CIGNA Exec Whistleblower Puts Wind in Health Care Reform Sails

Nebraska's Democratic United States Senator Ben Nelson is one of the holdouts on national health care reform, after accepting big bucks from the health insurers -- ranking #10 in the Senate for taking health insurance cash. He met his match in the Senate Commerce Committee today when a former CIGNA executive came to Congress with a simple message:"My name is Wendell Potter and for 20 years, 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."

Potter testified that

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. Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand -- or even to obtain -- information we need. As you hold hearings and discuss legislative proposals over the coming weeks, I encourage you to look very closely at the role for-profit insurance companies play in making our health care system both the most expensive and one of the most dysfunctional in the world.

Woof! Wendall Potter may be the secret weapon that wins passage of health care reform in America. Read his full testimony here.

The health insurance Potter described today is hardly the one Congress would want to extend to 47 million more Americans. Potter makes as good a case for the need for a public option to the for-profit market and for health insurer accountability as I have heard yet in Congress, just as the president goes on ABC tonight to make his case. Senator Jay Rockefeller, who chaired today's hearing made an eloquent and passionate plea for change too. He also released a report showing how patients are being screwed by insurance fine print. Reformers are finding their stride. The more the focus on insurers, the stronger this reform horse will run.

Comments

[jmpurser]

Well first the "secret" isn't secret and second the "weapon" isn't a weapon because it will have absolutely no effect.

[ljrabq]

FINALLY a real insurance company insider who speaks the truth. As long as we have a "for profit" medical system there is absolutely no incentive for wellness education - that's opposed to their interests. Of course, once one gets sick they're booted from their policy or else the condition they need treatment for is "waivered." As retired RN who worked in medical management for 30+ years, I've been in the belly of the beast and know it well. The straw-man argument of "do you want a government bureaucrat making your health decision?" is easy to answer - YES. It's far better than a claims adjuster whose job it is to deny as much as possible. That the US is #49 in the world in health care and #1 in spending is shameful. Really.

[Lyr]

Why do we need a government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat? Is managed care really the only choice?

[Lyr]

http://www.kaiserpapershawaii.org/kaiserpermanentehistory.htm

Ehrlichman: "Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. And the reason that he can … the reason he can do it … I had Edgar Kaiser come in … talk to me about this and I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because …"

President Nixon: [Unclear.]

Ehrlichman: "… the less care they give them, the more money they make."

President Nixon: "Fine." [Unclear.]

Ehrlichman: [Unclear] "… and the incentives run the right way."

President Nixon: "Not bad."

[bannorhill]

I had Kaiser. I no longer live in an area where they have coverage otherwise I would have them again. They are efficient. There are no bills after the co-pay and they take care of you. If they do not have the facilities they use outside facilities at no additional charge.

All that and they cost less than other plans.

[Lyr]

When the HMO act was passed it was known that they would make money by denying people care. Nothing new here.

[kjstjohn]

Yes, and they specifically set up the system so that people who were denied care would have no meaningful legal recourse.

[huffdog]

It's obvious the Health Care lobbyists have bought several in congress. So, let's buy them back! Someone set up a website and accept donations and distribute the money to the reps and senators who have taken donations from health care groups. Promise them more money, than they currently receive, if they stop taking from them and take from us.

Here's partial list from fivethirtyeight:

Senator Cycles PAC $
Baucus (D-MT) 3.125 $141,250
McConnell (R-KY) 3.125 $110,750
Nelson (D-NE) 3.125 $106,123
Kyl (R-AZ) 3.125 $106,000
Gregg (R-NH) 3.125 $103,500
Grassley (R-IA) 3.125 $95,000
Lincoln (D-AR) 3.125 $91,000
Enzi (R-WY) 3.125 $87,000
Chambliss (R-GA) 3.125 $86,750
Ensign (R-NV) 3.125 $85,750
==========­==========­==========­========
AVERAGE SENATOR $37,267

We could raise more than this for them?

[wanked]

If everyone who wanted single payer just mailed in eleven bucks, we coul buy these low life chumps off in a heartbeat. Hell, Id mail in 11 dolla every 6 months!

[sonoffestus]

Thats what I say. Everyone who is currently paying premiums send them directly to Congress. Profits will not be skimmed off, hence you'll have more to bribe, or is that buy Congress. It's the American way! The patriotic thing to do.

[enzosmom]

This breaking news just in. The sun rises in the east.
Insurance companies are a for-profit business. How is this a surprise to anyone? Seriously? Health care is alreadly rationed. The issue is whether you want it rationed by a goverment, so that we as a society can decide what we're willing to provide one another or whether you want it rationed by a corporation looking to maximize profits for investors.

[Jlong]

Exactly!

[MDCambridge]

This brings up a very sad realization: If a popular opinion of over 70% of the people wanting a government run healthcare system can be ignored by those in Congress, what's to guarantee that a government run healthcare system won't be bought by corporate interests?

[kjstjohn]

Our Congress is not a small-d democratic or a small-r republican institution, is it?

This foot-dragging over healthcare reform that is necessary to protect the physical and economic health of nearly all Americans is the proof I have long been looking for to prove what has been obvious for a long time.

[logic63]

This was reported by a few other people who were hired to deny claims several years ago but the shrubs were in charge so it was just blwn off, by the way-we citizens didn't raise any noise about it either.

[NASW]

"The industry and its backers are using fear tactics, as they did in 1994, to tar a transparent, publicly-a­ccountable health care option as a ―government-run system.‖ But what we have today, Mr. Chairman, is a Wall Street-run system that has proven itself an untrustworthy partner to its customers, to the doctors and hospitals who deliver care, and to the state and federal governments that attempt to regulate it."

From the last paragraph of his testimony - this says it all. I have maintained for many years now, in debates with family, friends and co-workers, that one bunch of old self-serving white guys (Wall Street) is really no better than another bunch of old self-serving white guys (Government).

Insurance companies have proven an untrustworhty partner - that is a solid grain of truth.

[LeeCalif]

Anyone who votes against the public option after this testimony is TRULY bought and paid for.

[Aldyth]

I'm with you. The insurance companies will NEVER reform themselves. We need a public option.

[sonoffestus]

It is NEVER going to happen. You will get ONLY what the insurance companies ALLOW you to have.

[jwredd]

If there is any justice in this world, not only will we get public healthcare out of this, but the country will finally open its eyes and see how disgustingly corrupt and damaging our campaign finance system is.

Isn't there someway to make a legal/criminal connection when a lawmaker sides with the drastically different needs of an industry lobby over the needs of 75% of their constituents? There's just no way that can be legal.

[MaryanneAZ]

Not as long as the legislators themselves make the rules that govern their behavior and votes. They will never vote in terms limits, vote restrictions relating to constituent polling, etc. They are not going to give up their absolute power to do as they please.

[goddesscon2001]

Not one bit shocked by this

[TJCole]

From the horses mouth...

My father a retired executive of State Farm Ins. says..

"Insurance is the biggest racket in America, bigger than banks even...!"

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Falling sick is apparently a privilege in the eyes of a neo-con.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

This is what the cons consider the best healthcare in the world.

[readyfornewleadership]

We should be marching in the streets. Nothing is more important than this.

[kjstjohn]

We need local rallies now. Let's show the tea-baggers what real public outrage by patriotic Americans looks like.