Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, signed a bill allowing state residents to buy health insurance from other New England states in a move state officials say they hope will stimulate more competition and create more jobs.

A three-judge panel in Virginia is questioning whether it has the legal authority to determine if the federal health reform law is constitutional.

Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s attorney general who argued an appeal challenging the federal health reform law, predicted after the hearing in Richmond today (May 10) that the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to rule on the controversial case in June 2012.

A three-judge federal appeals panel is scheduled today (May 10) to hear arguments in the first major challenges of the federal health reform law passed last year.

An insurance trade group says the U.S. House is “moving in the right direction” toward affirming state-based insurance regulation by voting to defund health insurance exchanges.

The U.S. House voted 238-183 to strip the funding included in last year’s federal health reform law for states to establish health insurance exchanges.

Congress definitely should not tax the $57.5 trillion in death benefits paid out from life insurance each year, according to the latest IFAwebnews.com poll.

Possible changes to Medicare and Social Security, along with tax increases, have more than half those between the ages of 55 and 79 fearing whether they can afford their plans for retirement, according to LIMRA research.

President Barack Obama signed a repeal of “onerous” reporting rules, forcing insurance agency owners and other small businesses to report on 1099 tax forms any transactions with vendors of at least $600.

The days when survivors could count on tax-free life insurance benefits after the death of a loved one could be numbered.