"This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United
States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation
process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill."
Health insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients
to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations.
In a third-quarter earnings conference call in late October, officials at Aetna announced that in an effort to improve
on a less-than-anticipated profit margin in 2009, they would be raising prices on their consumers in 2010. The insurance giant
predicted that the company would subsequently lose between 300,000 and 350,000 members next year from its national account
as well as another 300,000 from smaller group accounts.
"The pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that
we had historically been delivering," said chairman and CEO Ron Williams. "We view 2010 as a repositioning year, a year that
does not fully reflect the earnings potential of our business. Our pricing actions should have a noticeable effect beginning
in the first quarter of 2010, with additional financial impact realized during the remaining three quarters of the year."
Aetna’s decision to downsize the number of clients in favor of higher premiums is, as one industry analyst told American
Medical News, a "pretty candid" admission. It also reflects the major concerns offered by health care reform proponents and
supporters of a public option for insurance coverage, who insist that the private health insurance industry is too consumed
with the bottom line. A government-run plan would operate solely off its members’ premiums.
Aetna actually made a profit in 2009 but not at levels that it anticipated.
"They were surprised by an acceleration in medical costs in 2009 which pressured their earnings," Josh Raskin, an industry
analyst for Barclays Capital, told the Huffington Post. "In an effort to get back to a more profitable level, they are raising
their prices to match cost trends. When you raise rates, you run the risk of losing your membership. Health insurance is a
very competitive marketplace."
As Williams told investors on the call: "The pricing that we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we
needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering."
Aetna is one of the largest insurers in the private market, covering roughly 17.7 million people according to its 2008
annual report. It is also a major player in the current health care debate and inside Washington D.C. The insurance company
has spent more than $2 million on lobbying just in 2009, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
American Medical News, which first reported the story, noted that this is not the first time the insurance giant has cut
the rolls in an effort to boost profit margins. "As chronicled in a 2004 article in Health Affairs by health economist James
C. Robinson, MD, PhD, Aetna completely overhauled its business between 2000 and 2003, going from 21 million members in 1999
down to 13 million in 2003, but boosting its profit margin from about 4% to higher than 7%."
A spokesperson at Aetna did not return calls and emails for comment.
Yesterday hours before President Obama spoke to
the nation from West Point about his plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, former Vice President Dick Cheney had
a few words of his own to say about President Obama.
During the
interview from his home in Mclean, VA the former VP continued to try and lay blame
on the problems in Afghanistan onto the Obama administration.
For several months now Cheney has spoken out about President Obama and his policies that American will
no longer torture, his closing of Guantanamo Bay and the time it took for President Obama to set his plan of action into play
with regards to Afghanistan.
In the interview Cheney was asked if the Bush administration bears any responsibility for the disintegration
of Afghanistan because of the attention and resources that were diverted to Iraq and Cheney said, “I basically don’t”
.
The same Bush administration that started the war which is now in its ninth year. The same Bush administration
that had Osama Bin Laden cornered and
“within our grasp” and then did an about face into Iraq and allowed the man responsible for
the attacks on September 11, 2001 to get away.
For eight years the Bush administration conducted the war policy in Afghanistan and allow the Taliban
and al-Qaeda to regroup and increase their numbers to the point where
Cheney is concerned with covering his tracks with his deflection speech’s and interviews against
President Obama in order to protect his anterior superior spine. He is counting on President Obama and Attorney’s General
Eric Holder not going after him for his crimes against the United States and humanity.
Dick Cheney has no problems with using American troops as cannon fodder or
Cheney who received five deferments to avoid serving in the armed forces of the United States during
the Vietnam war is truly un-American and a chicken who should have been tried for treason long ago.
November 23, 2009: In an recent interview with the St. Cloud Times, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) expressed
bewilderment that the Democrats don't like her. "I grew up a Democrat in a Democrat family," she said, and "in some ways I
don't understand why the Democratic Party would be opposed to me, because I stand for the same values that my parents stood
for when we were Democrats." Here at TPM, we take pride in our exhaustive coverage of Michele Bachmann and her long and antagonistic
history with Democrats, so we can only conclude that she's simply forgotten. So consider this a friendly reminder...
November 5: Viva La Revolución! Bachmann makes a speech at her Capitol Hill Tea Party against health care
reform: "It was Thomas Jefferson who said a revolution every now and then is a good thing. What do you think?" This is not
the first time Bachmann has touted revolution. Back in March, she called for "orderly revolution" because "we can't let the
Democrats achieve their ends any longer." She continued: "Where freedom is tried, the people rejoice. But where tyranny is
enforced upon the people, as Barack Obama is doing, the people suffer and mourn." In response, the Minnesota DFL chairman
said: "Michele Bachmann must have missed the memo: The revolution already happened. The old way of doing business -- her way
of doing business -- lost."
October 8: On The O'Reilly Factor, Bachmann weighs in about why the left hates her so much: "It may bother
them that conservative women are happy and don't need government in order to be successful in life." "I have a great husband,
great kids. I had a great career as a federal tax attorney. And I don't need government to be successful. And it seems like
they have a stereotype for women and I don't fit in their stereotype."
September 16: In a House floor speech, Bachmann suggests that since President Obama has pushed to curb
energy use, the next logical step is...limiting food consumption: "President Obama said we can't eat as much food as we want
and think the rest of the world will be okay about that -- as if that matters to freedom-loving Americans. Well, we just heard
last week that the Federal Government now under the Obama administration is calling for a re-ordering of America's food supply.
What's that going to mean? Now will the White House decide how many calories we consume, or what types of food we consume?"
September 14: In the wake of Rep. Joe "You Lie" Wilson's outburst in a joint session of Congress, Bachmann
comes to his defense, saying that he "spoke truth" on the House floor. She also defends the "death panel" meme that had created
some controversy in the health care debate: "But there's been a confusion about death panels. 'Death panels' isn't just about
end-of-life counseling. Death panels are the bureaucracies that President Obama is establishing, that will -- where bureaucrats
will make the decision on who gets health care, and how much. Who will have access to doctors? How quickly? What will the
delays be? Because we know, this bill will include rationing."
September 4: Saboteur! Bachmann accuses the Dems of undermining her because they're scared she might become
the first female president: "They want to make sure no women, no woman becomes president before a Democrat woman, and so they're
doing everything they can to, I think, sabotage women like Sarah Palin, perhaps women like myself, or similarly situated women,
to make sure that we don't have a prominent national voice."
September 1: Bachmann gets kind of graphic on health care reform: "What we have to do today is make a
covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure
this doesn't pass." She continues: "Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom.
And we may never be able to restore it if we don't man up and take this one on." Interestingly, on August 20, she appeared
on Sean Hannity's radio show and declared that she was going to tell Democrats that "under no certain circumstances will I
give the government control over my body." If Michele Bachmann wants to slit her wrists, the government had better stay out
of it!
April 6: Here's a doozy: In response to a recently-passed national service bill that expands Americorps,
Bachmann expresses concern that this could lead to mandatory service for young people, and what she describes as "re-education
camps," where "young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have
to go and work in some of these politically correct forums. It's very concerning. It appears that there's a philosophical
agenda behind all of this, and especially if young people are mandated to go into this. As a parent, I would have a very,
very difficult time seeing my children do this. Again, a huge power-grab, at a cost of billions of dollars."
March 23: Bachmann again whips out the violent rhetoric, this time about an energy tax. She calls herself
"a foreign correspondent on enemy lines" just telling everyone about "nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington."
Bachmann says she wants "people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue," because "we need to fight back." This continues
Bachmann's, er, crusade against environmentalism. On August 12, 2008 she spoke out against Nancy Pelosi's "global warming
fanaticism" that has come "to the point where she has said that she's just trying to save the planet." According to Bachmann,
"we all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet -- we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that."
October 17, 2008: And of course, this classic: During the 2008 campaign, Bachmann appears on Hardball,
rails against "leftist liberal views," and declares that she is "absolutely" concerned that Obama is Anti-American. She goes
on to say that "the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look, I wish they would, I wish the American media
would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress find out are they pro-America or anti-America."
In late November 2009, more than 1,000 e-mails between scientists at the Climate Research Unit of the U.K.’s University
of East Anglia were stolen and made public by an as-yet-unnamed hacker. Climate skeptics are claiming that they show scientific
misconduct that amounts to the complete fabrication of man-made global warming. We find that to be unfounded:
* The messages, which span 13 years, show a few scientists in a bad light, being rude or dismissive.
An investigation is underway, but there’s still plenty of evidence that the earth is getting warmer and that humans
are largely responsible.
* Some critics say the e-mails negate the conclusions of a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, but the IPCC report relied on data from a large number of sources, of which CRU was only one.
* E-mails being cited as "smoking guns" have been misrepresented. For instance, one e-mail that refers
to "hiding the decline" isn’t talking about a decline in actual temperatures as measured at weather stations. These
have continued to rise, and 2009 may turn out to be the fifth warmest year ever recorded. The "decline" actually refers to
a problem with recent data from tree rings.
Rep Alan Grayson (D-FL) says what others
can’t
David Phillips
YodasWorld.org
Grayson
says what every other democrat in DC wished they could say, but don’t have the balls to say...
Why should democrats keep turning the other cheek as
they get bitched slapped everyday in the media by GOPERS?
Grayson may see this as a means to increase campaign
funding for himself and he may be using the media in the process of doing so, but so what, every GOPER in congress uses as
Bush would say "Shock and Awe" in the media to advance their own political careers and agenda...
Democrats for the most part have always taken the high
road but they still manage to get rolled over...Time to run right down the middle of the road as Grayson is doing and roll
over them for a change...Maybe if Democrats showed enough spine and stood up to their attacks by giving as good as they get,
the GOPERS might think before they speak...
That asshole Rep. Joe Wilson who shouted out "You Lie"
to the President as he was speaking to Congress and the Nation was hailed as hero for the most part by every GOPER in DC and
on TV, all the democrats did was give him a slap on the wrist, when he should have had his lights punched out...Pelosi should
have had his office relocated to the bath room...
Screw the high road, screw turning the other cheek,
time to fight fire with fire...
Rahm Emanual should send a dead fish to Cheney and Eric
Holder should pursue the crimes that Dead Eye Dick committed over the 8 years he was the VP...They should also go after Turd
Blossom...
Who here wouldn’t want to see these two pieces
of shit do the perp walk...
Hotline On Call gives a sneak preview of National Journal’s new
survey of beltway insiders on “the member they’d like most to shut up, the brightest thinkers and strategists
in their parties and much more.” Topping the list of GOP voices these insiders would like to “mute” is Minnesota’s
Rep. Michele Bachmann — but there’s a five-way tie. Eleven percent of Republicans polled would also like Fox’s
Glenn Beck, Iowa Rep. Steve King, Sarah Palin and Georgia Rep. Tom Price to pipe down.
Sixteen percent of Republican congressional insiders — a list of 65 senators and representatives, including Bachmann
and Rep. John Kline — said they didn’t want to mute anyone.
But among GOP “political insiders” — an even bigger group that includes the likes of Gary Bauer, Ed Gillespie
and Charlie Crist — the most-mutable figure was Sarah Palin. Twenty-eight percent of people in this group wanted her
to shut up; 12 percent selected RNC chair Michael Steele.
Democrats in both groups, congressional insiders and political insiders, would prefer Joe Lieberman be muted, getting 22
and 23 percent of the vote, respectively.
Other results worth noting:
Among GOP political insiders think Sen. John Thune of South Dakota has the “brightest future,” with 32 percent
of the vote.
The figure getting the highest vote in all the results revealed by Hotline On Call call was Newt Gingrich. Forty-one percent
of GOP congressional insiders and 53 percent of GOP political insiders think he’s the “most creative thinker”
in the party.
Mr. Beck, you are bad to the bone, So it’s time that you start to atone. And stop trying to steal Jewish
holy days. Heel! Kindly leave all my people alone.
THIS WEEKS FEATURED MUSIC VIDEO
What Is Politics?
A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is politics?"
Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me capitalism.
Your Mom, she's the administrator of the money, so we'll call her the Government. We're here to take care of your needs, so
we'll call you the people. The nanny, we'll consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we'll call him the Future.
Now, think about that and see if that makes sense,"
So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what dad had said.
Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely
soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her,
he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He
gives up and goes back to bed. The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept
of politics now."
The father says, "Good son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."
The little boy replies, "Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People
are being ignored and the Future is in deep poo."
VARIOUS LATE NIGHT QUOTES
"According to the CIA, Osama bin Laden has been sneaking into Afghanistan
from Pakistan and as a matter of fact, in Afghanistan, he lost $125 million in the casino." –David Letterman
"You know how I warmed up today? I stayed inside and watched the
coverage of the global warming conference." –Jay Leno
"Well, at the Copenhagen climate summit — where they talk
about the environment, you know, saving the environment — the delegates had 1,200 limousines and 140 private jets, or
as they call that in Malibu, 'Earth Day.'" –Jay Leno
"And as you know, Santa Claus is working very hard with his elves
to make sure every child gets at least one toy this Christmas, or as Glenn Beck calls that, 'socialism.'" –Jay Leno
"Well, President Obama's approval rating has hit a new low —
47 percent according to the latest Gallup poll. But White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that a '6-year-old with
a crayon could' come up with those same poll results. You know, I'll bet it's the same 6-year-old with a crayon that came
up with the last budget they came out with." –Jay Leno
"Speaking of the budget, in his speech on the economy, President
Obama said that we have to 'continue to spend our way out' of the recession. Now, I don't know much about economics, but aren't
we like a trillion dollars in debt? Spending our way out of the recession? Isn't that like trying to drink your way out of
alcoholism? I'm just saying." –Jay Leno
"And after a 13-year legal dispute over historical accounting mistakes
by the Department of the Interior, the government has agreed to pay more than $3 billion in reparations to American Indians
for the way they were treated, to which black people said, 'Hello? Civil War, hello! Slavery, we're here, anybody?'" –Jay
Leno
"I have to say, not a great day for President Obama. A new poll
shows that President Obama has the lowest approval rating of any first-year president in the history of presidents. Things
are so bad today the president said the surge in Afghanistan was all Tiger Woods's idea." –Craig Ferguson
"Rush Limbaugh says black people are depressed because President
Obama isn't doing a very good job. That proving, once again, that no one has their finger on the pulse of the African-American
community like Rush Limbaugh." –Conan O'Brien
"Congress was hard at work today trying to come up with a fair
playoff system for college football. Congress was working on this. Meanwhile, the NCAA spent the afternoon kicking around
ideas for how to win the war in Afghanistan." –Jimmy Fallon
"They were like, the real issue wasn't health care, two wars and
unemployment, it's who gets to play in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl." –Jimmy Fallon
This Week in God!!!
YodasWorld.org is updated each Monday. Some of the items from
the previous week are added to the various topic links on the left side of the main page. Links embedded should be good
for at least the date posted. After the posting date, link reliability depends on the policy of the linked sites. Some sites
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YodasWorld.org.
Copyright 2000-2009 YodasWorld.org. All rights reserved
on original works. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use."
YodasWorld.org is updated each Monday. Some of
the items from the previous week are added to the various topic links on the left side of the main page. Links embedded
should be good for at least the date posted. After the posting date, link reliability depends on the policy of the linked
sites. Some sites require visitors to register before allowing access to articles. Material presented on this page represent
the opinion's of YodasWorld.org.
Copyright 2000-2011 YodasWorld.org. All rights
reserved on original works. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use."
