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North Carolina's largest health insurer says higher-than-anticipated costs after two years of selling federally subsidized coverage has forced it to seek premium increases even greater than it thought would be necessary two months ago. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina said Thursday that it now seeks an average 34.6 percent higher premium for insurance sold under President Barack Obama's health insurance overhaul law. The company said in June that it wanted to raise rates by an average of almost 26 percent starting in January, compared with this year's allowed 13.5 percent increase. (Dalesio and Masters, 8/7)

Delaware officials have decided not to develop the state's own health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act and instead will keep the current federal partnership model. Delaware was granted approval in June to develop a state-based health insurance marketplace, but Health and Social Services Secretary Rita Landgraf told the Delaware Health Care Commission the state will not move forward with the plan. (Chase, 8/6)

The man who has led the Washington health insurance exchange since its inception in 2012 has announced he will be stepping down at the end of the month. Richard Onizuka says his goal has been to establish a health insurance marketplace that best served the people of Washington. Now that the exchange has helped hundreds of thousands of people get health insurance, he’s ready to step aside. (8/6)