Collective Sigh

...we learned this week that the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association - a state-backed insurance group - will soon ask the state to approve a 400 percent increase in annual premiums for thousands of homeowners insured by the association.

This might give you the impression insurance companies are struggling financially.

However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Yes, hurricanes cost insurers more than $53 billion in 2005.

However, despite these record losses, insurance companies also reported record profits.

According to information compiled by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners - information cited in an April 5 report on the ABC News - "Insurance company filings with all 50 states show an unprecedented $44.8 billion in profits in 2005."

The truth is, insurance companies have the financial ability to continue providing homeowners' insurance - at reasonable rates - throughout the hurricane zone. (Hattiesburg American)

Speaking on behalf of the director, CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise Dyck said, "This is horribly irresponsible. He hasn't even been to the Watergate in decades."

When I asked if Goss had attended Wilkes' parties at the Westin or other locations, Millerwise Dyck repeated the denial. "It's horribly irresponsible. Flatly untrue."

SCARBOROUGH: Your sources are telling you that he used these limousines to bring prostitutes to the hotel. Also, apparently, he is cooperating with investigators. Is there a possibility that this black book with information may be turned over to the FBI and other high ranking Republican congressmen could be in big trouble?

"Bush rejects tax on oil companies' windfall profits"

"President expects companies to invest in alternative fuels"

Bush called on Congress to give him the authority to set the standards for passenger cars sold in the United States as a means of reducing the nation's demand for gasoline.

"I encourage them to give me that authority," Bush told reporters during a visit to a service station in Biloxi, Mississippi. "It's an authority I used for light trucks, and I intend to use it wisely if Congress will give me that authority."

Engineers were yesterday granted permission by the Scottish Executive to build the largest onshore windfarm in Europe, after they agreed to erect a new radar tower for Glasgow airport.

ScottishPower's new windfarm, at Whitelee, south of Glasgow, will cost £300m to build and its 140 turbines will produce enough electricity to power 200,000 homes. The new facility, the company's second big windfarm in Scotland's central belt, is expected to generate some 322 MW of electricity when it enters full operation in 2009.

Every American taxpayer would get a $100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.

Congressional GOP leaders on Monday formally called on President Bush to launch an investigation into possible price gouging by oil companies, as gas costs shot up nearly 25 cents a gallon in two weeks.

the Drug Enforcement Administration and Justice Department -- alarmed by the seemingly widespread diversion of opium-based prescription drugs such as OxyContin and Dilaudid to addicts and abusers -- have investigated, arrested and prosecuted as "drug dealers" scores of pain doctors who allegedly misused their authority to write prescriptions for narcotic painkillers. On the other side, many pain doctors and patients have protested the DEA's approach as overly aggressive and punitive, saying that it's unfairly penalizing pain patients.

"It now is apparent to me that the spirit of cooperation that existed between the DEA and the pain community to achieve the goal of balance has broken down," Heit wrote in a much-discussed commentary in the journal Pain Medicine last month. "The DEA seems to have ignored the input and needs of the healthcare professionals and pain patients who actually prescribe, dispense, and use [prescription opioids]."

Rumsfeld: ‘The Implication That There Was Something Wrong with the War Plan is Amusing’

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been doing a series of softball interviews with hosts like Rush Limbaugh in an effort to rehabilitate his image. On Monday, Rumsfeld appeared on the Bill Cunningham Show and had this to say about the retired generals criticizing his management of the Iraq war:

"Of course the implication that there was something wrong with the war plan is amusing almost because of the fact that the war plan’s fashioned by the combatant commanders and it’s reviewed in great detail by the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then it’s recommended to me and the President."

In other words, Rumsfeld is arguing that there is nothing wrong with the Iraq war planning — but if there was anything wrong it wasn’t his fault. He’s blaming the combat commanders and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

* Legal permanent residents (LPRs) who were residents of the United States as of Aug. 22, 1996, are barred from receiving food stamps and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Each state, however, is allowed to offer LPRs Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid. Since 1997, states have been mandated to provide State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) coverage to immigrant children legally in the US before Aug. 22, 1996.

* LPRs entering after Aug. 22, 1996 are not eligible for food stamps or SSI. However, they can apply for Medicaid and TANF benefits five years after entering the country legally, and are then allowed benefits at each state's discretion. States may use the maintenance of effort requirement to serve post-1996 legal immigrants who would be eligible for TANF if not for the five-year bar. In addition, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 restored immigrants' access to food stamps.

* Refugees and asylees are eligible for benefits seven years after their date of entry.

* Nonimmigrants and undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving benefits. They are eligible, however, for public health, emergency services, and programs identified by the attorney general as necessary for the protection of life and safety.

So as House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) prepared his border security bill last year, the Justice Department asked him to include a provision making unlawful presence in the U.S. a crime. Sensenbrenner, on the House floor in December, said the idea came from the Bush administration, and an administration official last week, speaking anonymously, confirmed his account.

In a letter to the media, Hurley says he's not seeking a fifth term because he wants to be able to spend more time with his family.

Hurley thanked the citizens of Randolph County who "have placed their trust in me for the past sixteen years." He also extended thanks to his fellow employees at the Randolph County Sheriff's Office for their support of the department.

The only person to ever be elected as Sheriff of Randolph County for four terms, Hurley is also the only Sheriff from Randolph County to serve as the President of the NC Sheriff's Association.

Rudy is the raucous rooster condemned to death in a real court order issued by Chief Magistrate Roger Greene on Jan. 24 for terrorizing the Weaver Street area in Randleman, then pardoned last week after Hurley caught him and appealed for clemency.

Sheriff Litchard Hurley was raised on a farm though and he knew there had to be a way not to have to kill this bird. He personally took on this task. He tried to capture the bird with many of the same failed methods that the Randleman Animal Police had pursued. Finally Sheriff Hurley had an idea...an ingenious idea that could have solved this problem in one day.

Hurley brought an old dog kennel to the yard where the rooster was most active. He put a tarp over it to keep the bird in. He scattered corn on the ground near the entrance. He used a string to remotely close the gate of the kennel. And he used the power of Sex to lure the Rooster into the kennel.

In a dog carrying crate placed in the kennel he put two of his own hens. In less than an hour after putting the plan into place....Rudy went in to check out the females....the lady at the house pulled the string and Rudy was locked in and was caught.

We caught up with Randolph County Litchard Hurley Thursday night, and he gave us the low-down on Rudy the Rooster’s incarceration.

Hurley — who got custody of the stray Rudy when no one else claimed him — said he’s keeping a close eye on the plucky outlaw.

But the conservative, tough-on-crime sheriff is taking what sounds like a feel-good liberal approach to the rooster’s reformation during the lifetime of community service ordered by Greene.

Rather than forcing Rudy to cluck to juvenile delinquents about his many transgressions to “scare them straight,” or peck up trash by the roadside under the supervision of a shotgun-toting deputy, Hurley’s already giving Rudy hen house privileges.

That’s right: Rudy’s getting cozy with the hen that Hurley used as “bait” to catch him in a makeshift trap on April 6. Hurley hopes to kill two birds with one stone (just a pun, folks) by helping Rudy settle down and by making an “honest woman” out of the hen who played the scarlet lady in the chicken sting operation.

Hurley said he’s had a lot of fun with the Rudy case and can’t believe how many concerned people have wanted to talk to him about the chicken. He’s gotten many offers to adopt Rudy — one from a man way out in Indiana.

So, like a true politician, Hurley has worked out a plan to please everyone. He’s proposing to hatch an army of little Rudys, so everybody who wants one — and lives out in the country — can have their own aggravating rooster.

If Hurley wasn’t retiring in December, you might think that sounds like a campaign promise to put a chicken in every pot ... uh ... yard.

Sorry, Rudy. (links here and here)

I will admit my own prejudice: my deep affection and respect are for those who volunteer to serve our nation and therefore shoulder, in those thin ranks, the nation's most sacred obligation of citizenship. To those of you who don't know, our country has never been served by a more competent and professional military. For that reason, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent statement that "we" made the "right strategic decisions" but made thousands of "tactical errors" is an outrage. It reflects an effort to obscure gross errors in strategy by shifting the blame for failure to those who have been resolute in fighting. The truth is, our forces are successful in spite of the strategic guidance they receive, not because of it.

Massachusetts governor signs health-care measure

In historic Faneuil Hall, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney signed groundbreaking universal health-care legislation Wednesday that promises to cover nearly all of the state’s 515,000 uninsured residents by 2010.

Cigna Corp. announced Wednesday that its second quarter net income was $720 million, up from $504 million the year before.

Cigna Corp. said its profits for 2004 rose to $1.6 billion on $14.2 billion in revenues, buoyed by better profit margins in its health insurance operations and accelerated recognition of gains from a sale of its retirement benefits business.

But what about someone who doesn't work for a generous company? Or someone who retired at age 60 and has chronic illness or cannot afford to put away hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars for anticipated medical expenses? HSAs may not work for them.

Edwin Park, a senior health policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, says people in relatively poor health may have trouble buying health insurance on their own in the first place. And those with little income aren't going to have the money to put in HSAs, no matter what the tax advantage.

"These are primarily tax shelters," he says. "If you are high-income, you can take advantage of them. And if you're healthy, you can sock away money; if you're not healthy, you can't" because you are using it to pay medical bills. People who can't afford high deductibles would have to go into plans with lower deductibles, which are more expensive.

Some critics worry that HSAs transfer too much of the burden for health care costs from employers to individuals. Others are concerned that people who have HSAs and are trying to save might skimp on care and delay screenings, immunizations or treatments.

On a more global scale, Park estimates HSA tax breaks could boost the federal deficit by $156 billion over 10 years, increasing the pressure to cut spending for programs like Medicare and Medicaid. And with more employers dropping health benefits, more workers may be forced into the individual market, where sicker people may be unable to get coverage at all.

Are You Throwing Away Good Drugs?

Every year Americans throw away billions of dollars' worth of prescription medication because of manufacturers' expiration dates or "discard after" instructions from pharmacists.

But do they really need to? Do drugs always stop working or go bad after the expiration date on the package?

Gerald Murphy, a retired pharmacist in Ormond Beach, Fla., doesn't think so. He argues that lots of drugs remain both safe and effective for years beyond their state expiration dates - most of which, he says, are "fictitious" and serve mainly to enrich their manufacturers.

For more than a decade Murphy has been waging a crusade to require that expiration dating of medicines be based on science rather than on arbitrary periods chosen by their manufacturers or others in his own profession. (In many states pharmacists routinely add discard-after warnings with even less time than the expiration dates stipulated by manufactureres). "They make money by having people throw things away," Murphy says.

Murphy scored a small victory last year when the state legislature told the Florida Board of Pharmacy that it could no longer require pharmacists to use discard-after dates on prescription labels, as it had done since 1993.

Murphy isn't alone in his belief that the expiration dates on most medicines don't really mean that much. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in tests for the Defense Department, has determinied that most prescription and over-the-counter drugs remain safe and effective long after the manufacturer's expiration date - in some cases, many years longer.

(...)

In 2001 the Americna Medical Association asked the pharmaceutical industry to invest in such studies, but its request went unaddressed.

Low participation in drug plan frustrates subsidy advocates

Medicare's new drug coverage hasn't caught on with the seniors who stand to benefit most from it.

They're the older adults who, because of limited incomes and assets, can qualify for extra help with out-of-pocket drug costs.

"Too few seniors have applied for the low-income subsidy, and too few are getting it," said Cheryl Matheis, an AARP executive who's tracking the prescription drug program's rollout. "It's been the biggest disappointment."

(...)

Advocates thought lower-income seniors would jump at the chance to apply to the Social Security Administration for the subsidy and save an average of $2,100 a year in drug costs.

"This was supposed to be a no-brainer," said James Firman, president and chief executive of the National Council on Aging.

But the numbers tell a different story. Of an estimated 7.2 million Medicare beneficiaries entitled to the extra help, only 1.5 million - about 20 percent - have completed the application and qualified.

"I just want to thank Congress for Medicare Part D. Mom's Coumadin copay went from $20 to $60. Dad's inhaler copay went from $25 to $55. Figuring out which insurer to use was so complex that when their pre-Medicare D carrier said my parent did not need to change, they didn't.

For this stellar performance, most of Congress deserves early retirement without a pension."

The Senate Democratic leadership says it has found a wedge issue to strengthen the party’s position on abortion rights, which top strategists think has become a liability in recent years.

The wedge is legislation expanding access to contraceptives and sex education, which polls show a majority of Americans support but which Democrats are betting will be difficult for social conservatives in the Republican base to accept.

North Carolina lost its label Thursday as the only East Coast state without a lottery, getting off to a quick start as commuters, casino-players and the curious snatched up the first batch of instant tickets.

Attracted by the promise of $400 million annually for education and spurred on by Gov. Mike Easley, the General Assembly narrowly passed a lottery last summer, following the lead of 41 other states and all of its neighbors.

Ticket sales by then had reached about $6.5 million, well beyond the early $2 million estimate of lottery officials. Executive director Tom Shaheen estimated that sales would reach more than $10 million for the day.

At least 35 percent of the proceeds from every ticket sold must go public-school construction, class-size reduction, need-based college scholarships and a voluntary prekindergarten program.

North Carolina will join the multistate Powerball numbers game in late May. The lottery law also sets aside up to $1 million to assist problem gamblers and requires strict advertising restrictions.

Virginia officials say North Carolinians make up 7 to 10 percent of their ticket sales -- an estimated $91 million to $130 million.

Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, in increasingly poor health since he left office three years ago, has vascular dementia and has moved into a convalescent center near his home, his wife said.

''He has his good days and his bad days,'' Dot Helms told the News & Observer for a story Sunday. ''He still sees friends. Company is good for him. He is still signing books. But he is not able to conduct any business or make any speeches.''

The 84-year-old Republican has been slowed by illnesses including a bone disorder, prostate cancer and heart problems. He decided against seeking a sixth term and left Congress in January 2003.

Helms' wife of 63 years said that friends visit him daily. ''His manners are always intact,'' she said. ''He is very gracious when people come to see him.''