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for 20 years, Wendell Potter worked as a senior executive at health insurance companies, and saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick – all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.
Wendell Potter is the Senior Fellow on Health Care for the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison, Wisconsin.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Even the Catholic Bishops Should Bless This Health Insurance Mandate
At long last, despite hefty lobbying by the health insurance industry, HHS has issued a final rule requiring insurers and employers to spell out what their what their healthcare benefit plans cover and what it will cost the insured if they get sick, injured, or pregnant.
Monday, January 23, 2012 Park City Vantage Point Puts Tragedy of American Health Care in Vivid Relief (5 comments)
A grieving Canadian family faces financial ruin because their daughter fell ill and died in the U.S. Only in America could this happen. If there was ever a case for single-payer healthcare this is it.
Monday, January 16, 2012 Mitt Romney's Health Care Fantasy World (1 comments)
Wendell Potter explains that not everyone can cavalierly "fire" their insurance companies, as Mitt Romney boast he enjoys doing. In the real world the insurance company holds all the cards, we have little choice but to go submit to their demands.
Thursday, December 15, 2011 Keep Nataline's Spirit of Christmas Alive (3 comments)
...insurance companies essentially have the power to make what amount to life and death decisions.
Monday, November 14, 2011 A Determined Dog Goes After Insurers Again to Save Consumers Billions (1 comments)
If there is one organization that insurers despise and fear more than any other, it surely must be Consumer Watchdog.
Since its founding in 1985, Los Angeles-based Consumer Watchdog has dogged insurers relentlessly and played a key role numerous times in forcing them to change business practices and price their policies more fairly. I first heard of the organization in 1996 when I was still an insurance industry spokesman.
Thursday, September 29, 2011 The Affordable Care Act? What the Heck Is That? (7 comments)
The Kaiser Family Foundation just released the findings of its annual survey of businesses to determine how much the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage has gone up. There were some unexpected findings. What seems clear is that insurers decided last year to charge their customers considerably more than necessary this year to be able to meet Wall Street's profit expectations;
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 Marcus Welby, M.D. Had it Right: House Calls Save Money and Improve Care (1 comments)
Dr. Bruce Kinosian still makes house calls. He's convinced that if more doctors did what he does, and as the TV character Marcus Welby did back in the '60s and '70s, we could eliminate billions of dollars we currently spend in this country in an often ineffective -- and almost always unnecessarily expensive -- effort to get people well.
Monday, August 1, 2011 Fresh Evidence That Health Insurers Value Profits Over People (13 comments)
Insurance industry executives are experts at talking in code, which makes it difficult to understand just how much they value profits over people. Occasionally, though, they slip up, as Aetna's chief financial officer, Joseph Zubretsky, did last Wednesday during his company's conference call with analysts.
Thursday, June 30, 2011 Insurers' Bait and Switch (1 comments)
Over the past several years, insurers have been implementing a strategic plan to "migrate" (their term) all of their policyholders out of traditional indemnity and managed care plans into so-called "consumer-driven" plans, which feature high deductibles. They have been luring people into these plans by setting premiums for high-deductible plans lower than HMOs and PPOs, at least initially
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 The Insurance Industry's Scheme to Circumvent Reform and Make You Pay More Than Ever for Health Care (3 comments)
In its ongoing attempt to weaken a key provision of the health care reform law -- the one that requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care -- the insurance industry is predicting dire consequences for people enrolled in health savings accounts (HSAs) if lawmakers don't act soon.
Thursday, June 9, 2011 Blue Shield's PR Coup (4 comments)
Non-profit health insurer Blue Shield announced they would be capping their profits at 2%, a move designed to boost PR after being panned for announcing premium increases over 80% despite billions in reserves.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 Health Insurers Have Had Their Chance (4 comments)
Of the many supporters of a single-payer health care system in the United States, some of the most ardent are small business owners who have struggled to continue offering coverage to their workers.
Among them are David Steil, a small business owner and former Republican -- yes, Republican -- state legislator in Pennsylvania who earlier this year became president of the advocacy group Health Care 4 All PA
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Got Health Insurance? Pray You Won't Get "Purged" (1 comments)
U.S. health insurers are reporting record profits, and their CEOs are topping the list of highest paid corporate executives while they purge small businesses they no longer consider profitable enough.
Sunday, May 1, 2011 Health Execs Get Richer as Some Americans Beg for Help to Pay Bills (2 comments)
Molly shared this tragic healthcare horror story with us that evening at F&M because Scott cannot.Scott, a Lancaster attorney in the prime of life, was stricken with ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. He can communicate via miracles of modern technology,by moving his eyes,but he cannot speak or move on his own,nor live without 24-hour care, a respirator, etc. The bad news is they have exhausted his lifetime coverage cap.
Saturday, February 12, 2011 The Insurers' Real Agenda for Change (9 comments)
Congress gave health insurers exactly what they wanted by including in last year's health care legislation a requirement that all Americans not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid buy coverage from a private insurance company. Now they aim to strip from the health care law key regulations and consumer protections that aren't to their liking.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 Thank You, UnitedHealth Group. Your Jaw-Dropping Profit Announcement May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered. (2 comments)
Are our health insurance premiums just being funneled straight into corporate bank accounts now, with little or no pretense? Perhaps after seeing how the Banksters and BP can screw half the country while everyone is watching, health insurance companies feel more emboldened than ever to shaft America. But could this be one shaft too many?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 Rally Against Wall Street's Health Care Takeover
I'm ashamed that I let myself get caught up in deceitful and dishonest PR campaigns that worked so well, hundreds of thousands of our citizens have died, and millions of others have lost their homes and been forced into bankruptcy, so that a very few corporate executives and their Wall Street masters could become obscenely rich.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 Health Insurance Exec Whistleblower Wendell Potter Testifies Before Congress (5 comments)
I worked as a senior executive at health insurance companies, and I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick "" all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.
I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 Obama's False Friends of Health Reform (3 comments)
I'm hoping President Obama realizes that some of the folks who've been currying favor with him are not, as they claim, bringing "solutions" to the health care reform table. Most Americans -- especially those who voted for him -- want nothing to do with the kind of "reforms" they are peddling.
