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Consumers shopping on the government's health insurance website should find it easier this year to get basic questions answered about their doctors, medications and costs, according to an internal government document. A slide presentation dated Sept. 29 says HealthCare.gov's window-shopping feature is getting a major upgrade. Window shopping is a popular part of the website that allows consumers to browse for taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plans. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/7)

Seemingly everyone hates the Affordable Care Act's "Cadillac tax" on health benefits — which is precisely why efforts to repeal it are likely to go nowhere fast. Republicans say they won't simply let Democrats off the hook for creating what's proving to be a wildly unpopular tax. They want Democrats to give them something big in exchange for killing it, such as agreeing to scrap other parts of the health care law. (Faler, 10/6)

The Obama administration reversed a policy Monday that had allowed unmarried federal employees and retirees in same-sex domestic partnerships to obtain insurance coverage for children of their partners under certain conditions. The change, applying to the separate insurance programs for health care and for vision and dental care, is a fallout of the June U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring all states to allow and recognize same-sex marriage. It overturns a policy that itself was a result of a ruling by the high court two years earlier and could be a harbinger of other changes in eligibility for federal employee benefits. (Yoder, 10/6)