Cigna

Health Insurer CEOs' Big Paychecks Are Latest Target of Outraged Shareholders

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Senator Evan Bayh, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Juan Figueroa, Cigna, Health Care, Susan Bayh, Citigroup, Wellpoint, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Citigroup Shareholders Meeting, Business News

During all of my years of helping plan Cigna shareholder meetings, we had an unblemished string of non-events. Relatively few of the big-profit insurers have had to cope with contentious shareholder meetings. Those days are over.

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Why Health Insurers Are Counting on the Supreme Court to Uphold ObamaCare

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.09.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, Obamacare, Ahip, Obamacare Supreme Court, Affordable Care Act, Cigna, Aetna, Health Care Supreme Court, Health Care Reform, Health Care, Obama Health Care Reform, Politics News

If there is a group of people more anxious about how the Supreme Court will rule on the health care reform law than President Obama and the millions of Americans who are already benefiting from it, it is health insurance executives.

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Coming Soon: The End of Health Insurers As We Know Them -- By Self-Inflicted Wounds

Wendell Potter | Posted 05.05.2012

Read More: Obamacare, Health Care Reform, Affordable Care Act, Cigna, Health Insurance, Aetna, Humana, Health Care, Health Insurance Reform, Mark Bertolini, Insurance, Politics News

Now you know why more than 50 million of us are uninsured. It is not because most of those people are being irresponsible. Most of them either can't afford to buy coverage or can't buy it at any price.

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Health Care Myths and Realities: Seeking the Truth About High-Deductible Plans

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.28.2012

Read More: Health Care Reform, Affordable Care Act, Cigna, Commonwealth Fund, Obamacare, High-Deductible-Health-Insurance, Politics News

One of the reasons I left my job in the health insurance industry was because I could not in good conscience continue to promote high-deductible plans, often marketed as "consumer-driven" plans, as wise choices for most Americans.

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Taking the Initiative in a Struggle Against Excessive Rate Increases

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.21.2012

Read More: California-Healthcare-Foundation, Unitedhealth, Dave Jones, California, Obamacare, Consumer Watchdog, Dianne Feinstein, Affordable Care Act, Cigna, Aetna, Humana, Wellpoint, Health Insurance Rate Increases, Rate Increases Health Insurance, California Health Insurance Rate Increases, Politics News

When insurers behave this way, they are demonstrating that they care more about their bottom lines than their policyholders. Which makes it all the more imperative for California voters to sign those petitions and vote for the ballot initiative this fall.

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The Battle for Vermont's Health -- And Why It Matters for the Rest of the Country

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.08.2012

Read More: Canadian Healthcare, Peter Shumlin, Unitedhealth, Obamacare, Michael Moore, Vermont, Health Care Reform, Sicko, Cigna, Single Payer, Aetna, Canada, Wellpoint, Politics News

Despite the ceaseless spin, Vermont lawmakers last May demonstrated they could not be bought nor intimidated when they became the first in the nation to pass a bill that will probably establish a single-payer beachhead in the U.S.

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Mitt Romney's Health Care Fantasy World

Wendell Potter | Posted 03.17.2012

Read More: Obamacare, Bain Capital, Mitt Romney, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, Health Care, Politics News

Obamacare haters try to make us believe that the law will reduce "choice and competition" -- that insurers are competing vigorously to sign up Americans. But the world of health insurance doesn't operate that way -- and it never will without intervention.

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Insurer Profits Are Up In The Wake Of Health Care Law They Opposed

The Huffington Post | Alexander Eichler | Posted 01.06.2012

Read More: Congress, Unitedhealth, Health Care Profits, Cigna, Health Insurance, Insurance Companies, Aetna, Humana, Obama Health Care, Barack Obama, Video, Insurance, Health Care Reform, Health Coverage, Health Care, Wellpoint, Health Care Industry, Business News

Since insurance companies undertook extensive lobbying efforts against health care reform -- spending millions in an attempt to derail the legislation...

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Keep Nataline's Spirit of Christmas Alive

Wendell Potter | Posted 02.14.2012

Read More: National Nurses United, Donna Smith, Christmas, Nataline Sarkisyan, Health Care Reform, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Cigna, Health Care, California Nurses Association, Politics News

Anyone who believes that American doctors call the shots when it comes to providing medical care for their insured patients is sadly mistaken. Insurance companies essentially have the power to make what amount to life and death decisions.

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OK White House, Now Give Consumers Some Quality Time to Talk Health Care

Wendell Potter | Posted 02.01.2012

Read More: Jay Rockefeller, Obamacare, Health Care Reform, Rosa DeLauro, Hhs, Cigna, Aetna, Cass Sunstein, Medical-Loss Ratio, Mlr, Politics News

The administration should pay far more attention to what they have to say than to executives and lobbyists for Aetna and the rest of the industry who, take it from me, are more interested in their own best interests than in their customers.

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Herman Cain's Affair With Health Insurers in the '90s Made Him Famous

Wendell Potter | Posted 01.03.2012

Read More: Health Care Reform, Herman Cain 2012, Cigna, Health Insurance, Obamacare, Herman Cain Godfathers Pizza, Politics News

Herman Cain doesn't talk a lot about what he would do in health care except to work to repeal "ObamaCare." Cain clearly is still beholden to his old friends -- the ones who gave him his big start.

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Insurers Pressuring Obama to Defy Law So They Can Continue Keeping You in the Dark

Wendell Potter | Posted 12.31.2011

Read More: Consumers Union, Unitedhealth, Obamacare, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Chamber of Commerce, Cigna, Healthcare Reform, Aetna, Health Care, Humana, Consumer Reports, Wellpoint, Politics News

If you have no idea what you're paying good money for when you enroll in a health insurance plan, there's a good reason for that: insurers profit from your ignorance. And they're waging an intense behind-the-scenes campaign to keep you in the dark.

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Insurers Plotting How to Circumvent Reform So They Can Continue Selling Junk Health Insurance

Wendell Potter | Posted 12.24.2011

Read More: Unitedhealth, Obamacare, Health Care Reform, Anthem Blue Cross, Cigna, Aetna, Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Politics News

If the White House caves in to insurance industry demands, millions of low-wage earners will be forced to buy junk coverage on January 1, 2014. If you don't want to be forced to buy junk, send the White House a message. Now.

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Individual Mandate: Republicans Were for It Before They Were Against It. In Fact, It Was Their Idea

Wendell Potter | Posted 12.20.2011

Read More: American Enterprise Institute, Health Care Reform, Mitt Romney, Heritage Foundation, Individual Mandate, Cigna, Obamacare, Newt Gingrich, Barack Obama, Politics News

In the GOP debate Tuesday night, Gingrich acknowledged in an unguarded moment that a core element of "ObamaCare" was a proposal originated by the Heritage Foundation, a powerful conservative think tank.

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Corporations Are People, My Friend, And So Are States (Or the World According to Mitt Romney and Rick Scott)

Wendell Potter | Posted 10.15.2011

Read More: Rick Scott, Obamacare, Mitt Romney, Health Care Reform, Florida, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Cigna, Health Care, Republicans, Politics News

Not only are corporations people, as Romney asserts, the State of Florida is a person, according to the Department of Management Services PR guy.

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Fresh Evidence That Health Insurers Value Profits Over People

Wendell Potter | Posted 10.01.2011

Read More: Uninsured, Unitedhealth, Health Care Reform, Cigna, Aetna, Humana, Health Care, Wellpoint, Business News

WellPoint and Aetna and other insurers have demonstrated repeatedly that while they will do all they can to avoid sacrificing profitability for membership, they are quite willing to sacrifice their members -- and the American public -- for profits.

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Death Panels Real and Imagined

Wendell Potter | Posted 09.06.2011

Read More: UCLA Medical Center, Leukemia, Ipab, Phil Gingrey, Death Panels, Sarah Palin, Nataline Sarkisyan, Health Care Reform, Mercedes-Benz, Affordable Care Act, Congress, Cigna, Medicare, Health Care, California Nurses Association, Obamacare, Politics News

The closest thing to real death panels that operate in this country are not run by a bunch of government bureaucrats but by a bunch of corporate bureaucrats who work deep inside U.S. insurance companies.

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Insurers' Bait and Switch

Wendell Potter | Posted 08.30.2011

Read More: California, Unitedhealth, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Anthem Blue Cross, Cigna, Hmos, Kaiser Permanente, Health Care, Blue Cross Blue Shield, John Garamendi, Wellpoint, Business News

The health insurance industry's long-term strategy is to move all Americans into high-deductible plans, and they're well on their way to achieving that goal. Once there, you can bet the rates will be hiked up.

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Insurance Executives' Get-Rich-Quick Scheme -- Using Your Premiums

Wendell Potter | Posted 08.13.2011

Read More: Uninsured, Unitedhealth, Hcan, Stock Buybacks, Wall Street, Stock Market, Stock Options, United Health Insurance, Health; Health Care; Health Insurance; Universal Healthcare; Barack Obama; John Mccain; British Healthcare; David Cameron; Hillary Clinton; Mandates; Premiums; Uninsured Millions; United Kingdom; London; British Conservatives; Liberals, Health Insurance, Cigna, Ethan Rome, Humana, Business News

You might be surprised to learn that more and more of the dollars you pay for coverage are being sucked into a kind of black hole. It doesn't really disappear, of course.

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Health Insurers Have Had Their Chance

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.31.2011

Read More: Peter Shumlin, Small Business, Obamacare, Health Insurers, Health Care Reform, Vermont, Affordable Care Act, Cigna, Single Payer, Michigan, Pricewaterhousecoopers, Kaiser Family Foundation, Barack Obama, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Business News

Private insurers have had their chance to control costs and expand access and have failed miserably. It is time, more and more people believe, to replace them with a single payer: the government.

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Insuring Good Times at the Mauna Lani

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.26.2011

Read More: Unitedhealth, Uninsured, Stephen Hemsley, Health Care Reform, Cigna, Naic, Medical-Loss Ratio, Mlr, Obama Health Care Reform, Business News

One of the reasons insurers have been spending less of our premium dollars on medical care in recent years is because they have decided to devote more to meeting the relentless profit expectations, and lavishly rewarding those who succeed.

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Got Health Insurance? Pray You Won't Get "Purged"

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.16.2011

Read More: Small Business, Uninsured, Unitedhealth, National-Small-Business-Association, Health Care Reform, Cigna, Health Insurance, Aetna, Small Business America, Business News

For several years now, insurance companies have been "purging" small business accounts they no longer consider profitable. Meanwhile, U.S. health insurers are reporting record profits, and their CEOs are topping the list of highest paid corporate executives.

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Health Insurers Make Record Profits As Many Americans Postpone Care

The New York Times | REED ABELSON | Posted 07.13.2011

Read More: Health Insurance Companies, Health Insurers, Colonoscopies, Health Care Reform, Mammograms, UnitedHealth Group, Cigna, Health Insurance, Health Care, Deductibles, Business News

The nation’s major health insurers are barreling into a third year of record profits, enriched in recent months by a lingering recessionary mind-set...

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Dear Mr. President, I Wish I Had Known...

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.12.2011

Read More: Janny-Scott, Clinton Health Care Plan, Ann Dunham, A-Singular-Woman, Health Care Reform, Stanley Ann Dunham, Cigna, Hmos, Health Care, Barack Obama, Managed Care, Business News

Like many others, I've heard President Obama talk about his mother's insurance problems during her final months in 1995. But I didn't realize until now that the company she was pleading with was CIGNA, the one I used to work for.

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Ryan's Medicare Plan Would Be a Windfall for Insurance Companies

Wendell Potter | Posted 06.21.2011

Read More: Jacob Hacker, Edward Hanway, Cigna, Medicare, Aetna, Kaiser Family Foundation, Paul Ryan, Politics News

Paul Ryan's "blueprint" is one that will take America back to the pre-1965 days when senior citizens were losing their homes and their farms to pay for medical care. And all the while, insurance companies will be raking it in.

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