HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that in 2015 the country will have 62,900 fewer doctors than needed. And that number will more than double by 2025, as the expansion of insurance coverage and the aging of baby boomers drive up demand for care.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A U.S. district judge in Colorado issued a temporary injunction Friday, blocking the Obama administration from enforcing the birth control coverage requirement on one employer based on the owner's religious beliefs. The judge issued a three-month temporary injunction, allowing for further legal review of the case brought by a Catholic small business owner.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is enlisting new allies to fight health care fraud: insurers. Today the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice announced a partnership with more than a dozen health insurers and industry groups to nip fraudulent schemes in the bud, instead of tracking down bad guys after the fact.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: While most uninsured children will qualify for coverage under the federal health law, a small percentage — 6.6 percent of the total, or at least 460,000 — may be shut out because of how the government proposes to define 'affordable' coverage, says a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: States must notify the Department of Health and Human Services by Nov. 16 of whether they plan to create their own exchanges, but even so some Republican governors are waiting until the Nov. 6 election to make a decision — a risky strategy if they want to keep the federal government from running the show.

HCR Update feom Mark Sanna: Last week the Obama administration disclosed the contents of a final rule dealing with information that insurers must provide as part of the health law's standard health benefit package, less than two weeks after the comment period for the proposed regulation ended. The speed with which the rule was rolled out is an indication of how quickly federal officials are moving now that the Supreme Court upheld the health overhaul law and deadlines loom for implementation of health benefits exchanges and the formation of the plans they will offer.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: House Republicans Tuesday unveiled legislation to get rid of AmeriCorps, the national service program, and cut off federal funding for National Public Radio, public television and Planned Parenthood. The moves would come in a controversial spending bill that pays for labor, health and education programs for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Women spend $1 billion more annually on their health insurance premiums than they would if they were men because of gender rating, according to a recent report. Under the health care overhaul, the practice is banned starting in 2014. But according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s April health tracking poll, only 35% of people are aware of this fact.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Under the health law, insurers must spend at least 80% of the premiums they collect on medical care and on measures related to health-care quality. Otherwise, they must pay rebates to consumers and employers for the portion of the premiums collected that were over the limit.

HCR Update feom Mark Sanna: A 50-state survey by USA TODAY shows only Republican governors are refusing to expand Medicaid and only Democrats are vowing to expand it following the court's ruling that states cannot be penalized for failing to enlarge the program. More than half the governors are undecided.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Affordable Care Act is a tax hike, a majority of American voters say, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. 55% of voters say the health care law is a tax hike, compared with 36% who say it isn't.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Americans with mental illness had good reason to celebrate when the Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The law promises to give them something they have never had before: near-universal health insurance, not just for their medical problems but for psychiatric disorders as well.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: With lawmakers returning to Washington this week after the July 4 break, Republican leaders in the House have scheduled a vote -- the 31st such attempt -- to repeal the health law. The effort is not expected to get any traction in the Democrat-led Senate.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Texas ranked dead last in the federal government's latest report card on the delivery of health services, falling short in areas ranging from acute hospital care to home treatment of the chronically ill. Texas scored 31.61 -- less than half of top-ranked Minnesota's 67.31 -- out of a possible 100 points in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality annual rankings.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Fewer Americans are getting health insurance from their employer, a continuation of a trend that started in 2008, according to a new Gallup poll. Only 55.9% of adults aged 26 to 64 received employer-provided health insurance in 2012, down from 61.6% in 2008.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $2.3 million since the Supreme Court's landmark decision Thursday ruling the Affordable Care Act constitutional. The Romney Victory campaign raised $4.6 million nationwide from more than 47,000 donations after the ruling.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In the largest settlement involving a pharmaceutical company, the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay $3 billion in fines for promoting its best-selling antidepressants for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a top diabetes drug, federal prosecutors announced Monday. The agreement also includes civil penalties for improper marketing of a half-dozen other drugs.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama's healthcare law emerged from its bruising two-year legal ordeal largely intact, with its primary goal of guaranteeing all Americans health security still standing. The Supreme Court, however, is only the first of several daunting obstacles the law must clear.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Supreme Court has given states a way out of expanding the Medicaid program under the health law, but governors will be under strong pressure to take the federal money that would pay for coverage for millions of low-income people.