CHICAGO (Reuters) - Medicare's move in 2005 to pay doctors to do bladder cancer surgery in their offices rather than in hospitals dramatically raised the number of procedures and overall health costs, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The findings reflect the complexity of cutting health costs in the United States, showing how in some cases Medicare -- the insurance program ...

In their ongoing quest to bridge California's huge budget gap, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers on Friday sent letters to congressional leaders and the Obama administration pressing for nearly $1 billion in federal aid. In one letter, Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers urged Democratic and Republican ...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California state lawmakers from both parties say the federal government has been shortchanging California and are pressing for nearly $1 billion. The governor and four legislative leaders sent a letter Friday to congressional leaders asking for $700 million more in federal health care funding. The letter urged Congress to pass bills that would repay states for ...

The federal government is threatening to halt Medicare payments to University Medical Center a sanction that could devastate the financially stricken hospital because of its failure to care for an uninsured pregnant woman in its emergency room. About half of the hospitals operating revenue through the first three quarters of 2009 came ...