oh darn it....

[fishbones]

[QUOTE=RIJIMMY;793828]
The rate increases largely apply to policies for individuals and small businesses and don't include people covered by a big employer or Medicare.
QUOTE]

No mention of medium size employers. I just had to negotiate a new rate with BCBS a few weeks ago. Instead of the 14% they were asking for, I got it down to only an 11% increase.

But it's ok. Employees have no problem shelling out more money when there's a wage freeze on.

[scottw]

everyone is hurting out there

The Los Angeles Times reports :





But we do know that as of the end of 2009, 41 people inside Obama's very own White House owe the government they're allegedly running a total of $831,055 in back taxes





Why stop there?





In the House of Representatives, 421 people owe a total $6,524,892. In the Senate, 217 owe $2,774,836. In the IRS's parent department, Treasury, 1,204 owe $7,670,814. At the Labor Dept., where Secy. Hilda Solis' husband had some backtax problems before her confirmation, 463 owe $7,481,463. Eighty-one workers for the Federal Reserve System's board of governors owe $1,076,733.

Over at the Justice Department, which is so busy enforcing other laws and suing Arizona, 1,971 employees still owe $14,350,152 in overdue taxes.

Then, we come to the Department of Homeland Security, which is run by Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona who preferred to call terrorist acts "man-caused disasters." Homeland Security is keeping all of us safe by ensuring that a Dutch tourist is onboard every inbound international flight to thwart any would-be bomber with explosives in his underpants.

Within that department, there reside 4,856 people who owe the tax agency a whopping total of $37,012,174.

And they're checking our pockets for metal and coins?



All told, federal employees across the nation owe $1 billion in back taxes.