Wellmark executives say Iowa’s aging population is to blame for rising insurance premiums; not greed or mismanagement. Representatives from the state’s largest insurance carrier testified at the statehouse Thursday at the request of lawmakers. Legislators want to know why 80,000 Iowans face premium increases averaging 18%.
Wellmark vice President Laura Jackson says it’s largely due to Iowans age and increasingly unhealthy lifestyles. “We can talk all day about health insurance reform, and there’s some great things that need to happen there, but if we do not address the underlying drivers we continue to have this rate of increase,” Jackson says. She says 60% of Iowans are overweight, which leads to higher incidence of diabetes and knee and hip replacements.
Jackson says in 2009, the company actually paid out more than it took in, forcing them to raise rates. She says 94 cents of every dollar they collected in premiums was spent on healthcare services, with less than ten cents allocated for administrative expense.
“So we take very good care of the dollars we do have and take very little for ourselves. In fact if you really compare it to a lot of not for profits, I think you would find that not even those amount of dollars go towards overhead, so as you think about that we really try to take good care of those dollars,” Jackson says. She urged lawmakers to create an environment that would promote healthier living and bring down costs.
But Representative Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, says she remains unconvinced. “I left the table feeling the same way I felt last week that were not doing enough to regulate them and understand what the cost drivers are and what we can do to have an impact on the bottom line of what the rates are going to be for Iowans,” Petersen said. Petersen says she’s heard from many older Iowans whose rates have gone up regardless of health.
Petersen says, “I can’t imagine that anyone wouldn’t be outraged. I mean Iowans are not going to be able to continue to afford it. It’s really affecting all aspects of our economy.” Petersen wants legislation that requires the state’s insurance commissioner to provide more detail when premium increases are approved.
Commissioner Susan Voss says one of the reasons rates are going up is because doctors and hospitals are turning to private payers as government reimbursements for Medicaid and Medicare decline.
IRAQ – Governor Chet Culver today is in Iraq, where he is meeting with Iowa reservists who are serving on behalf of the United States mission. The Governor is joined on the trip by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, and is meeting with soldiers and reviewing the progress that has been made on the ground.
“As Commander-in-Chief of the Iowa National Guard, it is an honor to see the work that Iowa soldiers are doing on the ground in Iraq,” said Governor Culver. “Iowans should know the troops our state has deployed are incredibly dedicated and acting out of a spirit of service. I have been impressed and inspired with their work ethic, their focus and the love of country that motivates so many to serve. To all of our Iowa veterans on behalf of a grateful state, I say a heart-felt thanks for your legacy of service in the name of freedom in America and abroad.”
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Microsoft this week won a court order allowing it to shut down a so-called botnet that was distributing malicious software and spam. The botnet, called Waledac, is essentially a collection of tens of thousands of PCs from around the world that have been remotely taken over by hackers and organized into a cohesive network of malware-spewing hosts.
“At Microsoft, we don’t accept the idea that botnets are a fact of life,” says Microsoft Associate Counsel Tim Cranton. “Given the recent spread of botnets, we are getting even more creative and aggressive in the fight against botnets and all forms of cybercrime. That’s why I’m proud to announce that through legal action and technical cooperation with industry partners, we have executed a major botnet takedown of Waledac, a large and well-known ’spambot’.”
Microsoft’s takedown of Waledac, known internally as “Operation b49,” began months ago with an investigation and consultation with law enforcement. According to the software giant, Waledac is one of the 10 biggest botnets in the world, and prior to the takedown, it was spewing out over 1.5 million spam emails per day, including over 650 million spam emails to Hotmail accounts during a three week period in December 2009 alone.
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Fla. inmates’ scam turned IRS into ATM About 50 inmates are accused of profiting by filing for fake refunds
Workers at the Internal Revenue Service Center in Covington, Ky., sort many of the thousands of tax returns arriving at the center’s mail room. (Al Behrman)
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About 50 inmates at the Stock Island Detention Center near Key West in Florida brought in close to $100,000 in profits by filing for fake refunds with the IRS before their scam was uncovered, the Miami Herald is reporting.
In total, the inmates filed for about $1 in false refunds.
“I was shocked that inmates could steal from the IRS that easily and that blatantly and not be prosecuted. Even when the case was handed to them on a platter,” Rick Roth, a retired Monroe County Sheriff, told the Herald.
The evidence includes a taped phone conversation at the jail involving one of the alleged ringleaders, Shawn Clarke, who, according to a former investigator on the case, said: “I’m through with the street crime. I’m strictly white collar from now on. I love the IRS.”
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By Ryan J. Foley
Inmate Kenneth Shong (Wisconsin Department of Corrections)
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MADISON, Wis. — A lifelong con man imprisoned in Wisconsin worked with associates outside the walls to operate a suspected diploma mill that was recruiting students for at least two years until authorities uncovered the scheme.
Kenneth Shong, 44, helped to run “Carlingford University” while he was behind bars, according to interviews and documents obtained through the state open records law. Prison authorities uncovered the scheme in late 2008, but Carlingford’s Web site was taken down only this month.
The school was apparently just a phony moneymaking venture, according to state regulators. Its Web site claimed Carlingford had an office in Mobile, Ala., and a “regional training center” in Green Bay, but both were merely post office boxes.
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This week’s Health Reform Summit convened by President Obama provides an important opportunity to find out if bipartisanship can be achieved to enact meaningful health care reform.
The American Diabetes Association welcomes this effort. We also believe that the success of the Summit is dependent on whether it truly moves the nation to meaningful health care reform this year.
You can witness the bipartisan summit from your own television or computer on Thursday, February 25 at 10am Eastern.
Just tune in to C-SPAN 3 or visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/live to watch Members of Congress and the President have a dialogue on health reform and see what they ideas they consider to move health reform forward. As you watch, share your thoughts with us on Twitter @AmDiabetesAssn.
Both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives passed health care reform bills that will eliminate denials of health insurance based on pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes. Since the beginning of the year, Congress has been struggling to move forward with reconciling the two bills and voting on a final package.
Yesterday, the President released his health reform proposal in advance of this week’s Summit. The President’s plan uses the Senate-passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as the foundation and includes several changes to bridge the gap between the House and Senate bills. An overview of the proposal is available here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/proposal.
Your American Diabetes Association
Officials say woman falsified leave for time off, pay.
By JOHN MANGALONZO (www.TheHawkeye.com)
jmangalonzo@thehawkeye.com
FORT MADISON — State authorities have charged a former Iowa State Penitentiary correctional officer, alleging she forged military documents to make it appear she needed to be on leave for U.S. Army training.
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office have charged Jennifer Lynn Leggett, 26, of Niota, Ill., with second-degree theft and felonious misconduct in office. She could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted of both charges.
In addition to her employment at the prison, Leggett also was a member of the U.S. Army Reserve assigned to a detachment of the 801st Combat Support Hospital out of Bartonville, Ill. Court papers indicate when she attended drills as a reserve, the Department of Corrections paid her hourly wage of $19.31.
According to the investigation, officials at the Fort Madison facility reportedly told agents of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation attendance was an issue with Leggett, who had been reprimanded in the past for the issue.
In September, the director of human resources at ISP questioned some of the applications for leave submitted by Leggett, authorities said, adding ISP has acquired a training schedule from Leggett’s reserve unit as reference.
That document reportedly showed when the woman was scheduled to participate in training and the times she was absent from them.
Last March, Leggett submitted an application for military leave that had U.S. Army assignment dates of April 14 to 22, 2009. Authorities said she later submitted a second request, this time for July 6 to 20, 2009.
However, according to the documents from Leggett’s reserve unit, she did not have military duties on the days specified on the two leave requests.
Investigators said a closer review of the documents revealed they were U.S. Air Force Reserve papers, which authorities allege were altered to appear like it came from the Army.
Agents went by the tracking numbers on the documents and found they were previous military orders meant for another person, identified in court papers as Ashlee Craw, an Air Force reservist.
Investigators would soon discover Craw, who they say goes by the name of Ashlee Craw-Leggett, is the wife of Jennifer Leggett.
During a January interview between DCI agents and Jennifer Leggett, the woman allegedly admitted to forging her wife’s documents and submitted them to ISP officials.
Jennifer Leggett was paid nearly $2,000 for the unauthorized leave, state authorities said.
Leggett was hired as a correctional officer in October 2005. She worked at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility until June 2007 when she was transferred to the Fort Madison facility as a vacation relief officer.
She later was reassigned to the facility’s Clinical Care Unit.
Leggett resigned from ISP in January following an internal investigation.
Cab driver, passenger and man accused of causing wreck are all injured in Thursday incident.
By JOHN MANGALONZO (www.TheHawkeye.com)
jmangalonzo@thehawkeye.com
Shortly after being treated in the hospital, a 45-year-old Burlington man was arrested Thursday afternoon on allegations he intentionally rammed his pickup head-on into a taxi, injuring the cab driver and a passenger.
Donald McClanahan was booked in the Des Moines County jail on initial charges of willful injury, leaving the scene of an injury accident, driving left of center and reckless driving. Police said they found drugs in the man’s pocket that netted him additional charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police Sgt. Chad Zahn said officers were called to Central and Valley streets at approximately 2:51 p.m. Thursday on an initial report of a hit-and-run crash.
McClanahan, according to police, was driving a full-size pickup southbound on the road when he crossed over to the center line and started to drive north. Witnesses reportedly told officers McClanahan accelerated his speed into the path of a northbound A2Z taxi, colliding with it head-on.
The man apparently left on foot after the crash and was found walking nearby.
The identities of the cab driver and a passenger, both of whom were taken to Great River Medical Center, were not available late Thursday afternoon. Their conditions are unknown.
It remains unclear what caused McClanahan to accelerate the truck in the wrong lane. Police, however, are calling it intentional, based on witness accounts.
Gang leader Michael Rigby escaped from a maximum-security area of Florida’s Osceola County Jail last week by ripping a combination toilet and sink from his cell’s cinderblock wall and burrowing his way to freedom.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said Rigby “crawled through the wall” and that the passage led to “a small maintenance area behind the cell,” according to Lizasuain, that has egress to a grassy area outside the maximum security facility.
After ripping open his cell’s wall, Rigby, 21, climbed through the hole and over some pipes before breaking a lock on a rollup door roughly half the size of a single car garage door. He was then outside of the building. Rigby either went over or under the two razor-topped fences that surround the Jail and fled to freedom, central Florida’s WESH.com is reporting.
It is not clear how exactly Rigby was able to clear the fence, but his discarded jail clothes were found in a pile on the other side.
Two of Rigby’s family members have been arrested, accused of providing him with a car, money, clothing, food and a cell phone. Rigby himself, however, remains on the run.
Rigby, who broke out the night of Feb. 18, leads a gang accused of opening fire at a birthday party in July in Poinciana, a community of 70,000 residents on the Osceola-Polk county line, according to court records, the Orlando Sentinal is reporting.
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THE SHOWNOTES
#177 No Agenda For Thursday Februaru 25th 2010
Vajazzling the Slutsquad
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