Wendell Potter's Blog, page 8

Bully Back: Chapters 1 – 4

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You can purchase Adam Bruckner’s Bully Back here. 100% of proceeds go to the youth program at the Helping Hand Rescue Mission in Philadelphia. A place of hope, faith, action, and change.

Be sure to check out Bully Back’s website, and purchase the 2015 prequel, Better Bullying here.

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History (of health carrier greed) repeats itself

It doesn’t take a psychic to predict that health insurance carriers will return to the Obamacare fold in 2017 with dollar signs in their eyes.

On a Friday afternoon 16 years and four months ago, after the close of trading at the New York Stock Exchange, my staff and I at Cigna disseminated a press release we knew would lead to a lot of angst in Washington, on Wall Street and around the country.

 Continue reading…

Why Health Insurance Industry Consolidation Is Bad For Your Health

You undoubtedly have heard that some of the country’s biggest health insurers have decided to leave several Obamacare markets, which means that tens of thousands of us will be affected next year.

You probably haven’t heard — at least not lately — that some of the biggest health insurers are moving full steam ahead to merge with each other, which means that tens of millions of us — yes, millions — will be affected next year. And not in a

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Cry me a river, Aetna.

Retreating carriers whine that exchanges bruised their bottom lines; meanwhile, their profits are off the charts, thanks to … Obamacare.

You might be thinking, based on what insurance company CEOs have been saying over the past few weeks, that carriers are awash in red ink because of Obamacare and would surely go bust if they had to keep paying the medical claims of their Obamacare customers for even one more year. You might even be shedding a tear or two …

Cry me a river, Aetna

RETREATING CARRIERS WHINE THAT EXCHANGES BRUISED BOTTOM LINES; MEANWHILE, THEIR PROFITS ARE OFF THE CHARTS, THATS TO…OBAMACARE.

You might be thinking, based on what insurance company CEOs have been saying over the past few weeks, that carriers are awash in red ink because of Obamacare and would surely go bust if they had to keep paying the medical claims of their Obamacare customers for even one more year. You might even be shedding a tear or two for their poor …

The Insurance Empire Strikes Back

Read between the lines: Industry’s message is clear that obstruction of carrier mergers will mean a grim future for Obamacare’s exch ang es.

If federal officials fall for Anthem’s and Aetna’s latest PR ploy to win approval of their plans to buy the companies I used to work for, I’ll offer to sell President Obama a bridge or two.

During a call with Wall Street financial analysts last week – as Anthem announced Second Quarter 2016 profits – Anthem’s CEO,

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It’s Way Past Time For Us To Stop Deluding Ourselves About Private Health Insurers

I didn’t think it was possible for me to get more disgusted with the industry I used to be a cheerleader for, but I was wrong.

Health insurers—more specifically, the big for-profit health insurers that want to get even bigger through two pending mega-mergers (Anthem wants to buy Cigna and Aetna wants to buy Humana)—once again are demonstrating that nothing—absolutely nothing—is more important to them than making their rich shareholders even richer.

If that means making it more difficult for

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Who Cares About Wasserman Schultz When Americans Are Still Getting Medical Care In Animal Stalls?

MARK MAKELA / REUTERS

While the media — and Democratic party leaders — obsess about whether Debbie Wasserman Schultz should be allowed to “gavel in” the Democratic National Convention here today, hundreds of doctors and dentists are returning to their day jobs after spending three days a few miles from where I grew up treating patients — human patients — in animal stalls.

Frankly, I suspect the Democrats would rather deal with the Wasserman Schultz debacle than acknowledge that the

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Seriously: Is the Public Option really an option?

Hill ary Clinton, and now President Obama, have ‘Public Option Fever.’ But is it contagious enough to overcome the power of Big Money?

Well, well, well. It seems as if the Democrats have once again come down with Public Option Fever.

Forgive me for being cynical, but folks, until we address the democracy-stifling and status-quo protecting influence of Big Money in politics in this country, the Public Option – which the health insurance industry vehemently opposes – is not going …