To survive the unprecedented challenges coming with federal health care reform, California hospitals are upending their bedrock financial model: They are trying to keep some patients out of their beds.

Democrats and Republicans disagree about whether the Legislature needs to approve a health insurance exchange this spring. At a Statehouse forum on the issue Thursday, state Sen. Brad Zaun noted that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer on whether major portions of the health reform law ...

State budget shortfalls for the coming year total about $47 billion, the smallest aggregate deficit since the Great Recession, a report says. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found deficits in 29 states for the fiscal year ahead and another 10 states reported revenue for the current year fell ...

Medicaid cuts in California, Washington and Texas prove controversial, while changes or proposed changes in Florida, Georgia and Minnesota get closer looks.

David Martin, who helped write Governor Deval Patrick's health care payment reform bill, is leaving. Martin, the Director of Health Care Policy and Strategy in the office of Health and Human Services, is taking a job at Covidien as Senior Director of Health Care Economics and Policy.

At issue was a federal appeals court ruling allowing patients and health care providers to sue over California's cuts in Medicaid payment rates. The high court sent the case back to the court in San Francisco to consider whether private parties or only the federal government can object to Medicaid ...

Nearly two years before the federal health reform law kicks in, 10 California counties have expanded medical coverage to more than 250,000 people who were previously uninsured, according to new state data.

Alaska is one of several states suing to overturn the Affordable Care Act -- President Obama's health care overhaul. But behind the scenes, state agencies are quietly working on implementing various requirements in the law. One of those requirements is an exchange, which will work kind of like Expedia, but ...

Nearly a quarter of the Texas population lacked health insurance in 2010, according to the most recent data released by the American Community Survey, which the U.S. Census Bureau conducted.

A federal judge will continue blocking millions of dollars in cuts to in-home care for the elderly and the disabled, parties to a lawsuit over the services said Thursday. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken had temporarily halted the cuts in December. The $100 million in reductions to home aid, built ...

The California universal health care bill didn't make it past the Senate Appropriations Committee last year -- but Tuesday, more than 100 advocates plan to present it to the committee again, hoping for a better outcome. Under the single-payer bill, Californians would pay the state -- instead of private insurance ...

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday to halt a 10% Medi-Cal provider reimbursement cut to medical transportation services. It was the third time the state has lost in court on this issue. State officials said the state will appeal.