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IRS offers preliminary glimpse of how many people were able to use Healthcare.gov

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the federal government has delivered 330,000 premium subsidy calculations to people who have gotten far enough to find out whether they qualify for health insurance subsidies. Meanwhile, CNN looks deeper into some of the numbers currently being quoted.

29 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 28, 2013

Today's headlines include coverage of the health law's federal online insurance marketplace -- healthcare.gov -- and its continuing challenges, troubles and the plans to get it fixed.

28 Oct 2013

GOP officials press for health law delay, Sebelius to resign; Democrats urge patience

The troubles with the health website took center stage on the Sunday news shows and in the Saturday weekly addresses from the president and the Republicans.

28 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 25, 2013

Today's headlines include reports and analyses of yesterday's Capitol Hill hearing, which featured website contractors talking about the troubled rollout of healthcare.gov.

25 Oct 2013

State highlights: 'Habilitation' an essential benefit, but what is it?; Va. gov. candidates differ on mental health system; Calif. pays $2.7M for late hearings

A selection of health policy stories from Virginia, California, Colorado, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Texas.

25 Oct 2013

A closer look at HHS Sec. Sebelius' health law role

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' role in the problems the health law's insurance marketplace is having, and the subsequent calls for her ouster, are examined. Sebelius' absence would mean a key post in implementing Obamacare would be vacant.

25 Oct 2013

Hill Panel seeking to put price tag on marketplace website, but some estimates may be too high

A tally from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform suggests HHS spent between $400 million and $600 million to build the troubled website, but The Washington Post Fact Checker and a government watchdog group say the true cost may be much lower.

25 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: Republicans new-found interest in the workings of the health website; fixing the problem crucial to Obama's presidency

Republicans are apoplectic about Healthcare.gov, the official Web site for the Affordable Care Act. They are trying desperately to change the subject from their disastrous government shutdown by ranting about the failures of a government Web site that cost a tiny fraction of what was lost as a result of the shutdown. Republicans are pretending that they care about the problems encountered in signing up for a system that many of them are bent on destroying (Charles M. Blow, 10/23).

25 Oct 2013

House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on HealthCare.gov billed as oversight, likely to focus on blame

Among those who will appear before the congressional panel will be Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president of CGI Federal Inc. She will likely be asked about the company's involvement in the bungled rollout of the online enrollment process.

25 Oct 2013

Insurers huddle at the White House; talk health exchange technical difficulties

About a dozen CEOs from major insurance companies met with administration officials to address the online marketplace's flaws, especially those related to generating the enrollment files that the insurers receive.

25 Oct 2013

States report vastly differently Obamacare enrollment experiences

Navigators in states relying on the federal website to enroll people in coverage are focused on education while they wait for fixes, while officials in states like New York and Washington with functional websites are reporting high demand and enrollment. Meanwhile, consumer advocates express skepticism about directing people in federal exchange states to call centers as a way to enroll.

25 Oct 2013

Dems grow frustrated with Obamacare website, impact on broader law

Even some Obama allies are calling for major changes -- as well as someone's firing -- after the technically flawed rollout of the health law's online insurance marketplace. Democrats are also worried about what the problems could do to support for the broader law, and some are even calling for a delay to a mandate that Americans buy insurance.

25 Oct 2013

White House to give consumers extra time to buy coverage before facing penalty

The Wednesday announcement gave people an extra six weeks -- until March 31 -- to comply with the health law's requirement that they enroll in a health plan.

25 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 24, 2013

Today's headlines include reports that the Obama administration plans to tweak the tax-penalty deadline for signing up for health insurance as well as previews of what might happen when the contractors who built the health law's online insurance marketplace testify today on Capitol Hill.

24 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: 'Elementary errors' in insurance exchange; problems could lead insurance pool imbalance; recalcitrant govs could have made Obamacare launch better

Clearly, the government picked the wrong people to manage this project and it was a terrible decision to fragment it among so many contractors. Anyone who's ever been involved in creating a new computer application knows that you don't just assemble the thing and then see if it works. You're supposed to test the components, obsessively, along the way (Andrew Rosenthal, 10/22).

24 Oct 2013

Little evidence Obamacare is costing full-time jobs

Reuters and The Wall Street Journal challenge the notion, based on recent jobs data, that the health law is causing an erosion of full-time work. Other media outlets look at the endangered status of new insurance co-ops funded by the law, the high price of many prescription drugs and concerns about the people enrolled in high-risk insurance pools that will close at the end of the year.

24 Oct 2013

Obama administration to Loyalists: Help boost the health law

From the White House to Capitol Hill to You Tube, the administration hoping to rally the troops who have supported the health law in the past.

24 Oct 2013

Judge allows Obamacare subsidies lawsuit to proceed, but stops short of imposing injunction

A federal judge Tuesday allowed a legal challenge against the health law's insurance price subsidies to go forward, but stopped short of imposing an injunction that would have halted the subsidies until the legal matter is resolved. At issue is a challenge to how the Obama administration determines who gets what subsidies and the related tax penalties.

24 Oct 2013

Health exchange status update: Two key fixes will take longer than expected

Making the necessary repairs will likely take more talent and more time the online exchange is offline. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by CBS found that very few Americans think the federal online insurance marketplace's launch has gone well.

24 Oct 2013

Calif. marketplace under fire for not providing quality ratings for plans; Obama's characterization of Conn.'s operation not right

California's insurance exchange came under fire for its plan to withhold quality ratings of health plans until late 2015 while thousands of consumers shop for coverage under the federal healthcare law. The state exchange, Covered California, said Tuesday that it had reliable ratings on only four of the 12 participating health insurers primarily because their networks of doctors and hospitals have changed so much for new policies available next year (Terhune, 10/22).

24 Oct 2013

Health Insurance News and Research

IRS offers preliminary glimpse of how many people were able to use Healthcare.gov

First Edition: October 28, 2013

GOP officials press for health law delay, Sebelius to resign; Democrats urge patience

First Edition: October 25, 2013

State highlights: 'Habilitation' an essential benefit, but what is it?; Va. gov. candidates differ on mental health system; Calif. pays $2.7M for late hearings

A closer look at HHS Sec. Sebelius' health law role

Hill Panel seeking to put price tag on marketplace website, but some estimates may be too high

Viewpoints: Republicans new-found interest in the workings of the health website; fixing the problem crucial to Obama's presidency

House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on HealthCare.gov billed as oversight, likely to focus on blame

Insurers huddle at the White House; talk health exchange technical difficulties

States report vastly differently Obamacare enrollment experiences

Dems grow frustrated with Obamacare website, impact on broader law

White House to give consumers extra time to buy coverage before facing penalty

First Edition: October 24, 2013

Viewpoints: 'Elementary errors' in insurance exchange; problems could lead insurance pool imbalance; recalcitrant govs could have made Obamacare launch better

Little evidence Obamacare is costing full-time jobs

Obama administration to Loyalists: Help boost the health law

Judge allows Obamacare subsidies lawsuit to proceed, but stops short of imposing injunction

Health exchange status update: Two key fixes will take longer than expected

Calif. marketplace under fire for not providing quality ratings for plans; Obama's characterization of Conn.'s operation not right

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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