Media

Today, the Los Angeles Times reported that Californians who have purchased individual health insurance policies with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield can expect to see their premiums increase between 30% and 39% this year alone. Moreover, the company has announced they are changing their practice of adjusting the rates on an annual basis and now reserve the right to adjust the premiums more frequently.

In a statement defending the change, Anthem Blue Cross said:

Last month, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, introduced an alternative budget proposal that would eliminate Medicare and privatize Social Security for older Americans -- rehashing failed Bush policies that the American people have soundly rejected.

Ezra Klein explains how the Medicare provisions of the budget alternative would impact America's seniors:

Today, the Department of Labor released their January jobs report which showed that 20,000 jobs were lost last month -- down from the 779,000 job losses in January 2009 - and that the unemployment rate dropped from 10% to a five month low of 9.7%:

Speaker Pelosi on today's report:

This afternoon, the House passed the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act 2009. By restoring 'pay-as-you-go' (PAYGO) budget discipline -- which has been the rule of the House since Democrats took control in 2007 -- as the law of the land, we are returning to the basic rule for every family budget: you don't spend money you don't have. The bill requires Congress to offset the costs of tax cuts or increases in entitlement spending with savings elsewhere in the budget, except for a few items extending current law. If the net effect of all legislation enacted during a session of Congress increased the deficit, there would be an across-the-board reduction in certain mandatory programs.