Health Care Reform

Christmas is now only two weeks away with the new year lurking in the shadows a week later. Maybe its all this talk of the cliffand the impending doom it impliesbut flipping the calendar this year just doesnt seem to harbor the same batch of hope and jubilation.

A look at some of the major taxes and fees, estimated to total nearly $700 billion over 10 years.

Maryland has received conditional approval by the federal government to operate a state-based health insurance exchange in 2014, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown announced Monday.

States must commit to fully expanding their Medicaid programs to take advantage of generous funding in the federal health care law, the Obama administration said Monday.

Oregon is among the first six states to get preliminary approval from the Obama Administration to operate a health insurance exchange.

There goes the affordable part of health reform. The insurance industry is warning a new tax in in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will cost consumers thousands of dollars because of rising premiums.

Consumers saw nearly $1.5 billion in insurer rebates and overhead cost savings in 2011 due to health reforms medical loss ratio provision, according to a Commonwealth Fund study.

The governor said it would be irresponsible to choose one compliance option over the others without knowing the costs of each.