Premera drops for-profit fight

Premera Blue Cross has abandoned its legal appeals effort to convert to a for-profit health insurer.

The decision prompted the withdrawal of a lawsuit filed by the Washington State Hospital Association fighting the conversion.

Premera had sought to shed its status as a nonprofit insurer and become a for-profit corporation. The attempt sparked an outcry among hospitals and consumer groups worried that such a conversion would erode the insurer’s community service mission, raise premiums, enrich the executives and put the company at risk of a takeover by a large national insurance corporation.

Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler denied Premera’s application in 2004. The Division II Court Appeals upheld that decision last year.

Premera then sought recourse in the Washington Supreme Court.

Founded in 1933, Premera is the largest health insurer in Washington. Based in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., it serves about 1.2 million people.

Olympia

Unemployment rate up slightly

Spokane County’s jobless rate in January ticked up half a percentage point over the previous year, reaching 6.3 percent, according to figures released by the Washington State Employment Security Department. That’s compared with the county’s 5.8 percent rate in January 2006.

Seasonal reductions in the number of employees in the service sector, transportation and utilities, and retail jobs led the trend, state statistics show.

Around the state, January’s unemployment averaged 5.1 percent, up slightly from 4.9 percent in January 2006 and 5 percent in December.

The nation’s January unemployment total hovered at 4.6 percent, close to December’s 4.5 percent and the 4.7 percent reported in January 2006. New York

Ethanol demand increased in ‘06

U.S. ethanol output in 2006 rose 24 percent, to 317,000 barrels a day, while demand rose 33 percent to 350,000 barrels a day, data from the Energy Information Administration released Monday show.

In December 2006, output was 356,000 barrels a day, while demand was 399,000 barrels a day and stocks were sufficient to cover 24.6 days of demand, RFA said.