���ϳԹ���

Many consumers with health coverage through the Affordable Care Act are facing unexpected medical bills that in some cases greatly exceed the law’s caps on out-of-pocket expenses. The law’s limits don’t apply to charges from out-of-network providers, and many insurance plans sold on ACA exchanges have limited networks—amplifying the risk of surprise bills. (Armour, 6/11)

State lawmakers across the country are grappling with how to blunt a side effect of new Obamacare health plans — surprise medical bills for patients who unwittingly receive care from out-of-network providers. (Demko, 6/11)

Some health insurance companies are asking for big price increases next year and that has again riled critics of the federal health care law. The numbers released last week came out of an Affordable Care Act requirement that insurance companies tell government regulators by June 1 if they’re requesting price hikes of more than 10 percent. But not all of the story is yet reported. Take, for example, Montana. (Whitney, 6/12)

Ted Cruz is planning to battle his party over Obamacare again — this time, if Senate Republicans seek to extend subsidies that could be killed by the Supreme Court as soon as this month. In an interview with POLITICO, the 2016 presidential candidate weighed in on the high-stakes Supreme Court case that could end subsidies for millions of people who receive their health insurance through the federal exchange. ... “I think the best legislative option is to allow states to opt out,” Cruz said in the Capitol. “I am cautiously optimistic that the Supreme Court will conclude in King vs. Burwell that the Obama IRS disregarded the plain language of the statute and acted lawlessly. And when that occurs, it will be a real opportunity for Congress to lead.” He added: “In a perfect world, we would take that opportunity to repeal Obamacare. At a minimum, we should allow states to opt out.” (Raju, 6/11)

Almost no one disputes that the implementation of the federal health law has helped Americans who were previously uninsured gain coverage. But exactly how much has the uninsured rate dropped? A whole lot, says President Barack Obama. ... But is the uninsured rate really the lowest ever? Maybe, say experts. But you can’t really tell. (Rovner, 6/12)

President Barack Obama has been doing an awful lot of talking about his signature domestic policy -- facing its second high-profile Supreme Court test. His latest defense of the Affordable Care Act came in an interview that will air on "Extra" on Thursday night. (Holmes, 6/11)

Although Obamacare’s initial rollout problems have been resolved, the administration is still running into problems implementing the law. But this time it’s not the website, it’s the IRS. ... This was the first year that the IRS began calculating subsidies and penalties, and according to federal watchdogs, the process didn’t go very smoothly. A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration revealed that the IRS wasn’t able to verify if everyone who qualified for subsidies actually got them because it’s still lacking a tool to cross-check taxpayers’ status. (Ehley, 6/11)