Anthem Blue Cross in Southern California is raising rates by as much as 39%.

Anthem sent letters to agents a few weeks ago informing them of the March 1 increases and followed up with similar notices to policyholders last week.
That’s when Mary Feller of San Rafael learned that the rate for herself and her husband will jump 39%, or $465 a month, driving the couple’s annual premium to $19,896 from $14,316.
Feller, 56, said the premium for her 26-year-old daughter also will rise 38%, costing the family an additional $1,572 a year.
As a result, starting March 1, the Fellers’ health insurance bill will surpass the family’s monthly mortgage payment on their home north of San Francisco.

Tell me again why the market is more efficient than government?

The Colorado Springs budget mess that I noted has brought out the worst in the tea partiers and under-godders as seen in Canada’s National Post. They don’t bother to check the facts, such as the “$89,000 a year” figure for a municipal worker’s salary.

by hikeandski
Feb 04 2010
1:46 PM

About time some taxpayers said enough is enough! Bloated salaries and benefits of public employees have to be stopped and REVERSED. Simply let them go and hire private contractors at less than half the price and everything will be fine again.

All uneconomic activity has to stop sometime. And NOW is the time to stop the ludicrous situation of overpaid public employees.

And this one:

by Pavane
Feb 04 2010
5:47 PM

Street lights are not essential.  Cars have headlights and pedestrians can carry rechargeable flashlights.  I don’t see why streetlights aren’t turned off at midnight from Sunday to Thursday.  Ninety percent of the population will be in bed.  Why waste energy and money?

I live in the country and it is pitch black at night.  I have yet to have am accident because of it.

And racism rears its ugly head.

by sonofkaz

Feb 04 2010
2:13 PM

It all depends on the population.  The more “diversity” they have, the worse the prospects of maintaining peace and order.  But a racially homogeneous and traditionally American population will probably fare quite well with less cops and will benefit economically from a smaller tax burden.

This is the kind of shit that will happen if the tea party bigots and “I’ve-got-mine-and-you-can’t-have-yours” folks
get into positions of responsibility and control. The don’t want government more responsive to their needs, they don’t want government at all. Not even the relatively benign aspects that most folks agree on. These people don’t see 2012 or I Am Legend as fiction, but how-to manuals.

Colorado Springs, proud home of the US Olympic Committee, selected as the No. 1 Best Big City in “Best Places to Live” by Money magazine in 2006, and placed number one in Outside Magazine’s 2009 list of America’s Best Cities. It is also home to the US Air Force Academy and Focus on the Family. It is closing down essential services.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won’t pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

Cheyne-Stokes, end of empire?

Gay Missouri Trooper Killed in Line of Duty Leaves His Partner Without Benefits

Missouri highway patrolman Dennis Engelhard was killed by an out of control SUV on Christmas Day. Dennis Engelhard was gay. His partner Kelley Glossip helped him raise a son from  previous marriage. This relationship has gone unnoticed when it comes to the survivor benefits and charities that assist the families of fallen law officers; Missouri, of course, doe not recognize same-sex committed relationships.

This is why we need marriage equality. Not just some rights, but equal rights.

President Obama will announce a three-year freeze on non-security, discretionary spending, senior administration officials told CNN Monday.  The freeze will hold discretionary spending at $447 billion — about one-sixth of the federal budget — but Congress will be able to shift funding from one program to another within that amount.

And after that is a success, he will “work” towards jobs. Obama cares, OK?

Washington is filled with idiots.

A Medicare buy-in idea was very popular. It would also be simple to do, and Congress can use the reconciliation process to do it. There were more than 51 votes before..

So simple, it will never happen…

It’ll be one of these:

Coakley Wins Senate Seat in Massachusetts, Dems in Disarray

Martha Coakley eaked out a win to keep Massachusetts open Senate seat in Democratic hands. However, her less than landslide victory sent the Democratic Party into a tailspin from which they cannot recover.

Top Democrats in Washington pledged to resign their House and Senate seats and cooperate in an orderly transition to Republican control of Congress.

Coakley Loses Election, Dems in Disarray

Martha Coakley’s loss by 2000 votes is solid proof that the country is sick of Democrats and is turning to the Republican Party for rescue.

Top Democrats in Washington pledged to resign their House and Senate seats and cooperate in an orderly transition to Republican control of Congress.

Fox NEWS hires Sarah Palin as their newest FABULIST and LIAR.

Watch, all the way through.

Six million Americans are living on Food Stamps alone—no job income, no disability, unemployment, or other government program.

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — After an improbable rise from the Bronx projects to a job selling Gulf Coast homes, Isabel Bermudez lost it all to an epic housing bust — the six-figure income, the house with the pool and the investment property.

Now, as she papers the county with résumés and girds herself for rejection, she is supporting two daughters on an income that inspires a double take: zero dollars in monthly cash and a few hundred dollars in food stamps.

Read the full story.