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Wendell Potter: It is just known that there are people that can be counted on; and one of the things, too, to keep in mind that the insurers have done a lot of, and it is not just insurers who have done this, but they will put ads on in the districts where they are from to pressure them, and they will bring pressure in a grass roots way on the members of congress. They will threaten them with giving contributions to competitors and things like that, so there is a lot that they can do to pressure and persuade lawmakers to do the things they want them to do.
Rob Kall: So, I kind of get the feeling there are some words they use that you are not willing to say, or...?
Wendell Potter: You know, you don't really need to vet any of this; it is just an understanding of which members of congress you can pretty much count on; you can look at their voting records. In fact, when a company's political action committee makes a decision on where to send money, you look at their voting record to determine what they have done, how much they have supported you in the past, and how important they are to you in the future, and that is where you make you contribution.
Rob Kall: So, basically, if we see (using different websites), ...(such as) LittleSis (http://littlesis.org/), is a new site funded by the Sunlight Foundation (http://sunlightfoundation.com/) LittleSis.org, that lists the influential people, the contributors, the board of directors and what-have-you, so you can see the nexus of connections between them and the members of congress.
Wendell Potter: Yes, and I will close with this; that is a very important point. There are a lot of intricate relationships and connections that really make a difference. It is not just when you can try to trace the money but that is just one part of it; there are a lot of other ways that influence is peddled in Washington and elsewhere.
Rob Kall: You mentioned deceptive marketing and fake insurance in your testimony; would you talk a little bit about that?
Wendell Potter: The insurance companies, particularly now, are marketing limited benefit plans and another one is the high deductible plan. They are not very forthcoming on what your obligation is in terms of how much your out-of-pocket expenses might be if you get ill or injured, or what might not be covered. They spend a lot of money on glossy brochures about the coverage but not very much of any words are wasted on what actually is covered and what will happen if you really need care, and that is by design. They want to attract you into the plan, particularly they will try to segment the population to target those who are healthy, but spend very little in terms of words to language to tell you what the limitations are and what you are actually getting yourself into.
Rob Kall: We are not just talking about small operations. The biggest insurance companies do this, don't they?
Wendell Potter: Well they do. And I think that is a surprise. I was talking to the New York Times reporter, who expressed the same surprise. You might think that these are obscure insurance companies that are fly-by-nights; but no, they are the very biggest in the country that are doing this...
Rob Kall: The biggest in the country are doing deceptive marketing and offering fake insurance?
Wendell Potter: Oh yes! Fake insurance, as I call it, or very inadequate insurance; these very, very limited policies that often have no hospital coverage, for example, have very low caps on how much they will pay out totally, do not cover a lot of things. Yes, the very biggest companies in this country are doing that and that is their vision for this country; that is what they know, they can make money on this, and when they say they want to maintain flexibility in designing their benefit plans, this is what they have in mind for us. It is a real hellish scenario that they have in mind for us.
Rob Kall: There is an article in the New York Times about that, either today or yesterday, where a man who had insurance thought he was covered. He went in and he found out that the hospital insurance only covered the BED, it did not cover the medicine, did not cover the diagnostics or treatments, or the tests. He ended up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars and having to go bankrupt. He said he had insurance.
Wendell Potter: And that is a good example, a very good example, of what happens to people, and that was a plan that was offered through Aetna, which is the third largest insurer in the country.
Rob Kall: I wanted to talk a little bit about single-payer health care. What are your impressions about it?
Wendell Potter: I think a single payer appears (to be) the kind of plan that the Canadians have; and the Canadians, by the way, are very happy with their plan, and the Conyers bill that you mentioned, HR676, would establish a single payer plan. The insurance companies are certainly opposed to that because it would essentially put them out of business as they currently offer policies now. But, the other countries around the world who have coverage like this, the citizens are very happy with it.
Rob Kall: That is my thinking. You know, I think you have spoken with Chuck Pennacchio, who was spearheading an effort to get single payer at the state level in Pennsylvania, have you?
