By Steve Holland and Thomas Ferraro, Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:07am EDT

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama and his Democrats face the challenge of limiting fallout from Obamacare and drumming up voter enthusiasm in the November congressional elections, problem areas exposed by the loss of a Florida candidate who had led in the polls.

The defeat of Democrat Alex Sink by Republican David Jolly in a special election last Tuesday has raised anxiety levels for Democrats as they struggle to hold on to control of the Senate in November and pick up seats in the Republican-held House of Representatives.

Mar 15, 2014

White House Tightens Health Plan’s Standards After Consumers Complain.
The Obama administration issued stringent new standards on Friday for health insurance to address a flood of complaints from consumers who said that costs were too high and that the choice of doctors, hospitals and prescription drugs was too limited in many health plans offered this year under the Affordable Care Act. In deciding which products can be sold in the federal marketplace next year, officials said, they will scrutinize health plans more closely and rely less on evaluations by state insurance regulators and private groups that accredit health plans. … Officials issued the new standards, buried in a stack of documents, at 7:15 p.m. on Friday even as President Obama was stepping up efforts to increase enrollment in health plans this year (Pear, 3/14).

ByJake Miller,CBS News, March 15, 2014, 11:28 AM

If President Obama won’t agree to scrap his health care reform law entirely, Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, said Saturday, the least he can do is provide targeted relief to senior citizens on Medicare Advantage who have watched their costs grow and their provider networks shrink under Obamacare.

Dana Clemens, 06:32 PM CDT Mar 15, 2014

One of the most common scams during tax season will hurt long past April and cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to fix.

It’s identity theft.

“Almost everything you need to steal someone’s identity is in their tax return,” Mark Gingrich, a member at Williams-Keepers LLC said.

This close to tax deadline means someone could have already filed your taxes for you.

By Jason Millman, March 14 at 7:51 pm

The Obama administration is requiring health plans in Obamacare insurance marketplaces to include a more robust offering of care providers in 2015 after some early backlash over limited networks in the health care law’s first year.

Health plans selling on the federal marketplaces in 2015 must include 30 percent of area “essential community providers,” which are usually health centers and other hospitals serving mostly low-income patients. That’s up from a 20 percent requirement in 2014, the first year of expanded overage under the health care law.

By Amy Feldman, Fri Mar 14, 2014 2:19pm EDT

NEW YORK, March 14 – As you go to do your taxes this year, it may be the last time you get to take advantage of dozens of tax provisions that expired at the end of 2013.

So grab them while you can. And be prepared for some tax-planning difficulties this year if you’ve come to rely on one of the big ones.

A total of 55 so-called “tax extenders”, little bits of the tax code that either fall by the wayside or get automatically renewed, expired at year-end.

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Mar 14, 8:37 PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO     (AP) — The U.S. government is relinquishing its control of the Internet’s address system in a shift that may raise questions about the future direction of online innovation and communications.

The decision announced Friday begins a long-planned transition affecting the stewardship of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. That’s a not-for-profit agency launched in 1998 by the Commerce Department to govern the system that assigns website addresses and directs Internet traffic.

March 14, 2014 5:49 p.m. ET

The Internal Revenue Service’s most intimidating weapon is the power to audit—and well-heeled taxpayers are more likely to be the target.

Audits are rare and getting rarer as the agency faces funding cuts. Fewer than 1% of taxpayers endured one last year, according to IRS figures. But while the audit rate has fallen over the past five years for taxpayers who earn less than $200,000, the rate has risen for those earning $200,000 to $1 million.

Victor Mora, March 14, 2014

With shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) trading around $32, is T an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let’s analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

AT&T is a provider of telecommunications services in the United States and worldwide. Services offered include wireless communications, local exchange services, and long-distance services. AT&T operates in four segments: Wireless, Wireline, Advertising Solutions, and Other. The communications products offered through AT&T’s segments reach audiences using just about every widely adopted medium: Internet, voice, television, and mobile. As consumers continue to adopt this technology, providers like AT&T stand to see rising profits.

By Bonnie Lee, Published March 13, 2014

The deadline to enroll in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act is less than three weeks away, and the law could impact your future tax situation.