WASHINGTON - Many people in Medicare with diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions stop taking their medicine when faced with picking up the entire cost of their prescriptions, researchers say.

About 3.4 million older and disabled people hit a gap, known as the doughnut hole, in their Medicare drug coverage in 2007. When that happened, they had to pay the entire costs of their medicine until they spent $3,850 out of pocket. Then, insurance coverage would kick in again.

TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A majority of seniors who visit the Medicare Web site find getting the information they need a frustrating experience, University of Miami researchers report.

Whether trying to determine their eligibility for home health care or which Medicare drug plan is best for them, most seniors found Medicare's Web site difficult to use. Yet, many seniors say, the Internet could be a valuable source of medical information.

(HealthDay News) -- The average monthly premium for Medicare's prescription drug plan will increase to an estimated $28 in 2009, three dollars more than this year's monthly premium, Medicare officials announced Thursday.

That 2009 figure is 37 percent lower than originally projected when Medicare's so-called Part D drug coverage was introduced in 2003, the officials added. The Part D program offers prescription drug benefits to Medicare beneficiaries.

Medicare approved two fake companies to supply wheelchairs and other equipment, even though the phony firms had no inventory or clients, says a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.

The bogus companies in Maryland and Virginia were set up by government investigators looking into fraud problems afflicting Medicare, Bloomberg news reported.

"If real fraudsters had been in charge of the fictitious companies, they would have been clear to bill Medicare from the Virginia office for potentially millions of dollars of false supplies," the GAO said.

MONDAY, July 21 (HealthDay News) -- Starting next year, doctors can earn additional money from Medicare if they use electronic prescribing systems, U.S. health officials said Monday.

The bonus program, which will continue for four years, is designed to streamline the prescription process and cut down on errors. In 2009 and 2010, Medicare will give doctors an additional 2 percent bonus on top of their fee for "e-prescribing." In 2011 and 2012, the bonus will drop to 1 percent, and in 2013, the bonus will drop again to 0.5 percent, officials said.

Within hours of President Bush's veto of legislation designed to restore a 10.6 percent cut to Medicare reimbursement fees paid to doctors, the House and Senate on Tuesday both voted overwhelmingly to override the veto.

In restoring the money to doctors, the legislation makes up the resulting shortfall by trimming fees to private insurers who participate in a program called Medicare Advantage.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Monday it is freezing a scheduled 10 percent fee cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients, giving Congress time to act to prevent the cuts when lawmakers return from a July 4 recess.

Physicians have been running ads hinting that as a result of the cuts, patients may find doctors less willing to treat them. The administration's delay in implementing the cuts spares lawmakers from having to use the recess to explain to seniors why they didn't do the job before leaving town.

With less than a week to go before a 10.6 percent cut takes effect in the amount Medicare reimburses participating doctors, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday to reverse the cut, the Associated Press reported.

Despite a threatened veto from President Bush, the bill passed 355-59. While the measure has the support of doctors, hospitals, and pharmacists, insurers oppose it. Under the legislation, the funding shortfall would be made up by cutting payments to private health insurers, the wire service said.

WASHINGTON - In Memphis, black Medicare beneficiaries are nearly six times as likely as whites to have a leg amputated, a complication stemming from vascular disease and diabetes.

In Mississippi, 57 percent of women aged 65-69 got mammograms in a two-year period versus 74 percent in Maine.

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TUESDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- Higher levels of spending on medical care don't improve patients' perceptions of the care they receive, according to researchers who conducted a survey of Medicare beneficiaries.

Per capita spending on Medicare beneficiaries varies widely across the United States and differences in health don't account for this variations, said the study authors, who added that little is known about whether beneficiaries in high-expenditure areas receive better care than those in low-expenditure areas.