Highmark and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center reached an agreement , ending their months-long impasse over health coverage for people in Western Pennsylvania through December 2014.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama acknowledged today (Dec. 13) that if the individual mandate isn’t legal, it will be difficult to provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, a key aspect of health reform.

The federal health reform law needs to be amended, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell wrote to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, in a letter.

The first big mark for federal health reform comes Sept. 23, when a wave of changes to how health insurance is delivered take effect.

Pennsylvania this week will open a high-risk insurance program for uninsured individuals who have pre-existing medical conditions, Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario announced.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said he has accepted an invitation from federal officials to participate in a high-risk health pool to aid uninsured residents.

More than 20% of America’s non-elderly population have a diagnosed pre-existing condition that insurers will have to cover under federal health care reform.

Governors and insurance commissioners from all 50 U.S. states are being asked by the federal government if they plan on participating in a temporary high-risk health pool that has $5 billion in funding at its disposal to aid the uninsured.

Pennsylvania’s governor and insurance commissioner are praising a decision by national health insurers to close an unintended loophole in federal health reform to guarantee insurance for children despite pre-existing conditions.

President Barack Obama said Americans “deserve a final vote on health reform” and called on leaders of the U.S. House and Senate to schedule a vote on his latest proposal “in the next few weeks.”