So I just got a notice from Capital One saying that:

"at Capital One we are committed to providing valuable customers like you with honest and open communication. Today, we're notifying you that terms of your account are changing."

"Due to the extraordinary changes in the economic environment, we're reviewing our existing credit card accounts. . . . [and] we will be changing your Purchase and Balance Transfer rate. "

After 2010 the rate will go up to 17.9%, and vary by adding 14.65% to the Prime Rate. Then, they are raising my default rate to 29.4%. It may vary monthly and will be determined by adding 26.15% to the Prime rate.

Karen George is in extreme pain, taking "daily doses of Klonopin, Flexeril, and Lortab", but Aetna won't cover surgery to correct her disconnected jawbone, because it is "cosmetic".

Now that I have your attention, I want to change the subject from bashing Aetna.

At American Medical News, a website of the American Medical Association, Emily Berry does some pretty good low-flying snark as she reports on the latest marketing ploys of "health plans":

Health plans are on a marketing mission. They "want you to know" how to "thrive" by turning to them for "guidance when you need it most" because "it's time to feel better," and their business is "helping people live healthier lives."

...

or, Why Does Aetna Hate Ruth Kaufman's Toe?

There are two strands here: denial of care, and lack of transparency.

My health insurance, for which I pay $395 per month, will not cover the foot surgery my doctor says I need: a toe joint replacement that is supposed to last 20 years and which will restore mobility and reduce pain.

According to Market Watch, Aetna CEO Ronald Williams "earned" nearly $43 million in total compensation in 2007. The census bureau set the 2007 poverty line for a single person at $9944 (over 65) or $10,787 (under 65); let's just call it a nice round $10,000.

Meanwhile, this painter/sculptor might dispute the use of the word "earned" in the Market Watch story:

Aetna thinks it's better for their company not to pay for an anesthetist/anasthesiologist's service during a colonoscopy -- and while colon cancer mortality rates have dropped over the past 4-5 years, colonoscopies are the only way of catching this killer early. Can you imagine

The scandal that is the state of Healthcare in America is coming to the Department of Transportation! Evil privatization! The Feds are selling (well, leasing, really, but what else is a long lease, of, say 75 years?) our Interstate Highways, bit by bit, to private corporations. From MotherJones The Highwayman: DeFazio to Take on Privatization:

Even though [Senator Pete] DeFazio has now ascended to the key post on the Highways committee, it remains to be seen whether or not his efforts will slow the privatization trend, which has the enthusiastic backing of the Bush administration. To this end, the president recently nominated D.J. Gribbin to be general counsel to the Department of Transportation. Who is Gribbin you might wonder? A former general counsel to the Federal Highway Administration, he has most recently been working on behalf of Macquarie Holdings, Inc., a branch of the very same company that has been so avidly buying up the nation's highways

This is worse than just selling the "naming rights" for stadiums (stadia?) and arenas!

Just Because It's An Old Idea Doesn't Mean It's A Bad Idea One of the characteristics of the illness I call "americanism" is the tendency to pay attention to style and hype rather than truth.