obamacare

Couples retiring this year can expect their medical bills throughout retirement to cost 4 percent more than those who retired a year ago, according to an annual projection released Wednesday by Fidelity Investments.

More than 3 million health insurance policyholders and thousands of employers will share $1.3 billion in rebates this year, thanks to President Barack Obama's health care law, a nonpartisan research group said Thursday.

Here's a reality check for President Barack Obama's health overhaul: Three out of four uninsured Americans live in states that have yet to figure out how to deliver on its promise of affordable medical care. This is the year that will make or break the health care law. States were supposed to be partners in carrying out the biggest safety net expansion since Medicare and Medicaid, and the White House claims they're making steady progress.

Health spending stabilized as a share of the nation's economy in 2010 after two back-to-back years of historically low growth, the government reported Monday. Experts debated whether it's a fleeting consequence of the sluggish economy, or a real sign that cost controls by private employers and government at all levels are starting to work.

Supporters of President Obama's health care reform laws got a major boost when a key opponent lost her business. Mary Brown, whose whose standing to sue is integral to the largest lawsuit against Obama's health care reforms, may be forced to abandon her legal challenge.

It's the one major health expense for which nearly all Americans are uninsured. The dilemma of paying for long-term care is likely to worsen now that the Obama administration pulled the plug on a program seen as a first step.

Last month, new regulations were issued under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) requiring insurance companies to make choosing a plan simpler. Specifically, the new rules require insurers to publish forms providing "clear, consistent and comparable information" about the health-care plans they offer.

As the federal super committee looks for $1.5 trillion in cuts, it's clear that fixing the federal budget will mean tackling big items -- including Medicare, America's most popular social program and one of its most expensive.

If you've ever watched a movie or TV show featuring a bank heist, you know the basic elements: There's the criminal planning for a big score that will set him up for life. There's the perfect plan, usually involving a tunnel into the vault and a hostage situation, or the quieter option of a demand...

The recent pushback on health care reform appears to have boosted the stock prices of health insurance companies, which have outperformed major indexes by quite a margin so far this year. That's because Americans have been cutting back on doctor visits, keeping reimbursement costs low.