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First Edition: August 19, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how public perceptions and political opposition continue to swirl around the health law's implementation.

19 Aug 2013

Administration delays health law's limit on some out-of-pocket consumer costs

The New York Times reports that the change was included in a Department of Labor rule issued in February. Also in the news, KHN details the complex choices the overhaul presents for people with disabilities and Bloomberg notes a ruling by a U.S. District Court judge allowing Oklahoma's legal challenge to the law to proceed.

14 Aug 2013

Govt. will continue to pay for Capitol Hill staffer health coverage, but mostly in exchanges

New details from the Obama administration clear a way for the government to continue to pay for the bulk of the costs associated with providing health coverage to Capitol Hill staffers, though they must buy coverage on Obamacare exchanges instead of getting it through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. The rules say each congressional office should make the determination, however, about which employees move to exchanges and which can stay on the federal plans.

9 Aug 2013

First Edition: August 8, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the proposed rule released Wednesday by the Obama administration allowing the government to continue to pay for a significant portion of health insurance for lawmakers and Hill staffers.

8 Aug 2013

Aetna pulls insurance plans from MD.'s health law exchange

In state health insurance marketplace news, Aetna won't sell its plans on Maryland's version of the exchange over concerns premiums wouldn't cover costs. Officials in Colorado, Missouri, California and Oregon also face decisions about their marketplaces and the challenges to enrolling their residents in them.

6 Aug 2013

First Edition: August 5, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jordan Rau reports: "Medicare will levy $227 million in fines against hospitals in every state but one for the second round of the government's campaign to reduce the number of patients readmitted within a month, according to federal records released Friday" (Rau, 8/2).

5 Aug 2013

Republicans' Obamacare twofer: 40th repeal-type vote, Sen. Collins blasts employer provision

News outlets covered Friday's vote in the House of Representatives to keep the IRS from enforcing parts of the Affordable Care Act and today's weekly GOP address by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

5 Aug 2013

40th repeal vote unlikely to be charm for House Republicans

The vote in the GOP-controlled House, scheduled for Friday, would prevent the Internal Revenue Service from enforcing any part of the health law. Some news outlets explore why GOP lawmakers continue pushing purely symbolic votes that will go nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

3 Aug 2013

Deal will keep federal contributions for insurance when Congress moves to exchanges

The Obama administration told Congress on Thursday that it would allow the federal government to continue paying a large share of the cost of health insurance for members of Congress and their aides, averting a problem for many who work on Capitol Hill.

3 Aug 2013

First Edition: August 2, 2013

Today's headlines include details about today's health law repeal vote in the House. It comes just as lawmakers prepare to leave for the August break.

2 Aug 2013

Lawmakers' aides fret over requirement to buy Obamacare coverage

The New York Times explores how congressional staffs are anxious about a health law provision requiring them to buy coverage in online insurance markets because the federal government may no longer pay a share of their premiums.

31 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 30, 2013

Today's headlines include a USA Today story reporting that personal health care costs rose in the 12 months ending in May at the slowest rate in the last 50 years -- a finding that makes the White House happy.

30 Jul 2013

IOM urges Congress not to shift Medicare payments to pay more in areas with low costs

A panel of experts says the government should by wary of suggestions that cutting payments to high cost areas and rewarding low-cost areas would help improve care and reduce Medicare costs.

26 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 25, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about WellPoint's second-quarter profits and the Insitute of Medicine's findings about geographic varitions in Medicare spending.

25 Jul 2013

House votes to delay health law's mandates

Despite White House veto threats, House lawmakers on Wednesday OK'd two separate bills amending portions of the Affordable Care Act, the latest GOP moves to try to scuttle the health law. A measure putting off the employer mandate was approved 264-161 while a bill delaying the individual mandate passed 251-174.

19 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 18, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the House vote to delay the health law's mandates as well as advance coverage of President Barack Obama's Thursday speech in which he touts the overhaul's benefits.

18 Jul 2013

States, feds continue to scramble on health exchanges, Medicaid expansion

The Obama administration hires a credit reporting agency to verify the incomes of people who apply for federal subsidies to buy health insurance. Meanwhile, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signs a bill that could make it more difficult to do enrollment outreach there, as federal officials consider ways to implement the law in states led by officials opposed to it.

18 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 17, 2013

Today's headlines include a report about how the delay of the health law's employer mandate might undermine enforcement of the measure's individual mandate as well as news that the House will consider a bill that would put off both of these provisions.

17 Jul 2013

House Republicans, Dems spar over employer mandate delay; Senate GOP petitioning president for 'permanent delay' of Obamacare

Encouraged by the administration's delay of the employer mandate provision by one year, Republicans were active on both sides of Capitol Hill Tuesday, renewing their calls for repeal.

12 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 11, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations including reports from Capitol Hill about GOP efforts to repeal or delay the health law.

11 Jul 2013