Florida hospital officials say patients who have been hospitalized recently are 15 percent less likely to be readmitted as hospitals around the country try to improve quality and save money under the Affordable Care Act.

With just 50 days until Floridians are able to go online and shop for private health insurance under a new federal law, hundreds of volunteers are fanning out across the state to inform people about the law and the coverage opportunities available under it.

Florida's insurance officials said Tuesday that health insurance rates will rise an average of 5 to 20 percent for small businesses and 30 to 40 percent in the individual market through the state's new exchange under the federal health law.

The strict moratoriums give federal health officials unprecedented power to ban new Medicare and Medicaid providers from joining the programs for six months.

The Obama administration reminded Florida lawmakers Wednesday that it's not too late to expand Medicaid to more than 1 million residents in the state.

Nearly 100 people, including 14 doctors and nurses, were charged for their roles in separate Medicare scams that collectively billed the taxpayer-funded program for roughly $223 million in bogus charges in a massive bust spanning eight cities, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Hospitals nationwide could lose half a billion dollars in federal funding meant to offset the cost of covering the uninsured next year.

Gov. Rick Scott slammed a Florida House proposal Thursday that would pass up billions of federal dollars to provide health care coverage to 115,000 uninsured Floridians in a watered down alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law.