Idaho insurance pool struggles to stay solvent | Local News ...

Nearly 40 Idaho cities are facing a 55 percent increase in health insurance premiums because a pool insurance program they joined earlier this year was hit unexpectedly with large medical claims.

They have until December to make up a $1.5 million shortfall, after the Idaho Department of Insurance warned that the pool didn?t have enough money in reserves to stay solvent.

A dozen cities agreed to prepay six months? worth of premiums to help the pool cross that line.

Cities big and small joined the Idaho Independent Intergovernmental Authority program in March, in hopes of lower annual insurance premiums.

The program, patterned after a similar one in Montana, also promised cities more bargaining power.

Cities signed up with the group program after leaving more traditional insurers like Blue Cross of Idaho.

But the new group received 11 claims in the first 40 days of operation that hadn?t been calculated into the first-year business model, the Post Register reported this week. So pool members have had to kick in extra to shore up the reserve account.

Member premiums increased by 19 percent in September and will rise 36 percent in January.

?Basically the story is, we had more people who got sick right off the bat than we thought,? said Gary Marks, chairman of the pool?s board of directors and Ketchum?s city administrator. ?We know it?s an anomaly because claims have receded down dramatically (since).?

There are 39 cities taking part in the pool, including Fruitland, Burley, Jerome, Hailey and Ketchum. About 2,400 people were covered as of this month, including 850 employees.

Rigby officials dropped their city?s coverage with Blue Cross of Idaho this year because they thought they could get a better deal for their 20 employees. But with the premium increases, the pool could cost Rigby significantly more over time.

City Clerk Dave Swager said Rigby was quoted $9,904 per month by Blue Cross but will pay $15,662 per month through the pool when the January rate increase takes effect.

Swager said Rigby officials tried to back out of the pool when the problems hit, but could not do so without paying a large financial penalty that includes one year?s worth of premiums.

Swager said he hopes the pool will be liquidated so Rigby can rejoin Blue Cross.

?We?re definitely concerned,? Swager told the Post Register. ?We can?t afford $15,000 a month in premiums versus $9,000 in premiums.?

But Marks and some officials in member cities still see the value and potential benefits of the program. Even with the 36 percent increase, the pool will continue benefiting St. Anthony, City Clerk and Treasurer Patty Parkinson said.

Before joining the pool, St. Anthony employees paid rates adjusted for sex and age, causing the city?s insurance payments to fluctuate widely, depending on the employee. As a member of the pool, the city pays a flat rate of $409.15 per month per employee, about $121 less than the age-variable plan under Regence Blue Shield.

?For us, it?s been a good thing because we?ve been able to maintain the plan we?ve always had,? Parkinson said. ?It?s leveled out (our rates) and made it a little more predictable.?

Marks is hopeful, noting the Montana pool now has $9 million in reserve and 76 member cities. He also said some members hadn?t seen an increase in their previous plans? rates in two years, Marks said.

?I think we?re headed in the right direction now,? Marks said.

Audrey Dutton: 377-6448, Twitter: @IDS_Audrey

Source: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/11/17/2349597/idaho-insurance-pool-struggles.html

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Natural Gas Abundance Powers Jobs and Investment

A Washington Post story reports on billions of dollars in expected new investment because of increased natural gas production from shale:

Manufacturers have plans to invest as much as $80 billion in U.S. chemical, fertilizer, steel, aluminum, tire and plastics plants, according to Dow Chemical. And the main reason, said George J. Biltz, Dow Chemical?s vice president for energy and climate change, ?comes back to the massive competitive advantage the United States has with natural gas today.?

This bountiful supply of natural gas is welcome news to chemical companies who use it as a component in plastics, paints, dyes, lipstick, makeup, nail polish, and an assortment of other products.

Chemical and fertilizer plants are being built and expanded in Louisiana, Texas, and Iowa, and the story notes other positive effects:

On Oct. 1, Honeywell announced that it paid $525 million for a 70 percent stake in Thomas Russell, a privately held provider of technology and equipment for natural gas processing and treatment. With the acquisition, Honeywell will offer technologies and products that allow producers of shale and conventional natural gas to remove contaminants from natural gas and recover high-value natural gas liquids used for petrochemicals and fuel.

Another example: U.S. Steel. The company is churning out new pipe for natural gas drilling rigs, wells and pipelines. And as a big consumer of power, it is paying less for fuel.

Add these examples to a list that includes ?sand millionaires? and expanded transportation work.

We know oil and natural gas development from shale is supporting millions of jobs right now, and according to an IHS CERA study, it will support 2.5 million jobs by 2015 and 3 million jobs by 2020.

Another benefit from this energy boom is more government revenues from royalties, lease sales, and taxes. The IHS CERA study estimates that shale energy development will put $62 billion in government coffers in 2012 and contribute more than $2.5 trillion by 2035. Leaders in Washington who are working on avoiding the fiscal cliff and moving toward a deal encompassing spending reforms that address entitlements and comprehensive tax reform must look at how increased energy development can help improve our fiscal situation.

However, all this good stuff?new investment, new jobs, new government revenues-- could go away if the federal government blankets hydraulic fracturing technology with duplicative regulations.

Source: http://www.freeenterprise.com/energy-environment/natural-gas-abundance-powers-jobs-and-investment

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Saturday College Football Colorado State at Boise State: Start Time, Odds, Free Pick

http://beyondthebets.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/petersen.jpg
Colorado State will attempt to build off its recent success when it squares off against Mountain West stalwart Boise State this afternoon. Start time in today?s showdown between the Rams and Broncos is set for 3:30pm ET at Bronco Stadium; the game will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network. Saturday College Football Colorado State at Boise State Odds are favoring Chris Petersen?s squad at -28 against the spread; the Over/Under in the conference tilt is set at 49.5 points.

Colorado State?s first season under new head coach Jim McElwain has not exactly been a success to this point; however, last week?s 33-11 home victory over UNLV did match the three win total the program has posted in each of the last three seasons.

With two games remaining on their schedule the Rams have a chance to nearly double that three win mark, but the prospects of that seem unlikely with Boise State on today?s docket.

The Broncos are having what most would call a down season, but they are still 8-2 overall and fighting for first in the Mountain West standings. And, no matter how down Boise may seem, it is still significantly better than Colorado State.

The Broncos are presently ninth in the FBS in scoring defense, yielding an average of 14.4 points per game, and they still have enough on offense to do some damage against a Rams squad that is giving up over 400 yards and 30 points per game.

That said the spread, given the way Colorado State has played of late, may be a bit much here. The Rams have yet to lose by 28 or more points this season and they stayed inside of that total against their four most difficult opponents (Fresno State, Utah State, San Jose State, and San Diego State).

Free Pick: Take Colorado State +28.

Colorado State at Boise State College Football Odds:

Colorado State Rams +28 (-110), Over 49.5 (-110)

Boise State Broncos -28 (-110), Under 49.5 (-110)

MovieCollege Football Free Picks: Memphis at UAB (Best Bet)
What college football bettors need to know about Memphis Tigers at UAB Blazers on Saturday (11/17/12) - a best bet from Pregame.com's Marco D'Angelo, with Bryan Leonard and host Scott Spreitzer.

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Source: http://pregame.com/sports/stories/b/news/archive/2012/11/17/saturday-college-football-colorado-state-at-boise-state_3A00_-start-time_2C00_-odds_2C00_-free-pick-1606284.aspx

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Reports: Mike Ditka has minor stroke

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2009 file photo, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka speaks at a news conference in Chicago. ESPN producer Seth Markman says Ditka suffered a minor stroke Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2009 file photo, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka speaks at a news conference in Chicago. ESPN producer Seth Markman says Ditka suffered a minor stroke Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

(AP) ? Hall of Famer Mike Ditka has had a minor stroke, an ESPN producer said.

ESPN's Seth Markman posted on Twitter that the former Chicago Bears coach and player fell ill Friday and will not appear on the network's NFL shows this weekend.

Markman wrote that Ditka "wanted everyone to know he's ok."

Ditka did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press.

He told the Chicago Tribune he was feeling "good right now and it's not a big deal." He was playing cards at a suburban country club Friday when he noticed his hands "weren't working quite right," and he then started having difficulty speaking.

The 73-year-old Ditka had a heart attack during the 1988 season when he was coaching the Bears.

The stroke came on the same day that a Lake County prosecutor said in court that Ditka's son, Mark E. Ditka, tested positive for opiates during a pretrial screening earlier this month, according to the Tribune. The younger Ditka is awaiting trial on his fourth DUI charge.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-11-16-Ditka%20Stroke/id-8827ffc2463f43a08a6eb52768c77b88

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Get To Know Windows Web Hosting In India Higher | Hugo Hosting

If you start off to go trying to find an agency to host your internet site, aside from the quantity of space and bandwidth which is presented, a business will often times endorse their blog internet hosting uptime. Most website hosting organizations produce an uptime assure to promote how nicely their service is. Websites hosting uptime is really an evaluate of one?s time a P.C. server may be functioning, the lengthier the website hosting uptime the better the company ( generally ). Uptime is important to not merely webpage internet hosting online businesses, but to any person or small business which has obtained a website, when you consider that if a blog is down it could hurt someone companys position plus the standing in the webpage hosting uptime ensure. Online site internet hosting firms struggle for your 99.9% uptime, meaning that there can be significantly less then two minutes of down time per day. Aspects that impression a website internet hosting uptime are someday specified, but a great number of organizations make an effort to halt down-time.

Uptime ensures crafted by website hosting vendors are centered off of earlier content. Hosting uptime could in fact be monitored and taken care of a couple means. There?re solutions that give you 24/7 monitoring. Good sized website hosting merchants have their particular departments that observe their servers. A reduction in hosting uptime may possibly be avoided by possessing a redundant server to fall back again on incase the principal server goes down. For your prepared solitary server modify this technique would probably be functional for the larger organization, though the expenditures implied for an extra server within a smaller sized organisation or offering this for many servers in much larger establishments are usually impractical. Unplanned downtime would also preserve this process from functioning properly.

For buyers, looking into internet hosting uptime can forestall an offer from staying bought from the website host that has a lots of downtime. There?re website pages that monitor a company?s website hosting uptime and supply feedback within the supplier freely for assessment. Other sites to search for related information are on community forums both furnished through the hosting small business or on web hosting analyze forums.

Down time could be classified in 3 options : prepared down-time which results when a server is up to date or upgraded, semi-planned down-time which takes place when application enterprises come across a stability split as well as a patch have to be put into site, and also worst might probably be unplanned down time that may ordinarily be because of to an overloaded server, a program / components malfunction, or malevolent computer software. Uptime assures produced by websites internet hosting enterprises are dependent off past details. Web page hosting uptime could in fact be viewed and maintained one or two tips. You will discover expert services that provide you with twenty-four / seven monitoring. Giant website hosting firms have their very own departments that keep an eye on their servers.

A loss in web page internet hosting uptime is forestalled by possessing a redundant server to fall again on incase the number 1 server goes down. To get a prepared single server alter this strategy may very well be practical for your bigger business, however the bills implied for any even further server inside a more compact company or delivering this for a number of servers in bigger organizations tends to be unreal. Unplanned down time would also always keep this system from doing the job very well. Some niceties a large number of web pages supply may be a genial down-time message that could continue to allow the person know the blog is just briefly down. Bigger websites internet hosting corporations could quite possibly give you the option to supply a more rapidly return to normalcy to help keep their uptime warranty, given that they have workers freely to be found to reply to some down time error super fast. More compact organizations could very well practical knowledge a lengthier down time.

At the time you start out to start looking for a company to host your site, in addition to the amount of space and bandwidth that?s supplied, a business will often boost their web hosting uptime. Most website hosting institutions have an uptime assure to promote how clearly their support is.Internet hosting uptime can be described as measurement with the time a pc server continues to be operating, the lengthier the web internet hosting uptime the greater the program (almost always). Uptime is crucial to not simply web hosting organizations, but to any individual or company which has a web pages, as a result of if an internet site is down it could hurt a personal firm?s reputation as well as the status on the webhosting uptime assure. Hosting merchants strive for any ninety nine.9% uptime, which means that there may be less then two minutes of downtime on a daily basis. Variables that effects a web hosting uptime are sometime unavoidable, but a lot of organisations strive to avoid downtime.

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Source: http://www.hugohosting.com/get-to-know-windows-web-hosting-in-india-higher.html

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National award for 'dedicated' athletics coach

THE London 2012 Olympics were about inspiring a generation, but that was nothing new to Guildford & Godalming's Sue Goode who has been doing precisely that for the past 17 years.

The former runner was rewarded for her unstinting dedication to nurturing young school and club athletes when she was named Development Coach of the Year by England Athletics at a glitzy ceremony in Birmingham.

And on top of the national award, the 52-year-old gardener from Ash - who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Olympic legends David Hemery and Mary Peters at the city's Hilton Hotel - has picked up the south east regional prize as well.

Tony Childs, a Gs committee member, offered this salute: "Sue is equally at home coaching 11-year-olds as seniors and manages to design and execute schedules to suit all individual athletes and progress them from beginners to English Schools champions and beyond.

"She also runs, and coaches, an annual 10-week taster session for under-13s in all disciplines for the club.

"Outside her club commitments her coaching is multi-disciplinary, going into schools, assisting at a young athletes club and being lead coach at holiday activities like Star Track and Active Surrey."

Childs went on: "In addition to her coaching she is an excellent marksman and helps at numerous athletic events for young people. Above all she takes an interest in all athletes who enter her orbit and her main concern is the welfare of the athlete."

Goode's "star pupil" is currently Rio 2016 800m prospect Adelle Tracey, who she has coached from the age of 12. And she is also the power behind another highly promising two-lap specialist, Maddy Austin - the English Schools' U19 800m champion.

Now 19, with an even busier life on and off the track since she played an integral role in the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the London 2012 opening ceremony in July, art student Tracey praised Goode's "dedication" and added: "In addition to training, she gives up a lot of her time to teach in schools and train a lot of other athletes."

Quizzed about the teenager, who is also under the wing of Olympic double gold medallist Kelly Holmes, Goode said: "Hopefully Adelle can go all the way. She is nowhere near her potential yet in training.

"At 13 she couldn't get into the Surrey 800m and now to be ranked third under-20 in the country with a PB of 2:03 is an amazing achievement.

"Adelle is very determined and has progressed every year, which is unusual."

And on her recognition from the nation's governing body, modest Goode - who coaches for around 17 hours every week before trotting home to complete the mountain of paperwork which comes with it - added: "It's down to the athletes in the end. Hopefully we put all the right pieces in place."

Source: http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/sport/s/2124218_national_award_for_dedicated_athletics_coach

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WKSU News: Kasich rejects health-insurance exchanges

The news that the state will not set up its own health insurance exchange is good news for those who oppose the Affordable Care Act.

The Ohio Republican Party calls the move courageous.? Maurice Thompson with the 1851 Center, a group that staunchly opposes the federal health-care plan, says this means his group won?t have to sue the state.

?We?re very happy with the administration?s decision not to enter a state- based exchange because we were either going to have to file a lawsuit against the state if it entered one or against the federal government if they didn?t.?

Ohio Constitution vs. federal program
Thompson says his group will now put its effort into fighting the federal government.? Had Ohio set up an exchange, he says voters would have violated a state constitutional amendment that voters? passed last year.

?It would be triggering the mechanism that imposes the employer mandate which is forbidden under the Ohio Constitution,? Thomspon says.

He maintains that counters the argument that the federal policy pre-empts state policy. ?The state of Ohio cannot use state resources to violate the state Constitution under any circumstances and under federal law, that?s exactly what they would be doing if they attempted to enact the state based exchange.

Thompson says the state-based exchange would have hurt Ohio businesses.

?They would have triggered the employer mandate and taxes where an Ohio employer who doesn?t sufficiently insure his employees as defined by Obamacare would be subject to tax penalties up to $3,000 per employee.? And that?s a tax on employing people and for Ohio, a state struggling with jobs, that?s just an impermissible burden on employment.?

There's still time
The group that?s been asking the state to set up its own exchange isn?t surprised by Kasich?s decision.? Col Owens co-chairs Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage says this decision does not tie Ohio?s hands in the future.

?The state can move to a state exchange and quite frankly I think they will.

His co-chair, Cathy Levine, agrees.? She actually thinks this might work out best for now.

?Given the lack of opportunity for consumer input at the state level and the administration?s resistance to the consumer protections, we are likely better off with a large federal role in Ohio?s exchange at this point.?

Levine says she thinks Ohio will come around on this issue.

? There?s strong bipartisan support among stakeholders in Ohio for developing a state exchange with a public process.? I think this is the beginning and not the end as the implementation date nears or even passes.?

Levin says she?s not sure how significant the differences between a state and federal exchanges would be for most consumers, though the state can make improvements tailored to Ohioans

She notes the Kasich administration has been using its buying power with Medicaid to require managed-care plans to provide better outcomes at a lower price.? And ?she?d like to see that kind of market power used in the exchange on behalf of consumers.?

Once lawmakers know what to expect in 2014, Levin says lawmakers will be more likely to set up their own exchange to give the state greater flexibility.

?

Source: http://www.wksu.org/news/story/33828

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T-Mobile USA appoints new Chief Marketing Officer

T-Mobile Logo

T-Mobile USA is in a bit of a transition phase right now to say the least. After picking up a new CEO, it is now pushing forward into its acquisition (really a reverse takeover) with MetroPCS. There's now a little more shakeup going around, and T-Mobile is appointing a new CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) to the company. Michael Sievert is a marketing veteran with over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry, formerly holding positions at Clearwire, AT&T Wireless, Microsoft and IBM.

The appointment of a new CMO will be important to the future of T-Mobile's branding and image, which has suffered as of late. As the company attempts to transition from postpaid to prepaid and move away from its dependence on device subsidies, T-Mobile is going to need plenty of marketing help to figure things out and keep customers on board.

Source: T-Mobile

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/bnfYyg8hCQo/story01.htm

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