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washingtonpost.com — The Troubled Assets Relief Program, which was widely reviled as a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street titans, is now expected to cost the federal government a mere $25 billion - the equivalent of less than six months of emergency jobless benefits.

A new report released Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the cost of TARP has plummeted since its passage in October 2008, when policymakers thought that the world stood on the brink of an economic meltdown.

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nytimes.com — A federal judge said Monday that he would rule by the end of the year on the constitutionality of the new health care law, as lawyers for the Obama administration and the Commonwealth of Virginia debated whether the entire 2,700-page act should be invalidated if a key provision is struck down.

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politico.com — After weeks of avoiding the health care overhaul on the campaign trail, some Democrats are out bragging about the law in the final run-up to the mid-term elections.

An ad for Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) says that she “led the fight to stop” insurance companies. Rep. Scott Murphy’s (D-N.Y.) as warns that his opponent “would let insurance companies go back to denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.”

For weeks, the only Democrats talking about the overhaul in television spots were the moderates who voted against the bill.

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consumerwatchdog.org — Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Media and Democracy have sent a letter to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calling on her and the administration to investigate the recent dramatic decreases in medical loss ratios by major health care insurers in anticipation of health care reform implementation. The insurers, led by Cigna and its 2nd quarter 6.4% drop, seek to benefit in two primary ways:

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wonkroom.thinkprogress.org — Over the last several months, I’ve noted that even while the economy is in recession and a growing number of Americans are going without health insurance coverage, the big health insurers are posting higher profits. Americans are actually using less care — filing fewer claims — but still paying more in premiums.

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yubanet.com — Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the 1,000-member coalition that led the successful fight for health reform, released a report today showing that in 2009, while America's families struggled with skyrocketing health insurance costs and the worst economy since the Great Depression, chief executives of the 10 largest for-profit health insurance companies collected total pay of $228.1 million, up from $85.5 million the year before. The CEOs of UnitedHealth Group, WellPoint, Aetna, CIGNA, Humana, Coventry Health Care, Health Net, Amerigroup, Centene and Universal American took $944.1 million in compensation from 2000 through 2009, according to the report, entitled "Breaking the Bank."

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washingtonpost.com — Medicare's finances have been strengthened by the new law setting in motion broad changes to the nation's health-care system, according to a government forecast issued Thursday, which says the fund that pays for older Americans' hospital care will last a dozen years longer than expected.

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nytimes.com — Medicare will remain financially solvent for 12 additional years, until 2029, because of the cost-cutting measures in President Obama’s recently enacted health care legislation, the program’s trustees projected on Thursday.

The financial outlook for Social Security is “little changed from last year,” the report said. In the short run, it added, the financial condition of the retirement program has worsened because of high unemployment, which has reduced payroll tax revenues. For the first time, money flowing out of the program this year exceeds money flowing in.

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huffingtonpost.com — The new health care law has significantly improved the prognosis for Medicare, extending the life of its trust fund by 12 years until 2029, and thereby delaying any need for dramatic changes in benefits or revenues, according to a new report.

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articles.latimes.com — Social Security and Medicare continue to face grave financial challenges even though the new healthcare law may provide added stability to the two massive programs, according to the government's annual review. This year, for the first time since 1983, Social Security is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes.

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