Highmark's higher premiums and triple profits look bad

Congrats to Highmark on tripling its profits ("Health Insurer Profits Triple," March 24). As a business owner, I've watched my premiums for my employees double over the last year. Each time I call Highmark to discuss the increases, they tell me it's to cover the rising costs of health care. But it looks more like the increases are going to golfing trips and bonuses for their CEO.

How can Highmark increase the premiums every year yet still have huge profits? You would think that when they raise the premiums, it is to cover more costs, not make as much money as possible.

DAVID BLANK
Co-Owner
Pittsburgh Pro Bicycles
Squirrel Hill

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Payback time

Regarding the news that Highmark's profits tripled in 2004: I guess they have a right to brag about how they kicked the heck out of the consumer. But the price of their extortion and take-it-or-leave-it antics will hopefully someday catch up with them. Businesses in Pennsylvania are doomed when an insurer can, with a blink of an eye, double your rates and sit back laughing all to way to the bank.

Triple my profits? I am happy to break even for the year!

BOB GRIMES
General Manager
Smeltz Auto Body
Monroeville

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We've been gamed

It is time to face the fact that there is no "property tax relief" coming. There never was any "property tax relief" possible. It was a catch phrase used by politicians to allow slot machines in Pennsylvania.

It worked. A great sales job by the politicians on the taxpayer. Shame on them. Shame on us for voting them into office. A sham all the way.

Their is only one possible way to lower property taxes in Pennsylvania. Schoolteachers' salaries make up the majority of property taxes. We have among the highest schoolteacher salaries in the country. As long as the taxpayer approves these salaries, then we must accept the highest property taxes in the country. Do not expect the politicians to help.

JOE BARRON
Celebration, Fla.

Editor's note: The writer owns a business in Washington County.

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Not so rosy

The March 15 letter "The Strong Economic Recovery Deserves More Respect" glosses over some important details:

A few factors that shadow the writer's sunny picture: Job growth is countered by population growth before measuring any net gain; actual wages need to be compared (what percent of new jobs are minimum wage?) to see if new jobs are on par with what is lost; and, the still-unemployed-who-don't-count are still real people -- disappearing them from the numbers makes the numbers look better, but not their lives. Some 7.8 million people try to make ends meet by holding more than one job. One needs to look at those details as layoffs continue:

The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas announced this month that "United States employers announced 108,387 job cuts in February, up sharply from a month earlier and the second-largest number in the last 12 months."

John A. Challenger, the firm's CEO, said, "The level of job-cutting activity in February certainly flies in the face of all the economic reports suggesting a job market turnaround."

February's EPI (Economic Policy Institute) report concludes with "old news": accelerating prices, decelerated wage growth and slow growth in employment continue to cause the annual hourly wages of 80 percent of working Americans to decline. It also continues to be the reason that most workers have yet to experience the benefits of our recovering economy.

JEANNE CECIL
West View

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A poor steward

Sen. Rick Santorum continues to disappoint with his votes, the latest being the support of Alaska arctic drilling ("Alaska Drilling Wins Close Vote," March 17). As a conservative Christian, he does not represent my concerns or efforts. Arctic drilling is an abomination.

Can we gas-guzzling Americans not preserve just one pristine area of God's country? Surely God doesn't want us to use up more and more of His precious resources. America doesn't need to drill more -- we need to use less! Simply stated, we can do more with less. And we need to think smarter.

Promoting hybrid cars is just the beginning of possibilities. With this vote, Mr. Santorum has shown not to be a good steward of God's resources. Truly, he needs to rethink his positions in the context of biblical principles, which he so proudly boasts.

REBECCA LEWIS
McCandless

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Fess up

The state Department of Education has stated that they will appoint a hearing officer to help decide whether the children of Rick Santorum are residents of the Penn Hills School District. I certainly hope they carefully consider the ramifications this decision could bring.

For starters, it is intuitively obvious that the Santorums do not live in Penn Hills, but rather maintain an address of convenience there. In the event that the department rules in Santorum's favor, you can expect a new scam to emerge: the selling of addresses of convenience to parents wishing to send their children to an "upscale" school district. A single apartment address in Sharpsburg, for example, could be "rented" to any number of families wishing to enroll their children in the Fox Chapel Area School District.

What Rick Santorum needs to do is be honest and admit that he doesn't really reside in Penn Hills -- and repay the district any monies spent on his children's education.

GEORGE DUDASH III
Kennedy

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A love of money

Currently the country is divided into three groups. The first two are polarized along party lines: One group loves their president, and the other group questions his motives. The third group is happy about the polarization.

Though the first two groups are divided because of their ideological differences; it is also true that both groups love their country. Their love of country, their nationalistic pride, cannot be doubted or questioned.

It can be argued that the third group is composed of greedy capitalists. There is nothing wrong with making money. There is nothing wrong with being a capitalist. But the circumstances under which money is made can give you the label of greedy. The third group does not share in the love of country; if you will, its members have their own agenda.

That the interests and loyalties of capitalists transcend national territory was noted by Thomas Jefferson: "Merchants have no country of their own. Wherever they may be they have no ties with the soil. All they are interested in is the source of their profits."

The answer to the question, "Why is the third group happy about the polarization?" is left to the reader.

STEPHEN J. VEROTSKY
Johnstown

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Brooks was wrong

New York Times columnist David Brooks, published in the Post-Gazette March 24 ("The Unholy Marriage of Money and Politics Spawns Terrible Offspring"), asserts that Focus on the Family accepted gambling money from lobbyist Jack Abramoff to fight a competitive casino.

Sorry. Untrue. We don't know Mr. Abramoff and haven't taken a dime from him. Had Mr. Brooks asked we would have told him.

Focus opposes gambling -- in any guise, in any community. In the last five years, we have worked on this in more than 30 states. Dr. James Dobson's service on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission brought home the devastation gambling leaves in its wake. Several times Dr. Dobson has blistered politicians of both parties -- by name -- for their egregious acceptance of gambling money. Mr. Brooks could have discovered this with a little research. He chose instead to engage in the journalistic equivalent of a drive-by shooting.

TOM MINNERY
VP, Government & Public Policy
Focus on the Family
Colorado Springs, Colo.

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Our addiction to oil is the root problem

After reading the March 19 letter from Joshua Diggs ("Concerns About Drilling at Wildlife Refuge Don't Hold Up"), I feel compelled to respond to his comment that drilling the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve would "replace the oil Americans would purchase from Saudi Arabia for more than 30 years."

So what? He, like many Americans, are under the illusion that we get most of our oil from the Mideast. Wrong. Simply check out the American Petroleum Institute site and you'll see this: "About half of the oil we consume is produced here in the United States. The rest of the oil we import, 51 percent comes from other nations in the Western Hemisphere, 21 percent from the Middle East, 18 percent from Africa and 11 percent from other countries." So what's the rush to drill the ANWR if we already produce 51 percent of our needs? And I find it quite curious that the very day of the vote on drilling, the price of crude oil hit an all-time high.

Perhaps if we all quit being petro-junkies by downsizing our ridiculously gluttonous vehicles, move on to alternative fuels or even recycling oil-based products more, we could move away from the impending economical crisis which will follow overblown oil prices. Drilling more fields isn't the answer; it's just a continuation of the problem.

Shortsighted profits by big oil (see Bush supporters) will only lead to more dependence by people hooked on oil.

DANIEL R. PAGATH
Oakland