Congress is again in session this week as the Hill’s Floor Watch blog explains. The Supreme Court holds its final session(s) this week before the summer recess. A decision in the Defense of Marriage Act constitutionality case is widely anticipated.

The latest Standard & Poor’s Healthcare Indices report came out late last week.

Eight of the nine S&P Healthcare Economic Indices showed higher annual growth rates for April 2013 compared to March 2013.  Annual growth rates in Medicare costs increased by 1.06% in April, according to the S&P Healthcare Economic Medicare Index, up from a +0.82% rate recorded last month. As measured by the S&P Healthcare Economic Commercial Index, healthcare costs covered by commercial insurance plans rose by 4.54% in April, marginally up from +4.53% , a recent low reported in March.