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States split on Obama cancellations fix

Most of the state regulators allowing insurers to renew canceled plans, as proposed by President Barack Obama, are led by Republican governors who have opposed the law. Of the eight refusing to carry out the policy, six are in Democrat-led states that have embraced the law and who fear the extensions would undermine it.

21 Nov 2013

Early enrollees in state exchanges skew older

More older Americans than young adults have signed up for coverage through the state marketplaces created by the health law, according to early data from four states.

21 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 20, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that President Barack Obama places some of the blame for the health law's woes with Republicans, and details of comments by an Obama administration tech official that a large portion of the healthcare.gov 'back office' functions are yet to be built.

20 Nov 2013

Health law's supporters and opponents working hard to woe young adults

Enrolling young people in the marketplaces is vital to making those exchanges work and some critics are trying to keep those health people off the exchanges.

20 Nov 2013

White House officials say 20% won't be able to complete HealthCare.gov process to buy insurance

In a progress report, Obama administration officials are predicting that, despite fixes that have been made, one in five people won't be able to buy health insurance via the online process. Still, the pace of enrollments has more than doubled, the New York Times reports.

20 Nov 2013

Minn., Mass. officials say they will not follow Obama's advice on fixing canceled policies, but N.C. does

States are considering whether to allow insurers to continue offering current plans that are sold on the individual market and that don't meet the standards of the health law. The president suggested that fix last week.

20 Nov 2013

Contraception coverage, abortion loom as issues for high court and advocacy groups

Advocacy groups are wondering about a future boomerang affect of the "nuclear option," which could keep Senate Republicans from filibustering judicial nominations.

20 Nov 2013

Viewpoints: GOP excuse for 'doing nothing;' Sen. Rubio: No taxpayer-funded bailout of the insurance industry

As the people's representatives, the U.S. Congress should completely eliminate the possibility of a bailout of insurance companies. On Tuesday I am introducing legislation that would eliminate the risk corridor provision, ensuring that no taxpayer-funded bailout of the health insurance industry will ever occur under ObamaCare. If this disaster of a law cannot survive without a bailout rescue valve, it is yet another reason why it should be repealed (Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., 11/18).

20 Nov 2013

Report issued early warnings about HealthCare.gov risks

An analysis done in late March by McKinsey & Co. called attention to a number of trouble spots. Meanwhile, Politico details a "Red Team" report done by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that also sounded alarms.

20 Nov 2013

Some states see health plan enrollment surge

While the balky federal website has made enrollment difficult for residents of 36 states, tens of thousands of consumers are signing up for coverage in places like California, Connecticut and Kentucky, which have functional websites, reports the Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, states and advocacy groups are tweaking their marketing. In Maryland, for instance, radio and TV ads encourage residents to call 211, rather than go to a website, to get coverage.

20 Nov 2013

Obama tells insurers his 'fix' may cost them

President Barack Obama acknowledged to insurance executives that reinstating millions of insurance policies might cost them, according to Politico. Other media outlets report that brokers are worried about their role in the insurance marketplace and how one company is forecasting that a failure to enroll the uninsured could cut prescription drug sales by 30 percent in 2017.

20 Nov 2013

Jousting over Medicaid expansion

In Alaska, Gov. Sean Parnell said Friday his state will not expand Medicaid under the health law, while reports from Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Maine assess the decisions -- and, in some cases, continued lobbying -- in those states.

20 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 19, 2013

Today's headlines include news that Obama administration officials were warned about the possibility of website difficulties months ago by an outside consulting firm.

19 Nov 2013

Health insurers face an uncertain future

WellPoint Inc., the parent of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri, took a huge gamble when it dove headfirst into many of the new health insurance marketplaces around the country. Aetna Inc. hedged its bets by entering a patchwork of federal- and state-run health exchanges, but skipped California and New York, two of the most populous markets. UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation's largest health insurer, decided to participate in only a dozen or fewer exchanges in 2013.

19 Nov 2013

What's the Healthcare.gov goal? 80 percent enrollment success rate

Obama administration officials are quietly hoping 80 percent of users will be able to enroll in health insurance plans on the federal health law's healthcare.gov website once it is fixed, The Washington Post reports. In the meantime, other website snags come to light -- a lack of Spanish-language materials and early alarm at some problems at rolling out the site.

19 Nov 2013

Obama administration's fix on policy cancellations triggers confusion among consumers, doubts among insurers

News outlets examine the continuing reaction to President Barack Obama's fix as well as how the news is playing on the state level.

19 Nov 2013

Viewpoints: Obamacare has resisted death throes before; website success stories from 3 governors; health law taking a toll on choice of doctors in Medicare Advantage

The first time Obamacare seemed finished, doomed, doornail-dead, the voters of Massachusetts played the would-be executioner. In January 2010, they sent a pickup-driving Republican to the Senate to fill Ted Kennedy's seat, apparently depriving the health care bill of its crucial 60th vote and sending Democrats scrambling for a Plan B. ... the deeper force at work, the reason that these near-death experiences keep happening, isn't a website or a broken presidential promise. It's a problem inherent to contemporary liberalism, which is that liberals' proudest achievement, the modern welfare state, tends to resist, corrupt and baffle their efforts at comprehensive reform (Ross Douthat, 11/16).

19 Nov 2013