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Colorado's nonprofit health insurance cooperative, Colorado HealthOP, signed up 39 percent of individuals enrolling for health insurance for 2015 through the state exchange. Connect for Health Colorado reported it enrolled almost 140,000 people in private insurance plans. The nonprofit Colorado HealthOP garnered almost 55,000 of those after significantly lowering its premiums in the second year of the state exchange. (Draper, 3/4)

As of the end of the open enrollment season on Feb. 15, Colorado had about 139,652 people sign up for private health insurance. Of those sign-ups, the HealthOP, a new nonprofit co-op, has netted 54,591 sign-ups. Kaiser Permanente of Colorado last year picked up about 46 percent of the market and the HealthOP attracted 12 percent of enrollees. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 3/4)

Colorado health exchange managers have given $226,720 in bonuses since 2012 and the budget calls for $105,870 more this year. The bonuses — including a hefty one this year for the technology chief — have come as IT and sign-up glitches have dogged the exchange, forcing millions of dollars in cost-overruns and complicating sign-ups for thousands of people who were trying to buy private health insurance. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 3/4)

Oregon's health insurance marketplace is a state-based exchange and would not be affected by the U.S. Supreme Court case against president Barack Obama's health care law, state officials say. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case Wednesday. The lawsuit seeks to limit financial assistance to people who live in states that created their own health insurance marketplaces. (Wozniacka, 3/4)

While the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether premium health care insurance subsidies could be used in states that did not set up their own exchange, one Republican lawmaker told a Missouri Senate panel Wednesday that the state should bar such subsidies on its own. Congressional action is needed to fully dismantle the Affordable Care Act, but the bill would be a first step, Sen. Bob Onder said. The Lake St. Louis Republican also said President Barack Obama's administration was acting "lawlessly" in continuing to offer subsidies in states, including Missouri, which are using the federal government's website. (French, 3/4)

A potential budget crisis is fueling a new conversation about Medicaid expansion in Florida. The issue was a non-starter in 2014, largely because House Republicans oppose expanding Medicaid as envisioned under the Affordable Care Act. But Florida now risks losing a separate pot of federal money known as the Low Income Pool that helps hospitals like Tampa General Hospital treat uninsured patients. Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said the potential $1.3 billion loss in funding has given lawmakers a reason to reconsider Medicaid expansion. "We have an obligation to look at this issue," Gardiner said. (McGrory, 3/4)

A Senate panel has advanced legislation requiring Arkansas to seek federal approval to freeze enrollment in the state's compromise Medicaid expansion, despite state officials saying such a move isn't possible. The Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Wednesday endorsed a bill requiring the state to seek federal approval by the end of the year to halt enrollment in the "private option." Under the private option, Arkansas is using federal Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance for the poor. (3/4)

Gov. Sam Brownback suggested Wednesday that he might consider proposals to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, provided the Legislature can identify a way to pay for it. "I’ve been pushing that anything we do on Medicaid expansion has to be 100-percent paid for," Brownback said during impromptu remarks to the Kansas Association of Insurance Agents, who met at the Statehouse on Wednesday. ... Brownback's comments, which came in response to a question from one of the insurance agents, stood in stark contrast to his remarks on the campaign trail last year when he said he strongly opposed the federal health care law, also known as Obamacare, and criticized his Democratic opponent Paul Davis for supporting it. (Hancock, 3/4)

Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was fully implemented in 2014, there were 30 million African Americans who lacked any kind of health insurance coverage in this country. The law hopes to bridge that gap with affordable and accessible coverage, which is now a mandate. (King Collier, 3/4)

Small employers are facing an unexpectedly onerous task: tallying their individual employees’ monthly health-care costs. Starting in 2016, under the Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more full-time workers are required to file new tax forms laying out what individual employees are being charged for their employer-sponsored plans. The Internal Revenue Service released the new forms on Feb. 8. (Loten, 3/4)