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Sign-ups under President Barack Obama's health care law grew slowly but steadily over the New Year's holiday, as the share of Americans still lacking coverage hit its lowest level in years. The Obama administration reported Wednesday that nearly 103,000 people signed up last week in the 37 states where the federal government is running online health insurance markets, bringing total enrollment for 2015 to 6.6 million in those states. The remaining states are running their own exchanges. Meanwhile, a new Gallup survey found that 12.9 percent of the adult population remained without coverage in the last three months of 2014, the lowest share since the pollster began daily tracking of the uninsured in 2008, before Obama took office. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/7)

Some small-business owners are snubbing the new health-insurance exchanges, operating under the Small Business Health Options Program, citing limited federal tax credits and a small menu of insurance offerings in a few states, companies and health-insurance brokers said. (Janofsky, 1/7)

Minnesota's health insurance exchange will receive up to $34 million from the federal government to accelerate software development and improve consumer assistance. MNsure has received nearly $190 million from the federal government. (Zdechlik, 1/7)

The federal government is providing another $34 million for work on the MNsure health insurance exchange — a move that was cheered on Wednesday by supporters of the government-run marketplace, and derided by critics as a bailout. (Snowbeck, 1/7)

A Maryland company that has reaped millions of dollars in federal health reform grants for work across the country is drawing fire for its performance in the Kansas City area. Critics say that Advanced Patient Advocacy (APA), a privately held company, has been slow off the mark in its role as a “navigator” organization, charged with helping consumers find coverage through the health insurance marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act. Critics also question whether the company, which houses its local staff in for-profit hospitals owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA, is fulfilling its obligation under a nearly $400,000 grant to conduct outreach and education activities in the community. (Sherry, 1/7)

Large employers are increasingly putting an end to their most generous health-care coverage as a tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans looms closer under Obamacare. Employees including bankers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and college professors at Harvard University are seeing a range of moves to shift more costs to workers. Companies are introducing higher deductibles and co-payments, rising premiums and the imposition of wellness programs that carry penalties for people who don’t comply. Requiring employees to shoulder more of the cost burden may undermine public support for Obamacare just as Congress, now firmly under Republican control, considers new ways to gut the law. (Wayne and Lauerman, 1/7)