.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} If Washington politicians feel unpopular, they should try being Central Iowa insurance executives.

First, some legislators started wondering why Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield was raising its health coverage premiums 18 percent. It does sound a little high, unless maybe they throw in your very own X-ray machine, which would be great at parties.

As Sen. Jack Hatch put it in his newsletter, “It seems Wellmark is using its control of the Iowa insurance market to hammer our families, small business owners and farmers.”

And probably not doing kittens and big-eyed puppies any good, either.

But, of course, legislators can’t be experts in everything, and it turns out that they just didn’t understand the complexities of health insurance. The complexities being: People are too fat.

If you disagree, on your next lunch hour, take a good look at the customers in the nearest food court. Not many opportunities to play an arpeggio on a rib cage.

Anyway, Wellmark CEO John Forsyth told The Des Moines Register that the news on premium increases could have been worse. Then Forsyth made a subtly different but related point: Things definitely will be horribly worse in the near future.

Finally, the whole process was brought to a temporary halt by Gov. Chet Culver, the man in charge of protecting Iowans. (He took the title from Dan Gable in a Blindfold Death Match.) So now Culver is on the record as wanting to give Iowans more places to gamble and also reasonable insurance costs. How could you not re-elect this guy?

Whatever happens, Wellmark wants you to know that its new $250 million palace on Grand Avenue is a completely separate issue. Don’t even picture it in your mind.

The Register reported that Wellmark is borrowing the construction money and repaying the debt with investment income and money from the sale of real estate. The paper noted: “The company has about $800 million in reserves.”

Now we’re going to have to ask you not to think about the $800 million. Even though a poorly informed outsider might think it sounds like a lot of cash for an organization whose stated goal is to break even.

Also, find ways to distract yourself from Forsyth’s $2.4 million salary. You could daydream about vacation, perhaps, or do some mental arithmetic. Divide your annual pay into, say, 2.4 million.

That wasn’t all of the depressing insurance news. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the top people at West Des Moines-based American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. with “leaving out the good stuff.”

The SEC alleges that annuities whiz and former American Equity CEO David Noble wasn’t sufficiently forthcoming about the details when he sold his financing company to his insurance company for $1. Let’s hope he saved that dollar, because eventually he agreed to pay a penalty consisting of that one plus 899,999 more.

It’s disillusioning. The standard story on Noble was that he barely took a salary at all, creating the image of a guy who cared but little for personal gain and wound up living in Longboat Key, Fla., only because he missed his exit on Interstate 35. Of course, it’s easy to live on pennies if you have enough hundred-dollar bills to keep them company.

Over at City Hall, it’s not the insurance sellers but the insurance buyers who deserve questioning. As the Des Moines City Council members searched tirelessly for ways to cut costs, they forgot about the sweetheart deal they get on health insurance. But then, they have a lot to keep track of. There’s more to the job than just checking Christine Hensley’s day planner, you know. Not too much, but some.

These things are happening in a successful insurance center of the greatest nation on Earth. Think what it will be like if the country ever starts to go just slightly downhill.