Will The White House Embrace CIGNA Whistleblower? (VIDEO)

Wendell Potter from Consumer Watchdog on Vimeo.

I introduced him in San Francisco at the Civil Justice Foundation last week as a man who could change the direction of health insurance reform in America.  Watch or read the full speech by former CIGNA executive Wendell Potter to see why, and hear about his decision to go public and what the stakes are for health care reform in America.

Having spent a couple of days with Wendell, I can say that he is a linchpin in the new Democratic strategy to show the middle class that health insurance reform will help them.   The White House needs to embrace Potter, though, and answer his call to come to Los Angeles next week for the first urban Remote Area Medical clinic, a massive volunteer effort to care for the uninsured and underinsured.  No doubt thousands will be turned away from the free medical care offered at the Inglewood Forum, where the Los Angeles Lakers used to play. The White House needs to send a representative to offer those patients a hand and make the case of the president's plan.

The local coverage of Potter's San Francisco speech -- see ABC and CBS  --shows what a  potent force for change Potter's testimony is and how health insurers have no good answer to him. Will the White House join Wendell? Such strategic decisions at this moment will make all the difference for health insurance reform in America when Congress returns after Labor Day. 

Comments

[Ginger47]

Share the PBS video www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07312009/watch.html.html


I worked in the the ins. industry for a while. Pure greed. They don't belong in the Health Care business without being regulated. They are not regulated, unlkie the banks are, and look what they did.
Show this video to everone you know, I did.
Thanks to CatoVA26

[democratforever1988]

Things like this touch my soul. You have thousands of people, the organizers doctors and dentists doing wonderful things volunteering their time and skills to something greater than themselves. Its very nice to see someone say no to the all mighty dollar and believe in something else! I hope this man and RAM get a lot more media attention, show those cold politicians what being a real human being is all about!

[RN4MERCY]

Great post, Jamie.
The irony here is this "Remote Area Medical" clinic is being held in the wealthiest state in the nation; one that has been touted as having the sixth largest economy in the world. The clinic will be held within a relative stone's throw from one of the wealthiest enclaves in the nation: Beverly Hills, a town where Arnold Schwarzenegger feels right at home. We have a legislature that has passed single payer legislation twice, only to have it vetoed by our special interest-controlled governor.

I hope Schwarzenegger shows up to face the shocking reality of what his vetos have cost in human terms. Nothing erodes the dignity of a human being faster than the humiliation they suffer when they're denied access to proper medical care because of their inability to pay for it--whether it's for their children or for themselves. Many illnesses become more expensive to treat and can become more complicated and even deadly with each passing day a patient has to go without proper care. It's beyond poor public policy; it's inhumane.

Any chance we can go with Wendell Potter to Cigna Headquarters just up the road in Glendale, and have him finger the bean counter that denied payment for a timely, life-saving liver transplant to Nataline Sarkysian? The problem isn't just one insurance company; it's all of them. Profit has no place in healthcare.

[CatoVA26]

Wendell Potter also did a special on Bill Moyers Journal and they reshowed it this week. I would suggest everyone watch it. Here is the link: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07312009/watch.html

[schatsie]

I sure hope Barack and Michelle Obama go out to LA for that Free Medical Clinic.

It would be great publicity for the White House Plan on healthcare. AND Orzag and all of the Goldman Sacks gang at the Treasury..­...See what real working people look like instead of the pampered and privileged­....and the girls....

[CatoVA26]

I wish they would go too but I really wish they would go to the one in Wise County Virginia. it is huge and really amazing as to how many people don't have healthcare in such a rural area.

[Samalabear]

I wouldn't bet on it. If Barack Obama went to the Wise County Clinic he would face Wendell Potter, who has made it very clear that the only way to curb the problems with private insurers is for a strong public option or Medicare for All single payer. Barack Obama is the one who took single payer off the table in the beginning and is not having any problem with a weakened public option it seems.

Please read this other excellent article here on HP:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanine-molloff/health-care-today-separat_b_248289.html

Every time I mention Obama's single-payer blindness or his caving I am called an anti-Obama hater. I don't care anymore. Obama is supposed to be the President of all the people and 75% of the people want either single payer or a strong public option leading to single payer.