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Healthcare.gov contractors scramble to recruit talent, continue computer system work

Meanwhile, even as efforts are ongoing to address the federal health exchange's back end computer issues, state marketplaces in Maryland, Oregon and Minnesota face challenges.

13 Feb 2014

Obama: Latest employer mandate delay is method of 'smoothing out' health law transition

President Barack Obama also said Tuesday during a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande that he doesn't see the employer-based health insurance system disappearing.

13 Feb 2014

How much relief will result from the latest health law delay?

News outlets take a closer look at the impact of Monday's Obama administration decision to postpone enforcement of the employer mandate for some businesses.

12 Feb 2014

First Edition: February 12, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about President Barack Obama's comments yesterday on his administration's decision to decision to give mid-sized businesses more time to comply with the health law's employer mandate.

12 Feb 2014

Obama administration to delay requirement for mid-sized employers to provide health insurance to workers

Officials announced Monday that the government will not enforce the mandate for businesses with 50 to 99 workers until 2016. In addition, larger employers will also be allowed to cover just 70 percent of workers in 2015, instead of the 90 percent originally required.

12 Feb 2014

Weekend maintenance will affect HealthCare.gov

Meanwhile, Maryland officials say the problems with that state's enrollment website are unlikely to be fixed before the March 31 enrollment deadline. Elsewhere, California is hiring more call center workers, and Illinois is reaching out to young adults with ads in the satirical online newspaper, The Onion.

11 Feb 2014

First Edition: February 11, 2014

Today's headlines include detailed coverage of the Obama administration's announcement that it will delay a health law requirement that mid-sized employers provide health insurance to workers while also allowing larger employers more flexibility.

11 Feb 2014

Viewpoints: The debate at AOL about a baby's medical costs; Gov. Jindal says economy's verdict on health law is not good

Late last week, Tim Armstrong, the chief executive officer of AOL, landed himself in a media firestorm when he held a town hall with employees to explain why he was paring their retirement benefits. After initially blaming Obamacare for driving up the company's health care costs, he pointed the finger at an unlikely target: babies. Specifically, my baby. ... ... She weighed 1 pound, 9 ounces. ... I take issue with how he reduced my daughter to a "distressed baby" who cost the company too much money. How he blamed the saving of her life for his decision to scale back employee benefits. How he exposed the most searing experience of our lives, one that my husband and I still struggle to discuss with anyone but each other, for no other purpose than an absurd justification for corporate cost-cutting (Deanna Fei, 2/9)

11 Feb 2014

HIMSS Analytics achieves Stage 6 status on EMR Adoption ModelSM

HIMSS Analytics announced University Hospitals in Cleveland has achieved Stage 6 status on the EMR Adoption ModelSM (EMRAM). As of January 2014, 12.7 percent - just 682 US hospitals - of the more than 5,400 U.S. hospitals tracked by HIMSS Analytics had reached Stage 6 on its Electronic Medical Record Adoption ModelSM (EMRAM).

11 Feb 2014

Dems, GOP continue battles over CBO report linking health law and jobs

As the dust is finally settling on the CBO report released Tuesday, ... both [parties] still maintain vastly different portraits of the same document, depictions non-partisan analysts say are misleading, at best. ... Republicans are quietly accepting that the report was largely about people working less and making that choice on their own, not literally about "2 million lost jobs."

11 Feb 2014

Obama administration again delays insurance mandate for some smaller employers

The Obama administration announced Monday it would give medium-sized employers an extra year, until 2016, before they must offer health insurance to their full-time workers.

11 Feb 2014

Health law issues take key place in run-up to congressional, Senate elections

For instance, the Louisiana chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the group backed by the Koch brothers, made a $600,000 ad buy against Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La, because of her health law support. Meanwhile, other Democrats in tight races are trying to claim credit for trying to fix the problematic parts of the measure while still embracing its popular elements.

11 Feb 2014

Leaving behind Medicaid expansion leaves coverage gaps, hospitals short on payments

The Wall Street Journal examines the gap created by some states deciding not to expand their Medicaid programs and what that decision means for hospitals' bottom lines. Also, Republican lawmakers consider "bailouts" for hospitals after they decided not to expand Medicaid. In the meantime, Arkansas' lawmakers get ready to debate the state's Medicaid experiment.

10 Feb 2014

Budget issues begin to cloud outlook for state exchanges

The Associated Press reports that questions are emerging about how these online marketplaces will operate under the current financing model. Also, the latest news on exchanges from California, Oregon and Florida.

10 Feb 2014

Allianz Worldwide Care introduces Maritime Healthcare Plan for seafarers

Global health insurer Allianz Worldwide Care has announced the launch of a new plan which offers a compliant solution for onshore healthcare to shipping companies affected by the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC 2006), commonly known as the "Seafarers' Bill of Rights". MLC 2006, which came into force in August 2013, requires shipping companies to provide comprehensive rights and protection to the world's 1.2 million seafarers, including the provision of a minimum level of healthcare cover.

10 Feb 2014

Obamacare tweaks continue amid complaints

The government will allow consumers who experience life changes, such as a marriage or the birth of a child, to update their plan choices, the administration said. It is also looking at requiring insurers to accept third-party payments, such as those made under the Ryan White CARE Act, to help people with HIV/AIDS pay for expensive drugs. Meanwhile, The Washington Post examines the history of Accenture, the contractor hired to fix healthcare.gov, and finds troubled projects and allegations of ethical lapses.

10 Feb 2014

Critics continue efforts to limit health law navigators

In Georgia, some navigator events were canceled after health law opponents held a protest at one and posted other events on its website, urging more protests. In South Dakota, meanwhile, a lawmaker introduced a bill to require state registration and background checks of the insurance guides. And a New Hampshire hospital that was excluded from Anthem's network is in the news because it is challenging that decision.

10 Feb 2014

First Edition: February 10, 2014

Today's headlines include stories about the health law's coverage gap.

10 Feb 2014

Viewpoints: Health law distorting--or 'undistorting' the labor market; gas stations should follow CVS' lead; ways to fight heroin

On Wednesday, Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said the obvious: losing your job and choosing to work less aren't the same thing.

10 Feb 2014