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Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) — In the most important Supreme Court case of his term in office, President Barack Obama will be defending a policy that he opposed as a candidate. During the 2008 Democratic primaries, one of the few differences he had with rival Hillary Clinton was that her health-care plan featured an individual mandate to purchase health insurance, while Obama rejected a mandate on principle. But the health-care law he eventually signed included a mandate, and the court has now agreed to rule on whether that is constitutional.

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STRATHAM — A new health insurance plan for the town and its employees may net savings.

The Health Insurance Study Committee recently presented the plan to the selectmen, who commended the committee for finding a significant cost savings but raised concerns about the proposed employer-employee contribution, which would change from 75/25 to 80/20.

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Correction: A Monday Tulsa World story about insurance premiums incorrectly attributed a quote to Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Bert Marshall. The quote was from the authors of the Commonwealth report. This story has been corrected.Insurance premiums from employer-issued health insurance plans have increased by about 45 percent in Oklahoma and have outpaced income growth in all 50 states, according to a report released recently by the Commonwealth Fund.

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California Supreme Court rules in an Orange County case that implied contracts covering retirees’ healthcare are valid.

Health benefits for government retirees may not be eliminated if state and local governments had clearly promised workers those benefits, the California Supreme Court ruled in an Orange County case Monday.

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Attracted by the affluence of the country’s growing middle class, Cigna Corp. announced that it would team up with an Indian conglomerate to sell health insurance in India.

Cigna’s partner in the joint venture is the sprawling TTK Group - known in India for selling items as diverse as condoms, lipstick, and pressure cookers.

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Health Management Associates, Inc. (NYSE: HMA) slid -1.65%, to close at $8.34 and its overall traded volume was 4.61M shares during the last session the stock had average daily volume of 3.41M shares. HMA opened the day at $8.54, it made an intraday low of $8.32 and an intraday high of $8.65. The stock has a 52 week low of $6.06 and 52 week high of $11.74. The market capitalization of the company stands at $2.12B and it has 254.10M outstanding shares.

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appearance on Fox News yesterday, Mitt Romney said that he won’t entirely walk away from the health care plan he passed in Massachusetts.

“I am sure there are many people who have calculated, and perhaps correctly, that the health care plan I put in place in Massachusetts is not good for me politically, and that if I want to encourage my political future, I should just say it was a mistake and walk away from it,”he told Neil Cavuto, who had asked about a poll showing 46 percent of New Hampshire residents would never support a candidate who backed an individual mandate.

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The federal overhaul of the nation’s health care system will create financial winners and losers in Minnesota, an economist told state leaders meeting Thursday in St. Paul.

Young, healthy and wealthy folks who have saved money in the past by purchasing skimpier health insurance coverage could be among the losers, said Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That’s because individuals who fit that description likely will have to buy richer coverage without seeing tax benefits from the law, which Congress passed in 2010.

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The case focuses on a potentially unconstitutional portion of the bill requiring people to buy insurance.

Also called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the law will fine U.S. citizens without insurance $95 in 2014 and $350 every year after. Dependents must also be covered or their legal guardians will be fined, according to section 1501 of the bill.

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WASHINGTON—Employers have more time to comply with rules dictated by the health care reform law that will require them to revamp how they communicate and explain their health care plans.

In a notice published Thursday, the Labor Department said the reporting requirements would not go into effect until after final rules are published.

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