Insurance makes us safer, right? Maybe not. Here's an article from Reuters.
Buffett's "time bomb" goes off on Wall Street
Sep 18, 2008
"...credit default swaps -- complex derivatives originally designed to protect banks from deadbeat borrowers -- are adding to the turmoil.
"This was supposedly a way to hedge risk," says Ellen Brown, the author of the book "Web of Debt."
"I'm sure their predictive models were right as far as the risk of the things they were insuring against. But what they didn't factor in was the risk that the sellers of this protection wouldn't pay ... That's what we're seeing now."
Brown is hardly alone in her criticism of the derivatives. Five years ago, billionaire investor Warren Buffett called them a "time bomb" and "financial weapons of mass destruction" and directed the insurance arm of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to exit the business...
"When the credit default market began back in the mid-1990s, the transactions were simpler, more transparent affairs. Not all the sellers were insurance companies like AIG -- most were not. But the protection buyer usually knew the protection seller..."
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tri-City Hospital Confiscates Delivered Papers
From the AUGUST 14TH ISSUE OF SAN DIEGO NORTH COUNTY'S INDEPENDENT FREE PRESS PUBLICATION THE PAPER
Tri-City Hospital Bans The Paper
Following last week’s cover story in The Paper that strongly opposed Measure A, an apparent serious First Amendment violaton occurred when Tri-City Hospital personnel took what The Paper’s editor and publisher, Lyle E. Davis, alleges was an illegal action by confiscating all copies of The Paper that had been delivered to the hospital waiting rooms.
The bond measure for which Tri-City Hospital District seeks support from the electorate would provide $589 million in funding for Tri-City Hospital...
Bob Allred, a driver for The Paper reported to Davis that while delivering papers he had been accosted by a young woman in the lobby of the hospital who told him she had been instructed to pick up all copies of The Paper and that he was not to deliver any others...
Under the law, Davis contends the hospital, being a public hospital, has no legal authority to deny distribution of The Paper, based on content, under the 1st Amendment of both the state of California constitution and the Federal Constitution...
Tri-City Hospital Bans The Paper
Following last week’s cover story in The Paper that strongly opposed Measure A, an apparent serious First Amendment violaton occurred when Tri-City Hospital personnel took what The Paper’s editor and publisher, Lyle E. Davis, alleges was an illegal action by confiscating all copies of The Paper that had been delivered to the hospital waiting rooms.
The bond measure for which Tri-City Hospital District seeks support from the electorate would provide $589 million in funding for Tri-City Hospital...
Bob Allred, a driver for The Paper reported to Davis that while delivering papers he had been accosted by a young woman in the lobby of the hospital who told him she had been instructed to pick up all copies of The Paper and that he was not to deliver any others...
Under the law, Davis contends the hospital, being a public hospital, has no legal authority to deny distribution of The Paper, based on content, under the 1st Amendment of both the state of California constitution and the Federal Constitution...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Patrick Fitzgerald wins in medicare fraud case against Amerigroup
2-Amerigroup to pay $225 mln Medicaid settlement
Aug 14, 2008
WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Health insurer Amerigroup Corp (AGP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will pay $225 million to settle federal and state claims of fraud in a government health insurance program, the company and the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.
The pact, in coordination with Illinois officials, settles allegations that the company's health plans excluded pregnant women and unhealthy patients in the Illinois Medicaid plan. Medicaid is the state-federal health plan for the poor.
"A settlement of this magnitude sends the clear message that this office takes health care fraud very seriously," said Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for the northern district of Illinois, in a statement...
A jury found Amerigroup liable under federal and state law in October 2006, and the court entered a $334 million judgment against Amerigroup...
Aug 14, 2008
WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Health insurer Amerigroup Corp (AGP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will pay $225 million to settle federal and state claims of fraud in a government health insurance program, the company and the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.
The pact, in coordination with Illinois officials, settles allegations that the company's health plans excluded pregnant women and unhealthy patients in the Illinois Medicaid plan. Medicaid is the state-federal health plan for the poor.
"A settlement of this magnitude sends the clear message that this office takes health care fraud very seriously," said Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for the northern district of Illinois, in a statement...
A jury found Amerigroup liable under federal and state law in October 2006, and the court entered a $334 million judgment against Amerigroup...
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Who benefits from CASBO's "calculated risks"?
The first time I saw Lora Duzyk (on left in above picture) she had just been promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Business Services at SDCOE. I thought to myself, "She couldn't possibly know about the criminal actions in the SDCOE business office. Don Shelton, her predecessor, must have known about wrongdoing by SDCOE Joint Powers Authority, but how could this round-faced, innocent-looking blond lady with the sweet smile be involed in such goings-on?
It turns out I was wrong.
Here's what Lora Duzyk herself wrote:
"At CASBO [California Association of School Business Officials] we take actions – or calculated risks – based on our version of thoughtful data: our strategic plan...
"We’re very near adoption of our new strategic plan: ... We’re the lead agency in implementing a partnership program for SB 352 CBO training: Classes have begun in a program that took five years of CASBO advocacy to bring to fruition..."
Very clever, Ms. Duzyk. CASBO trains all the school business officers, indoctrinating them into the system in which insurance companies make big profits by making sure that schools use lawyers that have been hand-picked to generate business--and soak the taxpayers--for the benefit of those in power, without regard to the needs of students.
Duzyk is clear about who CASBO benefits. Duzyk praises "...active members today, all of whom took calculated risks to move the association forward for their sake and for the sake of their colleagues throughout California.
How do Duzyk and her sidekick Diane Crosier benefit themselves and insurance companies? By making sure that school officers and top employees who violate the law are protected. That ensures that problems--and lawsuits--keep coming. The school officials and administrators love it--they've got great job security, no matter what they do. Chancellor Omero Suarez of Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District and Victoria Richart of MiraCosta College are perfect examples. But their lawyers, from Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz also represent the lion's share of K-12 school districts in San Diego County.
Duzyk writes, "Taking calculated risks based on thoughtful consideration of the data at hand is the hallmark of every great human achievement...Risking nothing means gaining nothing."
Duzyk and her friends have carefully calculated that it's worth the risk to break the law. And they are apparently correct.
About a month ago my few remaining illusions about sweet little Lora Duzyk were shattered when I saw a picture of her along with Don Shelton and the news that the two of them would be chosen in May 2008 as board members of Mission Federal Credit Union. I realize now that Duzyk had me completely fooled that first time I saw her. She knew the truth that night. She had simply calculated that she would be safe if she ignored it.
CASBO's motto is "Smart Business. Smart Schools."
Clearly, the "smart" in the motto isn't referring to students. The taxpayers might be paying the salaries of CASBO members, but they're not reaping the benefits.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Insurance company lawyers should have settled instead of continuing harrassment
Chula Vista, Calif., Goodrich Employee Wins Harassment Lawsuit.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, February, 2003
By Michael Kinsman, The San Diego Union-Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Feb. 8--Goodrich Aerostructures in Chula Vista just took a half-million-dollar hit just because it didn't listen to one of its employees.
The aerospace manufacturer recently was on the losing end of a lawsuit filed by maintenance technician Bob Haist, who said he was slandered by his manager.
A San Diego Superior Court jury awarded Haist $165,000 for the slander and another $335,000 for malice.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, February, 2003
By Michael Kinsman, The San Diego Union-Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Feb. 8--Goodrich Aerostructures in Chula Vista just took a half-million-dollar hit just because it didn't listen to one of its employees.
The aerospace manufacturer recently was on the losing end of a lawsuit filed by maintenance technician Bob Haist, who said he was slandered by his manager.
A San Diego Superior Court jury awarded Haist $165,000 for the slander and another $335,000 for malice.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Health care executive tries to bribe witness
Federal Jury Convicts Nat'l Century Exec
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS,AP
2008-03-26
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)
A federal jury on Wednesday convicted the founder of a failed health care company of trying to bribe a witness in an upcoming $1.9 billion fraud trial.
The jury took one day to deliver its decision against Lance Poulsen, former chief executive officer of National Century Financial Enterprises, described as the nation's largest health care financing firm before its 2002 bankruptcy.
Poulsen was accused of offering a former company executive $500,000 to give misleading testimony during Poulsen's fraud trial scheduled for August.
The executive, Sherry Gibson, told jurors that Karl Demmler, a long time friend to her and Poulsen, told her that Poulsen "wanted to make me whole."
The jury also convicted Demmler, who prosecutors had accused of acting as an intermediary for Poulsen to contact Gibson.
Poulsen said Gibson misunderstood his attempts to help her. He said he was only trying to provide her with a new attorney because he believed she'd been wrongly convicted based on bad legal advice.
Gibson pleaded guilty in 2003 for her role in the National Century fraud case in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors.
The government said the defendants could each face 35 years in prison on all counts of the four-count indictment alleging conspiracy, two counts of witness tampering and obstruction of justice. In court, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley referred to as many as 55 years. Actual sentences are usually much lower than the maximum penalties.
Marbley ordered Demmler taken into custody, citing comments he'd made while under investigation that he wanted to kill and dismember a federal bankruptcy judge. Poulsen has been held in a jail in Chillicothe.
Prosecutors were satisfied with the verdict. "The jury indicated that witness tampering would not take place in this courtroom or any other," said federal prosecutor Douglas Squires. "The case was a matter of money for lies."
The verdict could play a role in Poulsen's August fraud trial.
"What we proved is that the witness tampering was related to that scheduled jury trial of Lance Poulsen, and that trial is pending," Squires said.
Poulsen looked down briefly as Marbley read the guilty verdicts, while Demmler stared straight ahead. Poulsen's lawyers said they were taken aback by the verdict and would consider an appeal.
"The evidence pretty strongly demonstrated that he tried to set the record straight and encouraged the witness to tell the truth," said attorney Peter Anderson.
The government wouldn't say whether it would consider a plea deal ahead of the August trial. Poulsen's attorney said that decision would be up to Poulsen.
"Mr. Poulsen has been adamant about his innocence with regard to the allegations in that matter, and will take all the appropriate measures to try to clear his name in that case," said attorney William Terpening.
On a phone call with Demmler recorded by the government, Poulsen said Gibson should explain that her previous statements to prosecutors were based on old facts.
Poulsen said Gibson should say, "But now, there is a new set of charges and it's a new indictment and I'm not familiar with it," Poulsen said on the recording.
In other recordings, Demmler suggests to Poulsen that Gibson could "have amnesia."
Prosecutors portrayed Gibson as a repentant ex-felon who'd served her time after pleading guilty to corporate fraud.
"How can I make you understand that I just want this whole situation behind me so I can get on with my life," Gibson said in a Jan. 29 letter to Demmler quoted by prosecutors.
Poulsen wanted to pay Gibson for one reason, U.S. trial attorney Leo Wise told jurors: to help him win his fraud case.
Defense attorneys characterized Gibson as an angry woman with an ax to grind who turned on Demmler and Poulsen when they were just trying to help her.
They quoted a different part of the same letter in which Gibson suggests that figuring out a way to get back what she lost would be "something to check out."
Poulsen testified he never tried to influence Gibson. "I never asked Sherry to lie," he told jurors during testimony that stretched over several hours. "I never asked her to forget anything."
In his August trial, Poulsen faces multiple counts of wire and securities fraud and money laundering.
The government alleges Poulsen misled investors about unsecured loans his company was providing health care companies such as hospitals and nursing homes. Prosecutors accuse Poulsen and other former executives of the suburban Dublin-based company of moving money to cover up shortfalls and fabricating data. The company filed for bankruptcy following an FBI raid.
At least nine former National Century executives have been convicted of corporate fraud related to the case to date, including Gibson.
The witness tampering case began after Gibson invited Demmler to dinner at a Don Pablo's restaurant in Columbus June 19.
"Business first," Demmler said when they met that night, then proceeded to explain that Poulsen wanted to "make her whole" based on what she'd been through, prosecutors said.
Gibson testified she understood that to mean she was being offered a bribe to change her testimony. She informed the government, turned down their request to investigate the allegation, then changed her mind after Demmler contacted her about another meeting.
Poulsen said the phrase had a different meaning.
"I felt she had been shafted royally," Poulsen told jurors. "I wanted to make her whole."
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/federal-jury-convicts-natl-century-exec/n20080326185409990013
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS,AP
2008-03-26
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)
A federal jury on Wednesday convicted the founder of a failed health care company of trying to bribe a witness in an upcoming $1.9 billion fraud trial.
The jury took one day to deliver its decision against Lance Poulsen, former chief executive officer of National Century Financial Enterprises, described as the nation's largest health care financing firm before its 2002 bankruptcy.
Poulsen was accused of offering a former company executive $500,000 to give misleading testimony during Poulsen's fraud trial scheduled for August.
The executive, Sherry Gibson, told jurors that Karl Demmler, a long time friend to her and Poulsen, told her that Poulsen "wanted to make me whole."
The jury also convicted Demmler, who prosecutors had accused of acting as an intermediary for Poulsen to contact Gibson.
Poulsen said Gibson misunderstood his attempts to help her. He said he was only trying to provide her with a new attorney because he believed she'd been wrongly convicted based on bad legal advice.
Gibson pleaded guilty in 2003 for her role in the National Century fraud case in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors.
The government said the defendants could each face 35 years in prison on all counts of the four-count indictment alleging conspiracy, two counts of witness tampering and obstruction of justice. In court, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley referred to as many as 55 years. Actual sentences are usually much lower than the maximum penalties.
Marbley ordered Demmler taken into custody, citing comments he'd made while under investigation that he wanted to kill and dismember a federal bankruptcy judge. Poulsen has been held in a jail in Chillicothe.
Prosecutors were satisfied with the verdict. "The jury indicated that witness tampering would not take place in this courtroom or any other," said federal prosecutor Douglas Squires. "The case was a matter of money for lies."
The verdict could play a role in Poulsen's August fraud trial.
"What we proved is that the witness tampering was related to that scheduled jury trial of Lance Poulsen, and that trial is pending," Squires said.
Poulsen looked down briefly as Marbley read the guilty verdicts, while Demmler stared straight ahead. Poulsen's lawyers said they were taken aback by the verdict and would consider an appeal.
"The evidence pretty strongly demonstrated that he tried to set the record straight and encouraged the witness to tell the truth," said attorney Peter Anderson.
The government wouldn't say whether it would consider a plea deal ahead of the August trial. Poulsen's attorney said that decision would be up to Poulsen.
"Mr. Poulsen has been adamant about his innocence with regard to the allegations in that matter, and will take all the appropriate measures to try to clear his name in that case," said attorney William Terpening.
On a phone call with Demmler recorded by the government, Poulsen said Gibson should explain that her previous statements to prosecutors were based on old facts.
Poulsen said Gibson should say, "But now, there is a new set of charges and it's a new indictment and I'm not familiar with it," Poulsen said on the recording.
In other recordings, Demmler suggests to Poulsen that Gibson could "have amnesia."
Prosecutors portrayed Gibson as a repentant ex-felon who'd served her time after pleading guilty to corporate fraud.
"How can I make you understand that I just want this whole situation behind me so I can get on with my life," Gibson said in a Jan. 29 letter to Demmler quoted by prosecutors.
Poulsen wanted to pay Gibson for one reason, U.S. trial attorney Leo Wise told jurors: to help him win his fraud case.
Defense attorneys characterized Gibson as an angry woman with an ax to grind who turned on Demmler and Poulsen when they were just trying to help her.
They quoted a different part of the same letter in which Gibson suggests that figuring out a way to get back what she lost would be "something to check out."
Poulsen testified he never tried to influence Gibson. "I never asked Sherry to lie," he told jurors during testimony that stretched over several hours. "I never asked her to forget anything."
In his August trial, Poulsen faces multiple counts of wire and securities fraud and money laundering.
The government alleges Poulsen misled investors about unsecured loans his company was providing health care companies such as hospitals and nursing homes. Prosecutors accuse Poulsen and other former executives of the suburban Dublin-based company of moving money to cover up shortfalls and fabricating data. The company filed for bankruptcy following an FBI raid.
At least nine former National Century executives have been convicted of corporate fraud related to the case to date, including Gibson.
The witness tampering case began after Gibson invited Demmler to dinner at a Don Pablo's restaurant in Columbus June 19.
"Business first," Demmler said when they met that night, then proceeded to explain that Poulsen wanted to "make her whole" based on what she'd been through, prosecutors said.
Gibson testified she understood that to mean she was being offered a bribe to change her testimony. She informed the government, turned down their request to investigate the allegation, then changed her mind after Demmler contacted her about another meeting.
Poulsen said the phrase had a different meaning.
"I felt she had been shafted royally," Poulsen told jurors. "I wanted to make her whole."
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/federal-jury-convicts-natl-century-exec/n20080326185409990013
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Oregon Holds Health Insurance Lottery
Oregon Holds Health Insurance Lottery
By SARAH SKIDMORE,AP
Posted: 2008-03-04 08:02:32
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Oregon is conducting a one-of-a-kind lottery, and the prize is health insurance.
The state will start drawing names this week for the chance to enroll in a health care program designed for people not poor enough for Medicaid but too cash-strapped to buy their own insurance.
More than 80,000 people have s insurance plan and with too little income to buy her own.
"I'm worried about it. I know it's a death sentence," Krueger said.
An estimated 600,000 people in Oregon are uninsured, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services.
Those selected in the lottery will be eligible for a standard benefit program, which was once a heralded highlight of the Oregon Health Plan.
At its peak in 1995, the program covered 132,000 Oregonians. State budget cuts forced the program to close to newcomers by 2004, but it now has several thousand openings.
The program covers their most basic health services, medications and limited dental, hospital and vision services at little or no cost.
The health insurance lottery winners will be chosen in a series of drawings that could take a few months.
"This is such a wonderful opportunity," said Ellen Pinney, director of the Oregon Health Action Campaign. "We've heard absolutely no complaints, just a lot of hope that they are the ones who will be selected."
Advocates for the uninsured say the demand for the program underscores the state's need for health coverage.
"We have pretty much returned as a state, in terms the percentage of uninsured, to where we were in the late '80s when we created (the Oregon Health Plan standard benefit)," said Barney Speight, director of the Oregon Health Fund Board.
The board is supposed to come up with a plan to address health care access and coverage for Oregonians for consideration in the 2009 legislative session.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski considers the Oregon Health Plan a basis to build on, said Anna Richter Taylor, a spokeswoman for his office. The plan has been able to maintain its benefit package for people who are aged, blind, disabled, under 19, pregnant or receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits.
But providing coverage for a larger population is a goal that could take much longer to reach.
"It's a huge challenge for one session - it's probably going to be a sequential process," Richter Taylor said.
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/oregon-holds-health-insurance-lottery/n20080304080209990028
By SARAH SKIDMORE,AP
Posted: 2008-03-04 08:02:32
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Oregon is conducting a one-of-a-kind lottery, and the prize is health insurance.
The state will start drawing names this week for the chance to enroll in a health care program designed for people not poor enough for Medicaid but too cash-strapped to buy their own insurance.
More than 80,000 people have s insurance plan and with too little income to buy her own.
"I'm worried about it. I know it's a death sentence," Krueger said.
An estimated 600,000 people in Oregon are uninsured, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services.
Those selected in the lottery will be eligible for a standard benefit program, which was once a heralded highlight of the Oregon Health Plan.
At its peak in 1995, the program covered 132,000 Oregonians. State budget cuts forced the program to close to newcomers by 2004, but it now has several thousand openings.
The program covers their most basic health services, medications and limited dental, hospital and vision services at little or no cost.
The health insurance lottery winners will be chosen in a series of drawings that could take a few months.
"This is such a wonderful opportunity," said Ellen Pinney, director of the Oregon Health Action Campaign. "We've heard absolutely no complaints, just a lot of hope that they are the ones who will be selected."
Advocates for the uninsured say the demand for the program underscores the state's need for health coverage.
"We have pretty much returned as a state, in terms the percentage of uninsured, to where we were in the late '80s when we created (the Oregon Health Plan standard benefit)," said Barney Speight, director of the Oregon Health Fund Board.
The board is supposed to come up with a plan to address health care access and coverage for Oregonians for consideration in the 2009 legislative session.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski considers the Oregon Health Plan a basis to build on, said Anna Richter Taylor, a spokeswoman for his office. The plan has been able to maintain its benefit package for people who are aged, blind, disabled, under 19, pregnant or receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits.
But providing coverage for a larger population is a goal that could take much longer to reach.
"It's a huge challenge for one session - it's probably going to be a sequential process," Richter Taylor said.
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/oregon-holds-health-insurance-lottery/n20080304080209990028
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