Julie Rovner
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Administration officials say that anyone who leaves an email on the website will be entitled to an extension to purchase health insurance after tonight's midnight deadline has passed.
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Though the health insurance law is federal, we're not exactly all in this together. Each state runs its own insurance market and pools, so a big turnout of the healthy in New York won't help Texas.
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The Obama administration says some people will be able to extend the enrollment process past March 31. But failing to start the process by then can have serious financial consequences.
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Just six people managed to sign up for health insurance through the federal website the day it opened for business. The numbers are better now, but the botched rollout may have not only inconvenienced people, but also permanently changed people's perceptions of the Affordable Care Act.
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The idea was that Medicaid would expand to include people not covered under the Affordable Care Act. But many states have chosen not to expand coverage, despite financial incentives from the federal government. That may leave millions of people without any health coverage at all.
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Women and teenagers should soon be able to buy emergency contraception with no age restrictions, according to a federal district judge's memorandum. But the Obama administration's plan will put just one brand-name formulation of the "morning after" pill on store shelves.
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The growth in health spending has definitely slowed, according to several recent studies. Some reasons: the weak economy, a shift of costs to patients and fewer expensive technologies being introduced.
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Emergency contraceptives like Plan B and ella are effective at preventing pregnancy after unprotected sex. Claims that the pills are tantamount to abortion, however, aren't supported by science, say researchers. The only way the drugs work is by stopping a woman's body from ovulating.
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A year ago, some of President Obama's biggest supporters were dismayed when the administration did not lift the age requirements for obtaining the pill without a prescription. But advocates now see a new opportunity to push the issue.
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Stopping the Affordable Care Act may be harder than the law's opponents realize. For one thing, if he's elected, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney can't just grant waivers letting states ignore the law on his first day as president.