Nearly half of the U.S. working population lacked health insurance or adequate coverage in 2012, but many of those individuals will benefit next year as major provisions of the Affordable Care Act take effect, according to The Commonwealth Fund.

The New York-based research foundation reported Friday that the uninsured population has risen substantially since 2003 and somewhat since 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law.

Last year, 55 million lacked health coverage for some time during the year, and 30 million had high out-of-pocket costs that rendered them underinsured. 

Obama's day: Planned Parenthood, Jordan

Democratic senators tell White House of concerns about healthcare law rollout

Florida Medicaid expansion in doubt

Republicans hammered Democrats for allegedly seeking to carve themselves out of a requirement in the healthcare law.

Democrats moved quickly on Thursday to tamp down a report that they're seeking to "exempt" themselves from a key piece of President Obama's healthcare law. Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate said they do not want to change a provision that requires lawmakers and their staffs to buy insurance through newly created insurance exchanges.

"There are not now, have never been, nor will there ever be any discussions about exempting members of Congress or Congressional staff from Affordable Care Act provisions that apply to any employees of any other public or private employer offering health care," a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.

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Passage of healthcare reform was worth any defeat the Democrats might have suffered at the polls as a result, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday.

A powerful House chairman vowed Thursday to put legislation on President Obama’s desk that would give regulators more power to track prescription drugs.

“I commit today that I will do all that I can to make it happen,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said during a hearing.

Lawmakers on Thursday examined a draft bill from Reps. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) that attempts to address loopholes in the drug supply system and give regulators tools to close them. However, while testing the waters for an electronic tracking system, the draft bill falls short of implementing one.

A new bill from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) would allow workers to take unpaid leave when same-sex partners, grandparents and other family members face illness.

The legislation loosens rules established by the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows unpaid leave when workers are caring for a new baby, spouse, child or parent. Other family members are excluded, even when facing serious health conditions. 

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Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) got emotional Thursday when talking about a Senate resolution designating National Pediatric Brain Cancer Awareness Day. She said she has a personal friend with the disease.

The Senate then passed by unanimous consent S. Res. 116 introduced by Fischer and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

Some lawmakers have been discussing a change in the way the healthcare law treats lawmakers and their staffers.