Bloomberg News

House Republicans return to Washington today still at loggerheads over how to thwart the ACA without shutting down the federal government on Oct. 1.

U.S. stocks rose, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average capping its best week since January, as disappointing economic data fueled bets that any Federal Reserve stimulus cuts this month would be moderate.

As long as retirees enroll with the private insurance exchange, IBM will subsidize their health care premiums at a similar level, the company says.

House Republican leaders put together a plan to enact a stopgap government funding measure by forcing the Democratic-led Senate to take a largely symbolic vote on defunding President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Time Warner Inc. yesterday said it would steer retired workers toward a privately run exchange, days after a similar announcement by International Business Machines Corp.

The highest-priced hospitals in 13 cities studied are typically paid 60% more for inpatient services and almost double for outpatient care than the lowest-priced hospitals in the same communities.

About 30% of U.S. households lack life insurance, according to industry group Limra.

Just 38% of parents said they’re extremely comfortable talking about insurance, while 55% are fine discussing the intoxicants, according to a survey released today by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

Although President Obama has set aside $67 million to make it easier to enroll in his health care overhaul, laws pushed by Republicans in 12 states may keep that from actually happening.

“Health care reform is a shift to value-based care, rather than quantity of care,” one analyst says. “Any way Medtronic can help improve outcomes is generally the way health care is moving. The trick for them is to capitalize on that in the right areas.”

Federal officials now will allow some insurers to wait until 2015 to comply with the consumer protection.

United Parcel Service Inc.’s decision to drop health benefits for 15,000 of its workers’ spouses may be a sign of the future, as U.S. businesses grapple with rising medical bills and the added burdens of the ACA.

Less than two months before health exchanges open to the public, hospitals are asking to change a part of the Affordable Care Act that leaves them at financial risk for patients who fall behind on their insurance premiums.

President Barack Obama urged military veterans to defend his signature health care law and press Republican lawmakers to end budget cuts that threaten future spending on benefits.

Larger allocations for U.S. and international stocks gave public pensions better returns than corporate retirement plans, which hold more bonds.

In the first two years of the program, 82% of the employees of the Minnetonka, Minn.-based insurer covered by the incentive program earned rewards toward reducing their premiums.

MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, says profit fell 78% as rising interest rates cut the value of the company’s derivatives.

President Barack Obama’s decision to give employers a year before they’re required to provide health insurance for workers will cost taxpayers $12 billion, the Congressional Budget Office says.

At least 29 public plans in 16 states are less than two-thirds funded, according to Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research.

WellPoint Inc., the second-biggest U.S. health insurer, raised its profit forecast for 2013 after lower-than-projected medical costs helped its earnings beat analyst estimates for the second quarter.