Broker Regulation

A bold but politically risky plan to cut trillions of dollars from the federal budget steamed toward a party-line House vote Friday, as insurgent Republicans rallied behind the idea of fundamentally reshaping the government's role in health care for the elderly and the poor.

Gov. Haley Barbour, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, played fast and loose with his state's Medicaid enrollment numbers this week as he spoke in Washington and chatted up voters in the early primary state of New Hampshire.

A judge said Thursday that he will not stop the administration of Gov. Tom Corbett from dipping into money that in the past had helped pay for Pennsylvania's now-shuttered health care plan for more than 41,000 low-income adults.

The Arizona Senate has passed a bill that would allow out-of-state health insurance companies to issue policies in Arizona.

New Jersey's Senate president is warning that government retirees could see a two-thirds reduction in their pensions in less than 10 years unless lawmakers can fix a $54 billion deficit in the retirement system.

A summary of employee benefits news, reports and controversy from around the web.

Congress sent President Barack Obama hard-fought legislation cutting a record $38 billion from federal spending on Thursday, bestowing bipartisan support on the first major compromise between the White House and newly empowered Republicans in Congress.

Tough re-election campaigns looming, a handful of moderate Senate Democrats voted on Thursday to keep the money flowing to President Barack Obama's health care law despite increasing public opposition to the year-old overhaul.