Back in May, before any health care reform legislation was introduced, I wrote about Anthem/Blue Cross's employer rate hike in Colorado based on a law passed in 2007 preventing companies from charging unhealthy groups more than healthy groups. My premium (as a member of an employer healthy group)went up $240. a month.

Today, the Denver Post reports the same. What's more, Anthem is planning on raising employer rates an average of 12.5% next year.

Critics also question why insurance companies still are drawing attention to the 2-year-old law, especially since national reform proposals would ban medical underwriting — the practice of increasing premiums based on claim history.

"The trend at the national level is away from medical underwriting," said Denise de Percin, executive director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. "So you really have to question the reason why they would continue to harp on this at the state level. Maybe the goal is politics, not policy."

[More...]

Here is MTV's statement denying they put up a wall at the Brandenberg Gate concert today celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall to block people from viewing U2, one of the performing groups.

MTV placed a temporary security fence around
the site perimeter....Under no circumstances did MTV build a 'wall' of any kind in or around the U2 production site.

We urge everyone to watch the event on MTV Networks around the world from 3:00 pm EST tonight to see for themselves.

I'm not seeing it on any of the many MTV cable networks playing here. The awards show is streaming online here. [More...]

Brian Beutler reports:

[Speaker Nancy] Pelosi said afterward that there's a good chance that Congress will have a bill on the President's desk by Christmas. But asked by TPMDC whether she believed that, if given the choice, Obama would ultimately choose to endorse a bipartisan bill over a bill with a public option, Pelosi demurred. "You'll have to ask him," she said, "but I'll tell you what will pass the House: a bill with a public option."

(Emphasis supplied.) Speaker Pelosi is telling everyone what the House is gonna do. Any Dem that wants to kill the public option will have to do it openly.

Speaking for me only

Update: Judge says Bernie has done much good in his life and he will consider bail pending sentencing. For now, he will remain in jail.

Jailed former NY Police Commmissioner Bernie Kerik pleaded guilty today to charges he lied to the White House on his application to become Homeland Security chief in 2004, after being nominated for the position by President George W. Bush.

Kerik will also admit to tax evasion. The tax counts were set for trial separately. In all, he will plead to eight charges.

Mr Kerik made the first of eight expected pleas at a court in White Plains, New York state, on Thursday. The admissions are part of a plea bargain designed to head off three pending trials on 15 federal counts. Mr Kerik had previously denied all charges.

The prosecution is recommending a sentence of 27 to 33 months in prison . The plea documents are not yet on the court's website. [More...]

The Congressional Budget Office (PDF) has preliminarily scored the Republican health care alternative proposal. Not surprisingly, the GOP plan is a joke. But it is also a sideshow. There is apparently only one Republican who might vote for health care reform. Her name is Olympia Snowe. What I would like to see is her plan submitted to the CBO for scoring.

Because the only plan competing with the current proposal might come from Snowe/Ben Nelson/Joe Lieberman and the gang. John Boehner is irrelevant. Democratic leadership, starting with President Obama, decided to make Olympia Snowe relevant. Let the CBO score her plan, whatever it might be. Then let's compare that to the current proposals. The Boehner Plan is a sideshow.

Speaking for me only

It's Thursday morning. That is all.

This is an Open Thread.

SAFER Colorado (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation) Executive Director Mason Tvert explains in this interview in the Denver Post why alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana and how medical pot issues are being overblown.

Mason says the future is vaporization rather than smoking:

The future is vaporization. You basically heat marijuana to the point where it releases the chemicals and you inhale vapors. It never combusts so there's no smoke. There's never been a documented case of a marijuana- only smoker acquiring lung cancer as a result. Never. Not one.

How legalization would help the economy: [More...]

The House of Representatives will vote on the health care reform bill Saturday. The Republicans are offering their own bill, which is woefully inadequate:

The [Republican] measure would cover 3 million additional people at a cost of $60 billion through 2019, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The Democrats' bill, by comparison, would cover far more -- 36 million additional Americans -- at a much higher cost -- $1.055 trillion through 2019, the CBO has said.

It would also result in more than 52 million uninusred Americans ten years from now. The Democrats' House bill would cover 96% of Americans in ten years. The AARP will announce its support for the House bill Thursday.

Revisions to the bill to rein in health insurance premium hikes have been introduced: [More...]

Yankees win!

The New York Yankees won the 27th World Championship in their storied history by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 of the World Series. The Yankees won the series 4-2.

This is an Open Thread.

DC sniper John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to be executed Nov. 10. His lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to halt the execution, because he is delusional.

In May, 2008, Muhammad wrote a rambling letter to his lawyers in which he proclaimed his innocence.

No one should be executed, but if Muhammed is mentally ill, clearly he should not be put to death. Will the Supreme Court agree?

I'm at the office for a few more hours yet. Here's an open thread for you, all topics welcome.

Matt Yglesias makes some sense:

I’m not really sure why Obama would lack the credibility necessary. [. . .] But does “credibility” really matter? Probably not. [. . . A]s far as I know, [the White House is] not actively trying to persuade anyone because the White House is afraid that if they try to persuade key legislators they might fail. That’s circular. There seems to be some feeling that the President has an obligation to act like he’s a Prime Minister and not bring proposals to the floor unless he’s sure they can pass [. . .] [T]here’s little reason to believe that trying and failing would somehow turn out much worse than simply refusing the try.

Indeed, Yglesias should go a step farther, NOT trying, or being perceived as not trying is now clearly much worse, for President Obama and all the Democrats in DC. I wonder if they realize that yet.

Speaking for me only

A bi-partisan group of dignatories (list here, pdf)has issued a declaration for safely closing Guantanamo. It is backed by the Constitution Project and Human Rights First. The plan supports trying detainees in federal court and opposes indefinite detention. The declaration is available here (pdf).

The largest bipartisan group of prominent Americans to propose a plan for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has backed a single scheme for the disposition of cases of current and future detainees.

• close Guantanamo on schedule;
• use federal courts, not military commissions, to prosecute accused terrorists; and
• prohibit forever the practice of indefinite detention without charges.

Recognizing the difficulty that death row inmates have in bringing innocence claims before the court, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) has introduced H.R. 3986, "The Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act." (Received by e-mail from Amnesty International USA , no link yet:)

When a person facing execution has strong evidence of his innocence, he should have ample opportunity to bring those claims back into a court of law. The law as it stands today is flawed in this respect. Rep. Johnson's bill would ensure that death row inmates have the opportunity to present newly discovered evidence of innocence.

Given that 139 people have been wrongfully convicted and sent to death row in the last three decades in the United States, it is especially important that lawmakers take a close look at the flaws in a system that irreversibly takes human life.

This bill would help inmates like Troy Davis, who due to AEDPA, came within hours of being executed because courts said he could not raise his factual innocence claim. In August, the Supreme Court ruled David should be allowed a new hearing to establish his innocence. Legislation is needed to help others in this situation. [More...]

I found something worthwhile from last night's election results. TPM:

The NY-23 seat [. . .] went to Democrat Bill Owens [. . .] [a]nd the CA-10 seat [. . .] went to Democrat John Garamendi. That creates some simple arithmetic. Yesterday, Democrats had 256 voting members in the House. By week's end, they'll have 258. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could afford to lose no more than 38 Democratic votes on a landmark health care reform bill. Next week, after Owens and Garamendi are sworn in, she can lose up to 40.

Garamendi is a liberal and Owens said about the [HCR] bill at a debate last week [. . .]: "I think moving towards this legislation is very appropriate. I think the type or the form of the public option included in this bill is reasonable. [. . .]"

(Emphasis supplied.) That's two more votes for a public option. That's the biggest story of the night.

Speaking for me only