Bloomberg News

Rules for the six state insurance exchanges that won conditional approval from the Obama administration Dec. 10 are split evenly between those with strict criteria for companies that want to participate and states that have opened their exchanges to all comers, a scenario supported by the insurance industry. A high bar for inclusion could limit the number of insurers offering health plans in some states.

Many states led by Republican governors have already said they won’t build their own insurance exchanges. That puts the onus on the Obama administration.

Of the six states that have won HHS approval to run their health care exchanges, some, like Maryland, have opened theirs to all comers, while others, such as Connecticut, plan strict criteria. Insurers will have to twist and contort to play by the irregular rules.

Health insurance premiums may double for some small businesses and individual buyers in the U.S. when the Affordable Care Act’s major provisions start in 2014, Aetna’s chief executive officer said.

The Department of Health and Human Services says six states – all led by Democrats – have earned conditional approval to begin enrolling members in their health-insurance exchanges.

The second-largest U.S. phone company plans to shift about one-fourth of its pension obligations to Prudential Insurance to remove risk from its balance sheet.

The world’s largest computer-services provider will only match defined contributions on Dec. 15 of each year — workers who leave or are fired before that date get nothing. The move could lead to significant savings, but it’s already led to criticism.

A report published this week claims there’s no such thing as resistance to aspirin, and that expensive prescription blood thinners may be overused.

The vote by the American Psychiatric Association follows a seven-year debate that split the mental health community over whether the changes will spur over-diagnosis of some autism spectrum disorders, and limit treatment for others.

Health care reform means that many patients can no longer be denied health insurance because of preexisting conditions. But there’s a big catch: Coverage for many Americans without insurance will come at a potentially unaffordable cost.

Aetna and other insurers that initially fought President Obama’s health care overhaul are reversing course and supporting the effort by funding a group planning to spend $100 million to help the uninsured get coverage.

As PPACA is implemented, the number of IT, software and service jobs created could easily boom into the hundreds of thousands.

The Supreme Court gave a university founded by Jerry Falwell a new chance to argue in a lower court that President Obama’s health care law doesn’t give religious objectors a broad enough exemption.

Health care reform shifts how hospitals are reimbursed, taking into account patient satisfaction — which could well be mitigated by long emergency room waits — but will online reservations encourage patients to seek even more expensive ER care for non-emergencies?

HHS outlines various conditions and services insurers must cover, and rules to let companies expand employee wellness programs in new proposed regulations of the ACA posted Tuesday.

The health care reform law imposes billions of taxes and fees on insurers and companies that provide the highest level of overage, and Stop the HIT, a new coalition of trade groups, will be petitioning to lessen the levy.

States received an extra month from the Obama administration to decide whether to build online marketplaces for medical insurance after Republican governors pressed their resistant to the president’s health care law.

Several Republican leaders have either confirmed that they’ll be letting the federal government handle their states’ health care exchanges, or have yet to say, and the deadline is Friday.

More than half of American smokers tried to stop at some point in the past year, and the average number of cigarettes smoked per day dropped.

President Obama’s re-election rallied shares for hospitals last week as the number of insured Americans is set to rise. Health insurance companies, however, face profit limits and new taxes.