Whopper Of The Week

The ability of corporate America to lie through its teeth is peerless, but major health insurers occupy a special place in the pantheon of obfuscation.

This bring us to insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross, the company criticized by President Obama in the run up to the passage of ObamaCare when it proposed raising rates for Californians by as much as 39 percent because . . . well, it just needed to. In fact, Anthem deserves special credit for getting health-care reform over the hump.

Then in tandem developments this week, Anthem's parent Wellpoint Inc. announced that its profits had soared 51 percent in the first quarter of the year. Before you could say "public relations disaster," Anthem announced that it was rescinding the rate increase because . . . are you ready for this? Through no fault of its own the justification for raising rates was based on flawed data.

Cough, cough.