WATERBURY, Conn. - Rising property taxes, failing eyesight and even a tumble that cracked her tailbone haven't forced 89-year-old Angeline DiBeneditto from the home she's had for more than six decades.Now, though, changes in a Connecticut program that helps her and others live independently could push her toward a nursing home after all if she can't scrounge at least $180 more from her monthly budget.DiBeneditto, who's lived on the same block for 87 of her 89 years, said that if it appears she'll need to move to a nursing home rather than continue living independently, "I would ask the dear Lord to go ahead and take me."

Read more: Seniors pinched by new charges for home care help

Mar. 6--As many as 24,000 North Carolina Medicare recipients may be affected by the suspension of a New York-based drug plan. Federal Medicare regulators have ordered Fox Insurance Co. to suspend enrollments and marketing for its Medicare Part D drug plan because the company was not providing drugs to customers quickly, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The company, without permission from Medicare, was pushing patients to use cheaper drugs than those prescribed by doctors.

Read more: Medicare ruling on drug plan may hit 24,000

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he wants projects helping specific states yanked from the health care bill Congress is writing. The Senate-approved health measure lawmakers hope to send to Obama soon would steer $600 million over the next decade to Vermont in added federal payments for Medicaid and nearly as much to Massachusetts."We're going to do what we have to do to get a bill out of the House and Senate," said James Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Read more: Senators resist Obama over projects in health bill

Mar. 11--The national health care reform debate was highlighted through the day in Missouri on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Missouri Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican, and his would-be successor, Rep. Roy Blunt, a Springfield Republican, held a joint conference call with reporters to slam Democratic-led reform efforts with Bond calling the president's proposal "monstrous." The House of Representatives and Senate passed different versions of reform late last year but debates over abortion funding and how the plans are paid for have caused legislative efforts to stall.

Read more: Bond, Blunt voice concerns over health care reform as Obama visits Missouri

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are pulling together a final version of a health care overhaul bill and pushing for House votes as early as next week. INSURANCE MANDATE: Like the bills approved last year by the House and Senate, the proposal would require almost everyone to be insured or pay a fine. MEDICAID: The legislation would expand the federal-state Medicaid insurance program for the poor to cover people with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, $29,327 a year for a family of four.

Read more: A look at Democrats' health care overhaul

WASHINGTON - Under White House pressure to act swiftly, House and Senate Democratic leaders reached for agreement Friday on President Barack Obama's health care bill, sweetened suddenly by fresh billions for student aid and a sense that breakthroughs are at hand."It won't be long," before lawmakers vote, predicted Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She said neither liberals' disappointment over the lack of a government health care option nor a traditional mistrust of the Senate would prevent passage in the House.

Read more: Democrats seek agreement, vote on health care

WASHINGTON - House Democratic leaders on Thursday abandoned a long struggle to strike a compromise on abortion in their ranks, gambling that they can secure the support for President Barack Obama's sweeping health care legislation with showdown votes looming as early as next week.In doing so, they are all but counting out a small but potentially decisive group whose views on abortion coverage have become the principal hang-up for Democrats fighting to achieve the biggest change in American health care in generations.Leaders are hoping they can find enough support from other Democrats to pass legislation that cleared the House by just five votes in an earlier incarnation.

Read more: Dems drop abortion compromise -- Some may vote no because of language

Holden, D-17, voted against the health care reform bill last year. However, another vote will likely be held soon, as the House appears set to pass the Senate's version of the bill. Johnson and others believe Holden is likely having "his arm twisted" by Democratic leaders eager to turn his "no" vote to a "yes" vote the second time around.

Read more: Conservatives urge Holden to oppose reform bill; Holden says he's planning to vote 'no'

PIERRE, S.D. - The South Dakota Legislature's plans to cut state spending next year were thrown into question Thursday when lawmakers learned the state might get an extra $36 million in federal aid.Legislative leaders said they want to find out whether Congress gives final approval by the end of March to a measure that would provide states with extra federal money for Medicaid, the state-federal program that pays the medical expenses of poor people.The delay in finishing work on the state budget will give South Dakota officials time to find out if the expected extra federal aid can be used to patch holes in the state budget, said Senate Appropriations Chair Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton.

Read more: Extra federal aid could solve SD budget problem

WASHINGTON - Top Democrats say they are resolving disputes over President Barack Obama's health overhaul plan, but they face decisions on subsidizing coverage and are still hunting votes to push the vast package through Congress.After a day of meetings with rank-and-file lawmakers and among House, Senate and White House bargainers, leaders expressed confidence Thursday evening that this stage of their labors was nearly complete.Even with initial votes possible next week, few were claiming that Democrats had the votes in hand to prevail - especially in the House, where the roll call is expected to be a cliffhanger.

Read more: Democrats pare differences over health overhaul