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Wendell Potter is an Analyst at the Center for Public Integrity; Former insurance company executive; Author of Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans and and Obamacare: What’s in It for Me? What Everyone Needs to Know About the Affordable Care Act
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Friday, December 2, 2011
OK White House, Now Give Consumers Some Quality Time to Talk Health Care The Obama administration should hold meetings with and listen to consumers and consumer advocates as well as the Aetna execs and lobbyists they've met with.
Friday, December 2, 2011OK White House, Now Give Consumers Some Quality Time to Talk Health Care The Obama administration should hold meetings with and listen to consumers and consumer advocates as well as the Aetna execs and lobbyists they've met with.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Does the U.S. Have the World's Best Health Care System? Yes, If You're Talking About the Third World Americans are not getting nearly as much bang for the health care buck as citizens of most other developed countries -- and even some countries in the developing world.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011Does the U.S. Have the World's Best Health Care System? Yes, If You're Talking About the Third World Americans are not getting nearly as much bang for the health care buck as citizens of most other developed countries -- and even some countries in the developing world.
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Monday, November 14, 2011
A Determined Dog Goes After Insurers Again to Save Consumers Billions 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.
Monday, November 14, 2011A Determined Dog Goes After Insurers Again to Save Consumers Billions 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.
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
"Occupy Wall Street' Should Also Take Aim at Health Insurance Companies Wendell is a Senior Analyst at the Center for Public Integrity where this was originally posted on October 10, 2011. He is author of "Deadly Spin," a book that documents the excesses of the health insurance industry drawn from his years as a senior executive3 at Humana and Cigna.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011"Occupy Wall Street' Should Also Take Aim at Health Insurance Companies Wendell is a Senior Analyst at the Center for Public Integrity where this was originally posted on October 10, 2011. He is author of "Deadly Spin," a book that documents the excesses of the health insurance industry drawn from his years as a senior executive3 at Humana and Cigna.
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Sunday, October 9, 2011
Premiums Skyrocketing Where Health Insurers Have Their Way With State Legislators, As in Maine
Sunday, October 9, 2011Premiums Skyrocketing Where Health Insurers Have Their Way With State Legislators, As in Maine
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Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Affordable Care Act? What the Heck Is That? 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;
Thursday, September 29, 2011The Affordable Care Act? What the Heck Is That? 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;
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Health Insurers to Consumers: Want to Know What You're Buying Before You Buy It? Only If You Pay for It Last week, the Obama administration released the long-anticipated disclosure rules that insurers and employers will have to comply with starting next year.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011Health Insurers to Consumers: Want to Know What You're Buying Before You Buy It? Only If You Pay for It Last week, the Obama administration released the long-anticipated disclosure rules that insurers and employers will have to comply with starting next year.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Marcus Welby, M.D. Had it Right: House Calls Save Money and Improve Care 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.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011Marcus Welby, M.D. Had it Right: House Calls Save Money and Improve Care 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.
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Monday, August 1, 2011
Fresh Evidence That Health Insurers Value Profits Over People 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.
Monday, August 1, 2011Fresh Evidence That Health Insurers Value Profits Over People 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.
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Thursday, June 30, 2011
Insurers' Bait and Switch 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
Thursday, June 30, 2011Insurers' Bait and Switch 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
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The Insurance Industry's Scheme to Circumvent Reform and Make You Pay More Than Ever for Health Care 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.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011The Insurance Industry's Scheme to Circumvent Reform and Make You Pay More Than Ever for Health Care 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.
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Thursday, June 9, 2011
Blue Shield's PR Coup 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.
Thursday, June 9, 2011Blue Shield's PR Coup 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.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Health Insurers Have Had Their Chance 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
Tuesday, May 31, 2011Health Insurers Have Had Their Chance 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
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Got Health Insurance? Pray You Won't Get "Purged" 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.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011Got Health Insurance? Pray You Won't Get "Purged" 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.
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Sunday, May 1, 2011
Health Execs Get Richer as Some Americans Beg for Help to Pay Bills 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.
Sunday, May 1, 2011Health Execs Get Richer as Some Americans Beg for Help to Pay Bills 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.
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Friday, April 22, 2011
Ryan's Medicare Plan Would Be a Windfall for Insurance Companies The Ryan Medicare plan would represent a windfall of unprecedented proportions for insurance corporations and other businesses.
Friday, April 22, 2011Ryan's Medicare Plan Would Be a Windfall for Insurance Companies The Ryan Medicare plan would represent a windfall of unprecedented proportions for insurance corporations and other businesses.
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Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Insurers' Real Agenda for Change 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.
Saturday, February 12, 2011The Insurers' Real Agenda for Change 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.
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Thank You, UnitedHealth Group. Your Jaw-Dropping Profit Announcement May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered. 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, October 20, 2010Thank You, UnitedHealth Group. Your Jaw-Dropping Profit Announcement May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered. 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?
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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, September 2, 2009Rally 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.
