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First Edition: December 2, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about healthcare.gov's status, the challenges that lie ahead and the concerns being expressed by consumers and insurers.

2 Dec 2013

Administration gives positive progress report on health care website fixes

Obama administration officials announced Sunday morning that they had met their deadline in terms of making improvements to healthcare.gov.

1 Dec 2013

Consumers urged to give healthcare.gov another try -- just not too many of them

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that healthcare.gov is "improved every day." But she delayed a big marketing campaign planned for December and is asking allies to hold back their enrollment pushes to avoid a crush of new users that might overwhelm the site again.

28 Nov 2013

Administration to small businesses: Online health insurance exchanged delayed

News outlets covered the pre-Thanksgiving announcement of the delay.

27 Nov 2013

First Edition: Nov. 27, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, in collaboration with McClatchy, reports: "Like half the states, South Carolina chose not to expand Medicaid under the federal health law next year, citing the program's high costs and inefficiency. Yet, state officials still forecast a 16 percent enrollment jump by the end of June, 2015, triple that of a typical year and even higher than the 12 percent average increase expected in states that are expanding eligibility.

27 Nov 2013

Consumers given more time to get healthcare.gov coverage that starts in January

Administration officials announced Friday that consumers would be permitted to enroll in a health insurance plan on healthcare.gov as late as Dec. 23 for coverage that begins on Jan. 1 next year.

25 Nov 2013

On Capitol Hill, shopping for health plans from the online insurance marketplaces appears to go smoothly

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal report on how Capitol Hill lawmakers and their staffs are having a very different experience choosing coverage than most of their constituents.

21 Nov 2013

Administration tech official says about 40% of HealthCare.gov remains to be built

Henry Chao, who has overseen much of the work on healthcare.gov, said much of the "back office" work, including the system to send insurers their payments, has not been completed.

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

Obama moves to extend some canceled insurance plans, but will everyone go along?

President Obama's one-year plan to allow insurers to keep Americans on plans previously canceled under the health law's new standards faces several questions in implementation: Will insurers, customers and state regulators will go along? Also, The Wall Street Journal reports that the move could pave the way for the insurance plans to be extended beyond 2014.

16 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 15, 2013

Today's headlines include range of stories examining the policy, marketplace and political dynamics in play as a result of President Barack Obama's move to stop the cancellation of insurance plans.

15 Nov 2013

House oversight panel grills administration tech officials on website woes

The White House's chief technology officer, Todd Park, told the committee that teams are working aggressively to get the website functioning "for the vast majority" of consumers by the administration's Nov. 30 deadline. Meanwhile, a second panel heard testimony about website and security concerns.

15 Nov 2013

With political pressures increasing in response to health law roll-out and policy cancellations, the White House spin machine must move into overdrive

News outlets report on the pressure coming from both Democrats and Republicans regarding what some are calling President Barack Obama's "broken promise."

14 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 13, 2013

Today's headlines include not-so-positive predictions about whether healthcare.gov will be fully functional by the end of November.

13 Nov 2013

Medicaid enrollment is 'early success story,' but website's problems are still causing sign-up difficulties

The Associated Press reports on the larger enrollment in states that are expanding their Medicaid programs. However, The New York Times points out that the snags on the marketplace websites may be holding up thousands of others who will be eligible for the state-federal program for low-income people.

13 Nov 2013

Oversight investigation turns up CMS memo warning of 'high' website security risks

But news outlets are reporting that the project manager working on the healthcare.gov website was not made aware of these issues.

13 Nov 2013

Long-awaited rules requiring parity in mental health coverage to be unveiled today

The Obama administration on Friday will complete a generation-long effort to require insurers to cover care for mental health and addiction just like physical illnesses when it issues long-awaited regulations defining parity in benefits and treatment (Calmes and Pear, 11/8).

11 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 8, 2013

Today's headlines include coverage of President Barack Obama's apology to people who lost their individual market health coverage because of requirements of the health law.

8 Nov 2013

Sebelius says Healthcare.gov fixes coming, rejects calls for delay

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sought to reassure lawmakers in a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday that fixes -- hundreds of them -- are being made to Healthcare.gov, but rejected calls to delay the law or shut the website down.

8 Nov 2013

People with food allergy may no longer have to avoid food entirely

Have food allergies? If you answered yes, you know the best way to prevent a severe allergic reaction is to totally avoid the offending food. But according to a presentation at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), you may no longer have to avoid the food entirely.

8 Nov 2013