislatively, by enacting a statute entitled "health insurance coverage not required."

* Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter signed a bill on Wednesday allowing the state's attorney general to file a lawsuit opposing federal healthcare legislation that would require individuals to buy medical insurance.

* Texas Governor Rick Perry says the plan will cost his state $24.3 billion over 10 years, but it is currently not planning to sue. "The goal right now is to keep the bill from passing in the first place," spokeswoman Allison Castle said.

* Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons has written a member of the House of Representatives from Las Vegas asking her to oppose the plan. Governors from Arizona, Minnesota and Utah have also written letters to Congress.

* Utah's Legislature has passed a bill opposing parts of the healthcare plan. It awaits the governor's signature.

* Florida, Georgia and Missouri are working on constitutional resolutions.

* Massachusetts and Vermont have their own healthcare plans in place.

* The New Hampshire Legislature has passed a bill prohibiting any expansion of Medicaid, the healthcare system for the poor, unless it is paid for by the federal government. The current bill in Congress would require the federal government to cover 100 percent of all new Medicaid enrollees through 2016.

* States not considering legislative responses include Illinois, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts. There are no measures pending in Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Texas, which do not have regular legislative sessions in 2010.

SOURCES: National Conference of State Legislatures, governors' offices

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert, Jim Christie in San Francisco, Joan Gralla in New York, Karen Pierog in Chicago; Editing by Stacey Joyce)