In the first two days after the law was signed, three major companies - Deere & Co., Caterpillar Inc. and Valero Energy - said they expect to take a total hit of $265 million to account for smaller tax deductions in the future.
With more than 3,500 companies now getting the tax break as an incentive to keep providing coverage, others are almost certain to announce similar cost increases in the weeks ahead as they sort out the impact of the change.
Figuring out what it will mean for retirees will take longer, but analysts said as many as 2 million could - - - - >

A couple retiring this year will need a quarter of a million dollars, on average, to cover medical expenses in retirement, according to a study to be released Thursday by Fidelity Investments.
The estimate is up 4.2 percent from Fidelitys projection last year. The Boston-based financial services company has updated its estimate annually since 2002 as part of its business helping employers design workplace benefits programs.
The study is based on projections for a couple of 65-year-olds retiring this year with Medicare coverage. The estimate factors in the federal programs premiums, co-payments and deductibles, as well as out-of-pocket prescription costs. The study - - - - >

That leaves Americans with a burning question: Hows this all going to work?
“A key element to these reforms is that options that werent available to people will become available now,” said DeAnn Friedholm of Consumers Union. The publishers of Consumer Reports supported Obamas effort.
Some questions and answers on the health care bill:
Q: When are the uninsured going to get coverage?
A: Most will have to wait until 2014.
Thats when the government begins providing tax credits to help people who cant otherwise afford to pay health insurance premiums. The aid will be available on a sliding scale to households making up to - - - - >

After a year of riotous argument, decades of failure and a century of spoiled hopes, the United States is reaching for a system of medical care that extends coverage nearly to all citizens. The change thats coming will reshape a sixth of the economy and shatter the status quo.
To the ardent liberal, President Barack Obamas health care plan, passed by the House on Sunday night, is a shadow of what should have been, sapped by dispiriting downsizing and trade-offs.
To the loud foe on the right, it is a dreadful expansion of the nanny state.
To history, it is likely to be - - - - >

“The health-care system has billions of dollars that should go to patient care and theyre lost each and every year to fraud, to abuse, to massive subsidies that line the pockets of the insurance industry,” he said yesterday at a high school in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, Missouri.
Obama is trying to rally public support for the biggest changes to U.S. health care in 45 years in the face of unanimous Republican opposition. He said his proposals show there are ways to pay for - - - - >

“I think for the first time were really scared that were going to be without health insurance,” she said. Fellers especially worried for her 26-year-old daughter, a cancer survivor whose premium has tripled in four years.
Thats why she decided to become a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Californias largest for-profit health insurer on behalf of policyholders who were allegedly pushed to take coverage with fewer benefits and higher deductibles.
In a lawsuit filed in Ventura Superior Court on Monday, Anthem Blue Cross is accused of violating a California law requiring health insurers to offer new, comparable coverage or minimize premium increases - - - - >

“They dont have the equipment or expertise to treat more serious illnesses,” said Wang, who shivered in the cold as she waited in vain last week to see a physician at Beijing Xiehe Hospital. “Well come back at 4 a.m. tomorrow.”
The 10,000 yuan ($1,460) in life savings the couple brought to pay their costs may become an expense of the past after the Chinese government spends $125 billion to start a national health insurance system. The benefits will be felt beyond the sick as General Electric - - - - >

The rate hike by Californias largest for-profit health insurer would affect the companys roughly 700,000 individual policy holders in the state.
The Obama administration has referenced Anthems rate proposal frequently in its arguments for greater federal authority over premiums. On Monday, President Barack Obama put forward a national health care plan that would give the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to deny or limit substantial premium increases or demand rebates for consumers.
The state legislative hearing is the first public examination of the rate proposal, which the insurer announced in November.
On Wednesday, a U.S. House of Representatives committee will - - - - >

Roslyn M. Brock, 44, was chosen to succeed Julian Bond. She had been vice chairman since 2001 and a member of the NAACP for 25 years.
Brock works for Bon Secours Health Systems in Maryland as vice president for advocacy and government relations, and spent 10 years working on health issues for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She joins Benjamin Todd Jealous, the 37-year-old CEO of the NAACP, as leader of the 500,000-member organization.
Brock said she plans to focus on pushing for policy changes to eliminate inequality, strengthening the relationship between the national and local NAACP branches and holding people accountable.
“Its not - - - - >

After legislation that would have required all Americans to have insurance while imposing new regulations on insurers stalled in Congress amid Republican opposition, Obama invited congressional leaders from both parties to a meeting Feb. 25 to discuss alternative proposals.
“I hope they come in a spirit of good faith,” Obama said today in his weekly address on the radio and the Internet. “I dont want to see this meeting turn into political theater, with each side simply reciting talking points and trying to score political points.” - - - - >