Core and Group Health

Testy lawmakers pointed fingers at one another and President Barack Obama on Thursday as negotiations over raising the national debt limit entered a perilous endgame. Wall Street eyed the standoff with growing anxiety, warning of catastrophe if the U.S. defaults on its obligations.

Physicians are threatening to stop serving nearly a million Puerto Ricans as a result of a dispute between the island's government and an insurance company over reimbursements for treating poor people.

Fewer people sought unemployment benefits last week, an encouraging sign the job market may be slowly improving.

As companies battle strained budgets during the recession, more and more are offering innovative perks to keep employees engaged, particularly as traditional employee benefit costs continue to rise.

State insurance commissioners who want to help health insurance agents and brokers cope with the new medical loss ratio (MLR) rules apparently have decided that a behind-the-scenes strategy has the best chance of succeeding.

Hope dimming for a broad debt-limit deal, Congress and the White House scrambled Wednesday to salvage deficit-reduction talks while top congressional Republicans said the nation cannot afford to default on its obligations — for economic reasons and their party's own good.