Counting down to a budget deadline, the White House has toyed with a hardball health care tactic to force Democrats to yield on President Donald Trump's priorities.

Eight pharmaceutical companies more than doubled their lobbying spending in the first three months of 2017, when the Affordable Care Act was on the chopping block and high drug prices were clearly in the crosshairs of Congress and President Donald Trump.

Controversial California legislation requiring drug companies to justify treatment costs and price hikes jumped one more hurdle Thursday, just a few weeks before the end of the legislative session.

UnitedHealth's first-quarter profit soared 35 percent as the nation's biggest health insurer slashed participation in Affordable Care Act exchanges but grew just about every other part of its business.

Nearly half of California hospitals received a grade of C or lower for patient safety on a national report card aimed at prodding medical centers to do more to prevent injuries and deaths.

Ending one of the private insurance subsidies created by Obamacare to help more than 7 million people pay for their coverage would end up costing — not saving —the federal government money, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday.