Wendell Potter's Blog, page 26

Obamacare Giveth. Will Employers Taketh Away?

Consultants’ strategy that steers employers away from Obamacare’s essential benefits and to ‘junk insurance’ will hit low incomes hardest. You gotta wonder how some people in the health insurance business sleep at night. Oh wait. You can’t sleep if you stay up late thinking of new ways to keep people from getting the coverage and [...]

Projections are Evidence ‘Rate Shock is a Crock’

Health insurance premium estimates in four states counter critics, provide surprisingly positive forecasts for costs (of improved coverage.) Insurance company executives and other critics of Obamacare who warned us earlier this year that the health care law would result in “rate shock” next year haven’t had much to say lately thanks to surprisingly positive news [...]

A Cynical Search for Loopholes

Insurers have discovered ways to avoid providing ‘essential benefits.’ There is an age-old tradition in this country: if you don’t like a law and can’t get rid of it, look for a loophole. That’s what some companies that don’t want to comply with an important Obamacare requirement have done, and it appears they’ve hit pay [...]

Help Health Care Advocate Donna Smith Get the Care She Needs — And Pay the $855 Aetna Is Demanding

The first time I saw Donna Smith, I was in the back row of a Sacramento theater watching the first public screening of a movie I had flown nearly 3,000 miles to see. It was June 12, 2007 and the movie was Sicko, Michael Moore’s indictment of the U.S. health care system. I had been [...]

Hidden Influence-Peddling in Washington

Mainstream media largely ignore how special interests get what they want in nation’s capital. I was not among those who believed the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision would open the floodgates of corporate money to influence elections and public policy. While the decision enables corporations to make direct contributions to campaigns, those contributions have to [...]

DC Officials Will Decide Next Week if Key Obamacare Provision Will Benefit Residents or Big Insurers

The moment President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act three years ago, health insurers began intense lobbying at the federal, state and even municipal levels to influence how the law would be implemented. Among the most important policy goals for the industry from day one has been to control as much as possible how the [...]

Obamacare Myths and Realities

State exchanges were a Republican idea, and early evidence shows they’re working. The House of Representatives is expected to vote for the 40th time this week to repeal Obamacare, not because anyone believes the 40th time will be the charm, but because the exercise will enable Republican freshmen to vote for repeal and brag about [...]

No Shortage of Health Insurance ‘Flavors’ Ahead

Consumers shouldn’t fall for headlines predicting that carriers will provide few plan options in ACA’s health insurance marketplaces. It will be almost five months before the states’ health insurance exchanges will be up and running and already we’re seeing media stories suggesting that some insurance companies will not sign up to sell their policies on [...]

Health Reform to be Political Fodder in 2014

Changes prompted by law a political opportunity. Will the implementation of some of the most important provisions of ObamaCare this fall and next year result in the “train wreck” Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) predicted a few days ago? No. But you can be certain that there will be no shortage of political candidates [...]

Insurers Hiding Political Spending

Big firms have beaten back shareholder efforts aimed at full disclosure. If you have private health insurance, it’s almost certain that a portion of the premiums you pay every month is used to support political agendas that are not in your best interests. But good luck finding out how much of that premium money your [...]