California Insider

Here's today's column, on the false hope that regulating health plan profits will control medical costs.

Dan Morain at the LA Times reports this morning that the state's prison guards might be getting a raise nearly twice as large as anticipated on July 1. The correctional officers' contract, negotiated with Gov. Gray Davis a year ago, grants them raises in line with the average of law enforcement in five large California cities and counties. That was expected to net them somewhere between 3 percent and 4 percent this summer. Now it looks like the hike might be closer to 7 percent. Union officials say they have no intention of re-opening contract negotiations with Davis, who says he wants state employees to take pay cuts to help balance the budget.