FBI raid shutters Medicare insurer (WellCare - formerly owned by George Soros)

For the past two years, analysts have been asking how fast-growing WellCare Health Plans of Tampa has been able to make so much money running government health plans for the poor and elderly. Now government investigators may be asking the same thing.

On a rainy Wednesday morning, more than 200 federal and state agents swarmed WellCare's campus on Henderson Road in Tampa, forcing employees onto the sidewalk and into their cars.

Steven Meitzen, 51, who arrived at WellCare about 9:40 a.m. for a job interview, said he was initially told it was a bomb scare. "Later on, I talked to someone who said the FBI had a subpoena and were looking for records," he said.

By midday, the complex's parking garages were half-empty, but federal agents remained busy. They were still milling around WellCare's buildings in the early evening; a Ryder truck was backed up to a loading dock.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa said little about the search, which involved personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Florida attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The search warrant is sealed.

Both federal and state officials, however, said that the investigation should have no impact on delivery of health care to the more than 2.3-million members of WellCare's managed care plans.

The company's customers are about evenly divided between Medicare and Medicaid plans. WellCare is the largest Medicaid provider in Florida, with more than 350,000 members. The company also offers Medicare Advantage plans to seniors in seven states and a stand-alone drug plan nationwide.

The timing of the raid could be detrimental as WellCare is in the midst of convincing seniors to sign up for its 2008 plans.

WellCare issued a release saying that it was cooperating with authorities and that essential services to members would remain uninterrupted. Though its customer service number was working Wednesday, WellCare's Web site was replaced with a notice saying, "We're sorry, but something went wrong. We've been notified about this issue and we'll take a look at it shortly."

The company, which went public in July 2004 at $17 a share, has had a meteoric rise, with its stock more than doubling in the past 12 months. On Wednesday, WellCare's shares dropped $6.77 or 5.5 percent, to $115.50 before trading was halted about 11 a.m. It ended the day down $7.10 at $115.17.

FTN Midwest analyst Peter Costa downgraded his rating on WellCare stock to "sell" from "neutral" on Wednesday, citing the search. Costa said the investigation appeared to be a criminal one.

"Criminal investigations are harder to prove, likely to be more company specific and carry stiffer penalties, including being barred from doing business with the government if it is for fraud, which it most likely is given the departments involved," Costa said in a research note.

Thomas Carroll, analyst with Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore, called the raid "ominous" and downgraded WellCare shares to "sell" from "hold" in a note to clients. Contacts within the company said BlackBerries, computers and files were seized from corporate, marketing and human resources offices, according to Carroll.

Carroll suspects the raid is potentially the result of a lawsuit in which an employee brought a matter to the attention of authorities.

"When the FBI and HHS raid a health care company, the outlook on earnings, legal proceedings and the entire operations of the company can be questioned," Carroll said.

WellCare's business practices have come under increased criticism over the past several months. Last spring, the company said independent sales agents in Georgia enrolled dead people in Medicare plans. In May and June, WellCare representatives appeared along with other insurance executives at hearings in the Senate and House into aggressive Medicare marketing practices. WellCare and six other insurers subsequently agreed to a temporary halt in marketing one type of Medicare plan, while promising to initiate consumer safeguards. In August, however, Medicare cited WellCare once again for violating several provisions of its Medicare contract, including sales practices.

WellCare, which had earnings of $139.2-million in 2006, gets all of its nearly $4-billion in revenues from state or federal governments. Profits come from the difference between the amount received from the government and the amount spent on overhead and medical care for its members.

The company routinely has outperformed its competition; for the quarter ending in June, the company said just 80.8 percent of its revenue was spent on medical claims, down from 82.7 percent a year ago.

WellCare's high margins have had analysts scratching their heads. In April, two Wall Street analysts said Florida in particular was too generous in its Medicaid reimbursement to WellCare. The analysts, with CIBC World Markets and Goldman Sachs & Co., were particularly critical of WellCare's use of a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands for reinsurance, saying it allowed the company to shift money in the form of reinsurance premiums.

WellCare said its reinsurance arrangement had been approved by stateregulators and rejected claims it was overpaid.

Florida Medicaid payments were raised 7.5 percent in July, to an average of $215 per member per month. Cuts of about 1.5 percent could be on the way in January, however, if Gov. Charlie Crist approves recommendations made during the recent special legislative session.

Medicare reimbursements average about $800 per member per month and will increase 3.5 percent next year. Because the federal government wanted to encourage private insurers to offer Medicare plans, it pays about 12 percent more for seniors on private plans than it does for traditional Medicare.

WellCare was a slow-growing Florida company until 1992 when its owner, Dr. Kiran Patel, sold it to a New York investment group led by financier George Soros. The bankers hired Todd Farha, an aggressive Harvard MBA, to transform the company. Under his leadership, WellCare's earnings have increased eight-fold and the company's investors and executives like Farha have profited handsomely from appreciation in its stock.

In an interview last year, Farha credited WellCare's success with hard work, attractive member benefits and close attention to the basics. But he has also nurtured the kinds of relationships invaluable to a company dependent on government funding.

WellCare and its affiliates have given the Republican Party of Florida some $105,000 in contributions this year, according to state election records. They've also given the Florida Democratic Party $5,000 this year. In 2006, WellCare's PAC gave $66,000 to federal candidates, all Republicans.

And the company's board has included the head of the Florida agency that oversees Medicaid, Dr. Andrew Agwunobi. Agwunobi was a director for six months before being picked to head the Agency for Health Care Administration. For his six months service on WellCare's board, Agwunobi received stock, which he sold for more than $1-million.

Current WellCare board members include former Florida Sen. Bob Graham and Ruben King-Shaw, former head of Florida's health agency and an ex-deputy chief at Medicare.

Fred and Terri tar baby dailies 3...

But when Thompson finally threw his hat into the ring in early September, it didn't turn out that way. To be sure, he quickly joined the front-runners in what is now a four-way race. In several states, among likely Republican primary voters, he may even be the front-runner. (In others, he has done well but lagged slightly behind Giuliani.) But he assuredly hasn't routed his three somewhat more liberal rivals, and it now appears that he may not do so.

Why not? It's probably mostly a matter of style. Thompson is laid-back, soft-spoken and gives the unfortunate impression of not having thought very hard about some of the issues. (He admitted not giving much attention to the Terri Schiavo case – the brain-damaged woman from St. Petersburg, Fla., who was taken off life support following a whirlwind of controversy – though it had riveted the nation for a month.)

Thompson may yet strike right chord

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Now we turn to Ron Paul who decidedly turns thumbs down on Terri and her kind of victims.

Argggghhhhh, what a visual!

I'm flirting with Ron and hoping Rudy doesn't find out.

Call me a political hussy.

~Snip~

Last week we chatted for less than 15 minutes, but in that brief encounter, Ron Paul pulled no punches and weighed in on no less than 10 issues I raised: The economy, Iraq, Pakistan, foreign relations, global warming, abortion, Terri Schiavo, drugs, immigration - even hookers.

~Snip~

Life vs. choice: An area of slight disagreement. I'm fine with the legal situation the way it is. Dr. Paul told me there shouldn't be a federal solution at all - it's an issue for state legislatures. We both believe that the feds should have stayed out of Terri Schiavo's hospital room.

Michael Smerconish | SWOONING (JUST A BIT) FOR RON PAUL

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It is a rare find, a lengthy and poignant article like this appearing in a mainstream publication, in this case, The Detroit News. I just posted the excerpts, but do hope all will read the entire story.

............................

Do I have to have a living will? Last year, I had an experience that gave me the distinct impression that if I didn't have one, my life was hardly worth, well, living.

A routine mammogram had revealed that I had early-stage breast cancer. This kind of cancer is noninvasive and thus not particularly life-threatening if promptly attended to, and the required outpatient surgery isn't especially risky. Nonetheless, one of the shoals I had to maneuver through at the hospital (which otherwise afforded me excellent care) was a series of efforts to persuade me to sign on to the currently fashionable notion of a "good death."

Those efforts came in the form of a living will, one of those advance directives on end-of-life care that are currently urged upon us all by such high-minded organizations as the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, state laws and an array of policymakers, bioethicists and advice columnists. Even this newspaper ran a long article in its business section this year advancing the notion that you haven't got your life in order without a living will. Whether to have a living will is presumably up to the patient. But I've developed a sneaking suspicion that someone else may be hoping to call the shots. After three attempts to induce me either to sign up or to state my refusal to do so in writing, I had to wonder how voluntary a living will really is in many cases. In my case, I started to feel ever-so-slightly harassed.

~Snip~

Furthermore, I found something weasely in the way all those options were presented, as though my only real choice were between being dispatched into the hereafter at the first sign of loss of consciousness or being stuck with as many tubes as needles in a voodoo doll and imprisoned inside a ventilator until global warming melts the ice caps and the hospital washes out to sea. I found the box on the form that said "I decline a living will" and checked it. Right now, my husband is my living will, and after we spent 13 days observing Terri Schiavo exercise her "right to die" by being slowly dehydrated to death after her feeding tube was removed in 2005, he knows exactly how I feel about such matters.

~Snip~

As far as I can tell, bioethicists exist for the most part to do some moral chin-pulling before giving the green light to whatever consensus the rest of the elite have reached. If you believe, as the Dutch do, that it's fine for a children's hospital to euthanize severely disabled infants, you can always find a bioethicist to give you a stamp of approval. If you want to harvest the organs of dying people without waiting for brain death to occur, you can probably find a bioethicist to sign on to that, too. Myself, I'm with Slate blogger Mickey Kaus. In 2003, as the Schiavo controversy was raging and Yale surgeon Sherwin Nuland, author of "How We Die" and an advocate of limited assisted suicide, was pontificating on National Public Radio about her low quality of life, Kaus wrote: "If I'm ever in Terri Schiavo's situation, and not in any pain, please follow these simple steps: Keep the feeding tube in, and keep Dr. Nuland out."

A good death? I'll take a pass

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This topic reminds me of a liberal thought of being nice to the devil so maybe the devil will not be so mean. Rightttt...

Thread by wagglebee.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pat Robertson appeared on the "Hannity & Colmes" show Wednesday and explained his support for pro-abortion Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. Robertson said he believes Giuliani will appoint judges who will overturn Roe even though he backs legal abortion and has supported Planned Parenthood.

Robertson said he opposes abortion and believes life begins at conception but that there are "various ways to protect life" -- with appointing judges to the Supreme Court as the top method.

Pat Robertson Explains Support for Pro-Abortion Candidate Rudy Giuliani

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As a little reminder, Ken Connor was advisor to Jeb Bush and a Terri supporter up to the time Jeb peeled off his mask and chose the part of Pontius Pilate in the reality Passion play. Thread by wagglebee.

Like termites gnawing away at the foundation of a building, judicial activists are eating away at the foundations of representative government in America. The damage they cause threatens our ability to govern ourselves through our elected representatives and reallocates the delicate balance of powers which our forefathers were careful to distribute among separate branches of government.

The most recent example of judges usurping legislative authority comes from Alaska where that state's Supreme Court, by a narrow 3-2 vote, struck down the 10 year old Parental Consent Act. The Act required girls 16 years and younger to get a parent's permission before receiving an abortion. Typically, such children can't go on a school field trip, join a sports team or attend an "R" rated movie without parental consent. Ah, but this case involved an attempt by the legislature to encroach on what the political left regards as its most sacred of rites, the right to abortion! And even though Alaska's House and Senate passed the Act by substantial majorities, it only took three paltry judges to torpedo the law. The judicial sages held that the Act encroached on a minor's "fundamental right to privacy" protected under the state's constitution. Parental rights, which the legislature sought to protect, were jettisoned by the Court. The Court held that a minor's decision to abort, unlike all other medical decisions, cannot be hindered by a parental "veto power."

Danger! Judicial Activists at Work!

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Maybe I don't get it, but sounds like he offers as an option the virtues of evil, or giving the devil a chance at equal time at church. I don't find the difference between good and evil to be that complicated, but I guess that is just me, a sucker for absolutes.

..................................

A universal consensus on topics such as euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide does not exist, said John Ferguson Jr., assistant professor of political science at Howard Payne University’s Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom and author of Point/Counterpoint: The Right to Die.

“There’s not one Christian view, and there’s not even just one Baptist view. A lot of Baptists differ in their views on the topic and where these lines of differing opinions should be drawn,” Ferguson said. “Some would argue that it is a very Christian thing to support a right to die if it will alleviate pain.”

As Ferguson points out in his book, however, the Southern Baptist Convention approved in 2001 a resolution castigating euthanasia. The strongly worded resolution read: “The messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting … affirm our belief that every human life, including the life of the terminally ill, disabled or clinically depressed patient, is sacred and ought to be protected against unnecessary harm; and be it further resolved, that we find legalized euthanasia immoral ethically, unnecessary medically and unconscionable socially.”

Ferguson’s book, written primarily for a secular audience, tries to provide both sides of the argument—not supplying an answer, but offering the fuel necessary to power the engines of thought.

“I see a lot of students who are very interested in these topics, and they tend to have a very reflexive reaction because of the views they’ve heard from others. They haven’t given enough thought to these issues to make them their own,” Ferguson said.

As a teacher, he often thought of students while writing his book that offered divergent viewpoints.

“It’s a very personal situation, but a lot of undergrads who have never had to deal with a loved one in this situation have very stringent views. But if they have seen a loved one go through a lengthy or painful death process, they are more open to seeing other viewpoints,” he said.

The situation gets much more complicated when Christians are elected to office and start to make public policy based on their personal beliefs of what is right or wrong. Ferguson pointed to the machinations of the legislature and judicial bodies in the Terri Schiavo case as an example of how bad things can get.

When Christians become convinced they are right and all others are wrong in such cases, “it doesn’t show the gentler side of Christianity for those on either side of the issue,” he pointed out.

Ferguson discovered the difficulty of finding an easy answer as he researched the subject before he wrote his book.

“I criticize students for not seeing more than one viewpoint, but this is one subject I hadn’t thought very deeply about. I discovered that this is a question where there are no quick, easy answers,” he said.

He doesn’t posit one viewpoint as better concerning the right to die in the book and will not now. But he reached one conclusion while writing the book: It’s important to put into writing one’s wishes concerning whether to continue life when there is little hope for recovery—and do it long before a crisis occurs.

“The problems that arise in this area are because people don’t think about it in advance, and it puts tremendous burdens on families and divides families as they try to choose their course,” Ferguson said. “Everyone needs to have written instructions for their family to follow.”

Ferguson also advised churches to be careful dealing with right-to-life issues in Sunday school lessons and sermons.

“The church is to be a place of healing, and these right-to-life Sundays can be very divisive and hurtful to families who have had to make very difficult decisions,” he said.

Consensus lacking on end-of-life issues

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This article suggests a new lease on life for Pro-Life...

......................................

Planned Parenthood may have the legal right to operate its new clinic in Aurora, Illinois, but the blowback from the prolife community has been staggering.

In fact, the emerging story looks to me like the rebirth of the prolife protest.

Here's the latest announcement, which arrived in my inbox about an hour ago, from the Prolife Action League:

Aurora Police Chief Threatens Arrests as Pro-Life Citizens Gear Up for Protest at Planned Parenthood. In Heated Discussion Chief Powell Tells Scheidler, “I Don’t Care What the City’s Attorneys Say, I Will Do What I Want”

Aurora, IL—On Saturday, November 17 from 9:00-11:00 AM, a protest will take place at the nation’s largest Planned Parenthood facility located at 3051 E. New York Street in Aurora, Illinois. The monthly protests, organized by the Pro-Life Action League, have seen as many as 1,200 pro-life advocates gathering at one time. Rhetoric regarding the protest has heated up this week. Despite allegations of First Amendment violations against the peaceful protestors and a pending lawsuit against the city, Aurora Police Chief William Powell has gone on the offensive, even going so far as to accuse the protestors of being “threatening” when they claim their free speech rights. However, many of the peaceful demonstrators believe it is the Chief who is doing the threatening after calling a paddy wagon to be sent out to last month’s protest. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting Powell stated, “I hope [demonstrators] will go along with what we ask them to do. If not, I will guarantee there will be arrests made.”
Eric Scheidler, Communications Director for the Pro-Life Action League and an Aurora resident, along with other protestors, had a heated discussion with Chief Powell at the Planned Parenthood site this morning.
“Chief Powell was visibly irate as we tried to discuss the plans for the gathering tomorrow,” states Scheidler. “When I brought up that the city’s outside counsel had given us directives as to the operation of the protest, he said he didn’t care about what the attorney said, he would do what he wanted to do. At times, he was so angry that another officer intervened to calm him down.”
After months of protests, Scheidler claims the city has continued to give unclear directives as to ordinances relating to the protests. With hundreds of citizens coming out to the Planned Parenthood site on a regular basis, many are questioning why the city seems to be constantly changing the rules.
“We have sought nothing but peace with the city and cooperation with the Aurora Police,” states Scheidler. “We have continued to ask for clear, written directives as to laws for conducting these protests, but they have given none. What they have done is show up and intimidate hundreds of Aurora citizens with an armored paddy wagon, constant video surveillance and the city’s lawyer in tow.”
The opening of Planned Parenthood, scheduled for mid-September, was delayed for two and a half weeks while investigations were conducted into the seemingly deceptive process in which Planned Parenthood received their occupancy and building permits. Amid much controversy, the facility opened on October 2nd. Various investigations regarding zoning issues are still ongoing.
Scheidler vows that the monthly demonstrations will continue, “Regardless of the threats and tactics the city uses to try to keep their citizen’s voices from being heard, we will be here praying and marching until no more innocent human lives are slaughtered in our town.”

Once arrests begin to occur, prolife protests begin to take on a life of their own. Historically, some prolife protests have stretched for month after month. This situation in Aurora may become the largest stand-off between prolifers and the other side since the Terri Schiavo case.

Prolife Protest Movement is Born Again

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It is from OpEdNews. Once before I guessed the meaning of OpEd as meaning Opposite of Edifying, especially since I can't imagine who Ed might be otherwise.

I've said it before umpteen times, the lefties love to shove down our throats bald lies, softened with new words, using the old Hitler technique that if shouted long and loud enough, a lie sounds like truth. So, I repeat the opposite again, their intent is for us all to believe decent Americans want innocents like Terri to die and are disgusted with anyone who would have tried to save her. It would be a great challenge to tally all the times our MSM has shouted this lie. This is the latest.

Giuliani (and to a lesser extent McCain) is the greatest threat to Democratic hopes of winning the presidency. To my admitted astonishment, Republican voters seem to understand this and appear willing to forego their true preferences to embrace a winner, just as Democratic voters are doing the opposite. (Not that there is necessarily a compelling alternative choice for Democrats. John Edwards is the obvious progressive choice with a chance, but I continue to be nagged by the prospect that he is simply wearing his progressive hat today because he thinks that’s what might sell best among angry Democratic primary voters.) What makes Giuliani dangerous is that he is the least Bush-like of the four main Republican contenders. The others – Thompson, McCain and Romney – all more or less ape the troglodyte line on economic, security and social policy, while the Rude Man is only down for the first two (and the least unappealing) of those ideological categories. That makes him a lot more palatable to moderate voters put off by the gay-bashing, Schiavo-intervening, stem-cell-blocking and abortion-halting strains of today’s GOP. And that marginally greater appeal, along with Hillary’s vulnerabilities, makes him dangerous.

No Prisoners: How To Win In 2008

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This thread by wagglebee comes from Fr. Pavone's group, and the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King.

ATLANTA, Nov. 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said today that African American hopelessness documented in a new Pew Research poll is linked in part to the high abortion rate in the black community. The Pew poll, released Tuesday, found that less than half of African Americans believe life will get better for them.

"Children are the future. When you destroy your children, you destroy hope," said Dr. King. "The incredibly high number of abortions performed on black women in this country has to take a toll not just on the women involved, but also on their families, friends, and communities. If African Americans feel that life will not get better, I have to believe that abortion is feeding into that hopelessness."

"I know from personal experience that abortion causes depression, regret, and despair," added Dr. King. "I also know from personal experience that this despair can be healed and the wounded can be brought back to joy and hope through faith. What I want the government to do is guarantee our basic rights and the most basic right is the right to life. If we love and welcome our children, optimism for the future can only increase."

Destruction of Life Feeds Hopelessness in Black Community States Dr. Alveda King

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A new look at our candidate choices comes from a bright young homeschooler who concludes the best candidate is the same as the one who declared his support for Terri from the start.

...................Although the bulk of my letter has been in opposition to Mike Huckabee, I would like to take a moment and discuss the candidate I am supporting: Congressman Duncan Hunter.

Duncan Hunter has spent his career standing up for families, freedom, and for a strong and secure country. He is considered the 'father of the border fence,' as he has been the leader for immigration reform and border security. He was Chairman of the Armed services committee, where he worked hard to make sure our troops got the support and equipment they have needed to keep us safe. He accurately predicted the dangers that would ensue with increased trade with China, and has been against our current trade deals with them from the beginning, himself advocating Reagnesque mirror-trade. He authored the bill to define life at conception over 5 times, and once stood up the ACLU's attempts to take down a cross at a veteran memorial. Focus on the Family commended Congressman Hunter on his creation of the Parents' Empowerment Act which gave parents the right to sue organizations over pornographic material that is too accessible to children. He was also an original co-sponsor of the Fair Tax.................

LETTER TO DR. MICHAEL FARRIS AND THE HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION [By: Unknown 18 year old]

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My goodness, where to start?

Even Christians aren't perfect. There are some among us who don't accept the Christian view regarding euthanasia. Some don't accept the Christian view of homosexual behavior. If you picked apart every Christian, you'd probably find that most of them part with Christianity on at least one topic. Their unChristian views are not what define Christianity.

Well then, that is the Southern Baptist view. Any Southern Baptist (real or imagined) who espouses a differing view, isn't speaking for the Southern Baptists. I'm not sure what's too complicated about that for Mr. Ferguson to comprehend.

Nonsense. We often get this argument from our visitors. They pretend that everyone who know murder is wrong (i.e. "have very stringent views") have no experience to base their opinions on, but once somebody has had to deal with the death of a loved one they become pro-death (i.e. "are more open to seeing other viewpoints). When it all comes out in the wash, it turns out they've never actually endured the death of a loved one themselves. They've endured the death of someone they were connected to, not by love, but by inheritance.

All of the legislation was aimed at ensuring Terri's right to have her choices represented in court. This dufus John Ferguson Jr. only approves of the right to choose if death is the only choice available. I don't see him complaining about atheists, muslims or devil worshippers writing legislation they agree with. Only Christians are required to write legislation they are personally opposed to. Does he hate Christians because we support the right to life, or does he hate the right to life because Christians support it?

When Christians become convinced they are right and all others are wrong in such cases, “it doesn’t show the gentler side of Christianity for those on either side of the issue,” he pointed out.

Since when has Christianity been about gently submitting to evil? Who is this moron who thinks he has the right to tell Christians what it means to be Christian?

But that doesn't stop him from offering one, in the true spirit of his instant philosophy. He never thought about it before, but now he's the expert.

Ferguson also advised churches to be careful dealing with right-to-life issues in Sunday school lessons and sermons.

“The church is to be a place of healing, and these right-to-life Sundays can be very divisive and hurtful to families who have had to make very difficult decisions,” he said.

This, from an overnight philosopher, who thinks the only good Christian is a dead Christian. And we should let him lead our Sunday school lessons. I don't think so.

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