Wendell Potter's Blog, page 3

A Health Care Crisis That’s Getting Worse But Still Largely Ignored by the Media

America has a health care crisis that few people talk about. And even though it affects more than one of every three of us, year in and year out, it gets little media coverage.

Yet in most states the crisis is getting worse every year.

I, too, knew almost nothing about this crisis until a few years ago when I made an unforgettable — and, as it turned out, life-changing — trip to a pop-up health care clinic near where …

ACA is subject of dueling lawsuits

We’ve heard relatively little from Washington in recent months about the Affordable Care Act, but that doesn’t mean our elected officials have forgotten about it or that its future is certain. Republican lawmakers still say the plan forces Americans to buy health insurance they may not want or need and that many may not be able to afford. Democrats say its benefits outweigh any downside.

These days, the battleground over the law’s fate has shifted, at least temporarily, from Congress …

Momentum increases in states to expand dental workforce

With growing momentum to allow midlevel professionals — called dental therapists — to practice in the United States, a tipping point could be reached this year that increases the likelihood they’ll soon be able to treat patients in every state.

Dental therapists have been practicing for almost 100 years around the world, starting in New Zealand. They are now serving patients in more than 50 countries with the U.S. being the most recent.

Alaska in 2004 became the first state …

Erie Reader: Solutions Journalism, a conversation with Wendell Potter, founder of Tarbell.org

Questions of motivation and transparency loom large in politics as they do in life, but it seems to take on ever more importance during an era in which black-and-white media and the delegitimization of institutions have become the norm rather than the exception.

“I want people to understand how their thoughts are being manipulated in ways that they just never take into consideration,” says Wendell Potter, who spoke before a crowd of nearly 100 people at the Jefferson Educational …

Tarbell: New Tax Law Winners’ Circle

Tarbell details how four industries spent millions to gain billions in the rewrite of America’s tax code. Each is a case study in how money and power worked to get their way in Congress. Click here to view Tarbell’s newest package. 

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Thinking About Health: New tax law may put squeeze on rural hospitals

One of the selling points for the tax bill President Trump signed into law a few weeks ago is that it will spur job growth because corporations will use money they otherwise would have paid in taxes to hire more workers.

But for rural areas and small towns, one provision of the new law may result in the closure of one of their biggest employers – their hospital.

Rural hospitals in general operate on much thinner margins than most big …

Wendell Potter discusses GOP Tax Bill’s influence on health care on MSNBC [VIDEO]

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Next On GOP Agenda: ‘Curing’ Medicare — With Help From Corporate Flacks And Lobbyists

Now that Congress has passed the GOP’s $1.5 trillion tax bill, the Senate will soon vote on President Trump’s nomination of former drug company CEO Alex Azar to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Republicans will be eager to get him confirmed and on the job. Considering Azar’s background, they have good reason to believe he’ll be a reliable ally when they get to work on their next big goal: slashing spending on health care programs, Medicare in particular.

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Medicare And Drug Coverage: Some Good News, Some Bad

One of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act to Medicare beneficiaries has been the gradual closing of a big and costly gap called the “doughnut hole” in the prescription drug (Medicare Part D) program. By the end of 2020 — if the ACA is not repealed or altered substantially by Congress — the doughnut hole will be completely closed.

In 2010, people hit the doughnut hole coverage gap when the total amount they and their plan had paid for …

Unlike Some Politicians, I Don’t Want You Going Naked Come January

People, I’m begging you: If you’re uninsured and don’t have the option of getting health insurance through your employer, please go to healthcare.gov right now to enroll in a health plan. You have until Dec. 15 to enroll—or pick another plan if you’re already enrolled—but getting it done and over with is better than waiting until the last minute. Or just forgetting.

You do not want to forget because you do not want to gamble, with your life and your …