Good News, Health Care Reform | featured news

Americans kept health care spending in check for three years in a row, the government reported Monday, an unusual respite that could linger if the economy stays soft or fade like a mirage if job growth comes roaring back.

More Americans got health insurance coverage in 2011, as young adults jumped onto their parent’s health insurance plans, the U.S. government said Wednesday. More also got public health insurance under the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Many states have expanded eligibility for, and simplified access to, the children's Medicaid program. This has helped shrink the number of uninsured children from 6.9 million in 2008 to 5.9 million in 2010. Experts say the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care overhaul that requires states to maintain income eligibility levels and discourages other barriers to coverage, has played a key role in the improvement.

The sweeping health care reform bill championed by President Barack Obama was upheld as constitutional by another federal appeals court Tuesday.

In a major victory for the president, Democratic leaders get the Senate version passed, then engineer passage of a package designed to reconcile that bill and the one OKd by the House last year.

Delivering a hard-fought victory in President Obama's yearlong pursuit of a national healthcare overhaul, a divided House narrowly approved legislation Sunday night that could reshape the way Americans deal with wellness and illness.