Health Care Reform

Idaho received a $20.4 million federal grant for an insurance exchange required by the federal health care overhaul, setting up a fight in the upcoming 2012 Legislature over whether the state should keep the money.

Nebraska should not wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the Obama administration's health care overhaul before it prepares a state-based insurance exchange, a leading hospital advocate said Wednesday.

The California Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) is growing rapidly, but the number of enrollees is still much lower than expected, and the average amount of claims per enrollee is much higher than expected.

It's become a symbol of sorts for the federal government's budget dysfunction: Unless Congress acts before Jan. 1, doctors will again face steep Medicare cuts that threaten to undermine health care for millions of seniors and disabled people.

Conservative interest groups and Republican lawmakers want Justice Elena Kagan off the health care case. Liberals and Democrats in Congress say it's Justice Clarence Thomas who should sit it out.

The point man for carrying out President Barack Obama's health care law will be stepping down after Republicans succeeded in blocking his confirmation by the Senate, the White House announced Wednesday.