If bin Laden is Gone, Why Are My Health Ins. Premiums Going Up?

Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.   www.thelundreport.org/

At least we get a hearing this time around… Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon is hiking up the rates once again.  And the reason?  The high cost of medical care.  Well it wouldn’t be so bloody high if it weren’t for the insurance companies, most notably Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.   The company's proposal to hike some health insurance rates by 22 percent has prompted state officials to at least let the public rub its runny nose against the windows of the corner office on June 2^nd.   The agency says the proposed rate hike would affect nearly 60 thousand  policyholders who have individual plans, but it would not apply to people who are part of group plans, including those who get coverage from their employer.   Regence says its proposal is based on increases in medical and prescription costs as well as new mandates from the state and federal governments.  In other words, Republican lobbyists want to tie the increases to the president’s healthcare plan.  You want a ‘Kicker’?  Here’s your ‘Kicker’:  All that money doesn’t even get you a doctor any more – unless you need a very costly specialist.  Other than that, you are more likely to get a nurse practitioner.  GP’s are being priced out of the running because you can’t pay your medical school loan on a family doctor’s salary.  Which is fine.  Great.  Maybe even better.  But the whole deal is rigged to the advantage of the upper stratosphere… yet again.  

And Mysterious Pakistan...

Now that the jingoist chanting has died down  serious questions cloud the horizon.  The killing of Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani city dominated by the military has spotlighted a conundrum that Western counterterror agencies have grappled with for years: Is Pakistan's powerful intelligence service an ally, an enemy or a mix of both?  American pundits are expressing dismay and Well, almost like a John who feels betrayed because the hooker cheated on him with another guy.  So we’ll just keep pouring money into Pakistan and hope that the people who were protecting bin Laden don’t get their hands on the nukies.

But Get This:

A senior Palestinian source reported that the Hamas and Fateh movements agreed that the current Prime Minister in the West Bank, Dr. Salaam Fayyad, will not be heading the new interim unity government that would be formed after the unity deal is officially signed.   www.imemc.org/