Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans Consider Consolidation Amid Tightening Managed-Care Market

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Some Blue Cross Blue Shield nonprofit organization organizations ar considering either merging or converting to for-profit condition to avail them vie with larger insurers in an "increasingly concentrated managed-care industry," the Wall Street Journal reports. These companies, as well as smaller health insurers, "are finding it harder to vie against larger players for many reasons, including the need for economies of scale and greater investments in expensive technologies and tools to comply with laws" or serve members in consumer-directed health plans, according to the Journal.

New Jersey's Horizon BCBS recently filed an application to become a for-profit company, and other not-for-profit BCBS plans are expected to do the like in the next few years, according to University of the Sciences in Philadelphia health policy professor Robert Field. In add-on, the deuce largest nonprofit BCBS plans in Pennsylvania, Highmark and Independence BCBS, are seeking approval for a proposed merger. The merger does not include a for-profit conversion, just critics expect the companies to seek the condition change eventually.

WellPoint, the parent company of the nation's 14 for-profit BCBS plans, is considered a likely purchaser of the plans that convince, the Journal reports. "Very clearly, this industry is going to continue to undergo integration," WellPoint interpreter Michael Kleinman said, adding, "It's tough for smaller plans to be able to produce the investments to keep up with" services offered by bigger insures, such as WellPoint's cost and quality comparison data on providers in several geographical areas.

Field said "well-nigh of the low-hanging fruit" among independent BCBS plans was acquired by larger firms in the 1990s and other 2000s, adding, "I think pressure continues on those that didn't merge at that point." Field aforementioned he expects "that there will be some more than of those that bear remained independent merging or getting swallowed up in one path or another." He celebrated that Humana also is a likely purchaser of BCBS plans that might convert to for-profit status (Wisenberg Brin, Wall Street Journal, 8/25).


Reprinted with kind permission from hTTP://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can purview the intact Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at hTTP://www.kaisernetwork.

Download Asleep At The Wheel mp3

Artist: Asleep At The Wheel: mp3 download    Genre(s):  Other Country     Discography:      Live At Billy Bob's Texas    Year: 2003    Tracks: 15      Asleep at the Wheel - Live and Kickin: Greatest Hits    Year: 2002    Tracks: 10      Ride With Bob    Year: 1999    Tracks: 17      Tribute To The Music Of Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys (Dance Version)    Year: 1994    Tracks: 18      Western Standard Time    Year: 1990    Tracks: 10      Keepin' Me Up Nights    Year: 1990    Tracks: 12 Since the early '70s, Asleep at the Wheel has been the most important power in guardianship the sound of Western swing live. In restorative the harum-scarum, eclecticist sensibility of Western swing godfather Bob Wills, the Wheel earned enthusiastic critical praise throughout their drawn-out career; they non only preserved classical sounds that had all just disappeared from area music, merely were besides able to update the music, holding it a living, ventilation prowess form. Typically featuring 8-11 musicians, the group has gone through myriad staff office office changes (at final count, over 80 members had passed through and through their ranks), only 6'7" frontman Ray Benson has held it together for over three decades, keeping Asleep at the Wheel a executable transcription and touring vexation and maintaining their devotion to classic-style Western swing.Singer/guitarist Benson was natural Ray Benson Seifert and grew up listening to a variety of music in Philadelphia, especially jazz. He formed Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, WV, in 1970, along with longtime admirer Lucky Oceans (born Reuben Gosfield; sword guitar) and Leroy Preston (rhythm method acting guitar). They presently added a distaff vocaliser in Chris O'Connell, world Health Organization was unused verboten of high school. Initially, the group played straight-ahead rural arena in local venues, simply quickly switched to Western swing when they discovered the euphony through Merle Haggard (specifically his Bob Wills protection record album) and eclecticist country-rockers Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. In fact, Commander Cody helped the group preindication with his own handler, Joe Kerr, world Health Organization positive them to strike to San Francisco in late 1971. They subsequently added keyboardist Floyd Domino, and secured a residency at Berkeley's Longbranch Saloon. Praise from Van Morrison in a Rolling Stone clause helped them land a record deal with United Artists, which released their debut record book album, Comin' Right at Ya, in 1973.In 1974, Asleep at the Wheel relocated to the roots music harbour of Austin, TX, and too switched labels to Epic. Their self-titled label debut appeared that same year, and their wrap up of Louis Jordan's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" became their number one base individual to impinge on the reticuloendothelial system publica charts. Afterwards, they added fiddler Lisa Silver and acclaim Bobby Womack, and hopped labels over again to Capitol. 1975's Texas Gold was their discovery record album, climbing into the rES publica Top Ten and producing their only Top Ten hit on the nation singles charts, "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read." That year they performed on the starting time non-pilot sequence of Austin City Limits, and although they continued to receive personnel department shifts, they off out a chain of excellent albums all over the stay on of the decennary: Wheelin' and Dealin' (1976), The Wheel (1977), and Collision Course (1978), the latter of which featured their first base Grammy victor in the instrumental cover of Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump."Asleep at the Wheel stirred to MCA for 1980's Framed, exactly all was not well: innovation member Lucky Oceans left the mathematical mathematical group that class, and Chris O'Connell took a leave of absence to start out a kinsfolk non long after. Plus, the group was heavy in debt, forcing them to knead on commercials and movement picture soundtracks. The fiscal problems conspired to sustain them turned record for the adjacent few days, and when they returned on Dot/MCA with a self-titled album in 1985, they were virtually unheeded. Following the small-label spill Grazing res publica Prime later that year, Benson did some moonlighting as a producer, and soon managed to take in a arcsecond shot with Epic. By forthwith, O'Connell had returned, and the new batten order featured violinist Larry Franklin, steel guitar player John Ely, pianist/accordionist Tim Alexander, saxist Mike Francis, bassist Jon Mitchell, and drummer David Sanger. This unit recorded the major comeback attempt, Asleep at the Wheel 10, in 1987, which brought them back to the Top 20 of the country record album and singles charts (the latter via "Firm of Blue Lights") for the number one base time in over a ten-spot. Additionally, the album's "Bowed stringed pawn of Pars" north Korean won them their second Grammy for Best Country Instrumental, and featured contributions from fiddle caption and quondam Texas Playboy Johnny Gimble. The 1988 follow-up, Western Standard Time, continued their impulse, fetching some other Best Country Instrumental Grammy for "Sugarfoot Rag."In 1990, Asleep at the Wheel affected to Arista and recorded Keepin' Me Up Nights, which flopped in comparison to its two predecessors. Major force dollar volume ensued, with O'Connell going away a second gear time, and Benson regrouped with Francis, Sanger, fiddler Ricky Turpin, bassist David Miller, and leaf blade guitarist/dobroist Cyndi Cashdollar. They issued 2 albums on Liberty/Capitol, the acclaimed, guest-laden A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (1993; featuring the Grammy-winning instrumental "Bolshie Wing") and The Wheel Keeps on Rollin' (1995). Their adjacent major studio apartment project, Ride With Bob, was released by DreamWorks in 1999 and featured violinist Jason Roberts (a pres Young relative of Johnny Gimble) and pianist/second fiddler Chris Booher. It was the group's second explicit tribute to Bob Wills, and it attracted regular more positive attention than the number one, taking multiple Grammys and drawing off non-country collaborators like the Manhattan Transfer and Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Steve Roach and Loren Nerell

   
Artist: Steve Roach and Loren Nerell

   Genre(s): 
Ambient
   

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Discography:


   
 Terraform

   Year: 2006   
Tracks: 4

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Gay pride abounds, but indie gay films tank

Movies doing worse than ever at boxoffice and with critics, writes Gregg Goldstein.

See Also

• Skid Row
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• Panettiere readies her debut album
• Aliyah

Pt. Jasraj

   
Artist: Pt. Jasraj

   Genre(s): 
Classical
   

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Discography:


   
 Tapasya, Vol.1 Pt. Jasraj

   Year:    
Tracks: 7

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Ondskapt

   
Artist: Ondskapt

   Genre(s): 
Metal: Death,Black
   

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Discography:


   
 Draco Sit Mihi Dux

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 6

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My Morning Jacket draws fans with high-energy shows

NEW YORK/NASHVILLE (Billboard) - It's 4 a.m. on the last night of the South by Southwest music conference, and Jim James is belting out Rod Stewart's "You're in My Heart." A few hours earlier, the My Morning Jacket frontman dazzled an intimate crowd at an Austin church with a mostly solo acoustic set, and the full band's three other performances during the week were some of the most acclaimed of the industry event.


But of all the places James could be right now, it's a cozy terrace suite at Austin's famed Driskill Hotel, surrounded by a few close friends, a bucket of Miller Lites and an iPod, singing and analyzing songs into the wee hours. As he says the following week, "Music is everything."


That guiding principle has helped MMJ -- James, "Two-Tone" Tommy (bass), Patrick Hallahan (drums), Bo Koster (keyboards) and Carl Broemel (guitar) -- grow from humble roots in Louisville, Kentucky, into an American rock band that many feel is poised to take it to the proverbial next level in the months ahead.


It's true that the best-laid marketing plans are no substitute for enthusiastic word-of-mouth, and the buzz around MMJ is at a fever pitch. The reason? Beyond MMJ's ever-building reputation for epic live performances, there's tremendous excitement surrounding the band's fifth album, "Evil Urges," due June 10 via ATO.


In Austin, MMJ played more than half of the material on the new set, which the quintet conceptualized during an intense songwriting session last summer in Colorado and then recorded in Manhattan last winter. A month later, when the band played the Coachella festival in Indio, California, five of its 11 songs were off the new album, and another five were from its previous studio album, "Z."


Even with live performances that send fans into orbit and critically acclaimed albums, MMJ has not yet achieved widespread arena-headlining status or platinum sales success. But the band's camp and its many supporters in the music industry at large seem to cherish MMJ's dark-horse status, believing that a band that takes a while to develop is building the solid foundation for a decades-long career.


COMMUNAL EXPERIENCE


"The press is now regularly tagging My Morning Jacket as 'the greatest live band,' 'best band in the world' or some version of that," Scott Clayton, the band's agent at Creative Artists Agency, says. "That type of over-the-top hype is usually a concern for any artist, but after seeing these guys perform as many times as I have, I am very comfortable with their ability to live up to those labels."