Concerned about the nation’s health care safety net, a bipartisan coalition of California’s congressional leaders urged the U.S. House leadership Tuesday not to cut off supplemental Medicaid payments to hospitals because doing so could jeopardize care for millions.

California’s recurrent power outages this year by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison, in response to wildfire threats up and down the state, have forced patients to think about how they get care when the power is cut at hospitals and clinics.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said Tuesday that it is unlikely the Senate will pass legislation to lower drug prices before the end of the year. 

Medicare’s revamped prescription plan finder can steer unwitting seniors to coverage that costs much more than they need to pay, according to people who help with sign-ups as well as program experts.

A proposed rule would require employer-sponsored health plans to provide plan enrollees with cost estimates from different providers.

Anxious about the cost of a single-payer health system, more voters now support the idea of a government-run plan that would compete with private insurance.