Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill Friday said they believed they could override a presidential veto of a Medicare bill that would block implementation of therapy caps and halt a 10.6% cut in Medicare physician pay.

As time winds down on the president's tenure, U.S. Representative Debbie Schultz (D-FL) has begun to build support for universal healthcare.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain drew fire from healthcare providers Monday when he promised to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term, in part, through reductions in Medicare and Medicaid.

President Bush on Monday signed a war-spending bill that delays six of seven Medicaid regulations until April of 2009. The move represents a so-called "win" for nursing-home providers.

Lawmakers in Washington plan to move forward with legislation in the next two weeks to prevent a 10.6% cut in Medicare physicians' payments.

House and Senate Democrats have agreed upon a $3.3 trillion budget blueprint that does not include some potentially harmful funding cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

The Senate Thursday marked up its own version of a war-funding bill that includes a moratorium on seven unpopular Medicaid provisions. The House of Representatives attached moratorium legislation to a war- funding bill earlier this week.

The Bush administration would accept a short-term moratorium on two of seven proposed Medicaid regulations, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said this week.

Stop what you're doing for a moment and just listen. Yes, that is gentle quacking you hear in the distance.

One group was notably absent when the cheering erupted over the introduction of a bill that would ban arbitration agreements from nursing home admission contracts: providers.