21.   Federal payments to HMOs do not take into account these new benefits.

22.   Federal payments, however, were not large enough to offset the income from crops in rich Kansas soil found along streams.

23.   For almost two decades, cancer researchers in this country have been fighting over inadequate federal payments for clinical trials.

24.   Foster parents and those adopting children who have been abused or neglected would still be entitled to federal payments.

25.   Friday is the deadline for the next federal payment to the states for welfare checks.

26.   Growth in federal payments for Medicare has also slowed, cutting into a formerly lucrative business for many managed-care companies.

27.   HHS investigators are examining improper collusion between hospice-care providers and nursing homes that split federal payments without giving patients any added service.

28.   If a Medicare beneficiary chose a private health plan that charged less than the federal payment, he or she would receive a cash rebate equal to the difference.

29.   If prices were high, federal payments would fall.

30.   In addition, it said, some of the money may be used to offset cuts in federal Medicaid payments to hospitals serving large numbers of low-income patients.