Federal health insurance exchanges will not be online by Oct. 1, 2013, as required by the health reform law.

That is my prediction. But it’s more than just a shot in the dark, as the sweeping health reform law, known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), continues to come unhinged.

Maryland is among the first six states to receive conditional approval for a state-run health insurance exchange, officials announced.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health approved by voice vote a bipartisan proposal to exclude health insurance agents’ commissions from the medical loss ratios dictating health insurer’s spending.

IRS agents will not perform audits or impose penalties on people who fail to buy health insurance, a key official in the agency told members of Congress.

A group of eight Catholic organizations in Nashville and a non-Catholic business that says it operates under Christian principles are the latest to file suit over the U.S. government’s requirement that they offer contraceptive coverage to their employees.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who intends, if elected, to repeal and replace the federal health reform law, said he now wants to retain two pieces of the law.

The complexity and cost of the American health system contributes to its wasting of about 30% of the money put into it, a new report finds.

Maryland and federal officials are almost giddy with excitement at the prospect of putting health insurance agents out of business.

Angela F. Braly, chairwoman and chief executive of WellPoint, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, resigned abruptly Aug. 28, giving into pressure from investors.

Maryland received a $123 million federal grant to continue building its state health insurance exchange over the next year.