Wendell Potter's Blog, page 9

Organized Dentistry Loses Big In Another State As Propaganda Stops Working

 

In health care public policy fights, it’s very hard for an underdog to overcome a massively funded lobbying and propaganda campaign.

Today, though, the underdog is celebrating a huge win. One so big, in fact, that it most certainly will embolden groups in other states to take on the same adversary—organized dentistry.

The victory was made official this morning when Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a bill that will greatly expand access to dental care in the Green Mountain

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America’s Silent Epidemic Will End When Public Officials Stop Kowtowing to a Single Special Interest

 

A new report by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and the Department of Health and Human Services makes clear that the United States is still in the grip of a decades-long epidemic, albeit one that many Americans scarcely know exists. What this and previous reports do not make clear, however, is that the epidemic continues to cause lasting harm to millions of men, women and children in part because of the influence of a very powerful special interest.

To a large

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US elections 2016: ‘People are attracted to Trump because he’s not taking money’

Consumer advocate Wendell Potter, co-author of Nation on the Take, explains how legislation was overturned to allow the financial corruption of US politics and what needs to be done to stop it.

Originally published by The Guardian on April 10, 2016

View the article here

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US elections 2016: ‘The system is rigged, the government coin-operated’

In an extract from their new book Nation on the Take, Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman show how the only interests that matter in US politics are those of the wealthy elite.

Published by The Guardian on April 10, 2016

View the article here…

The Lobbyist Who Made You Pay More at the Drugstore

Here’s how the pharmaceutical industry keeps America’s drug prices among the highest in the world.

The following is excerpted from Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman’s new book, Nation On the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It. You can also listen to an interview with the authors.

Bill and Faith Wildrick have never heard of Billy Tauzin, but they’re paying dearly for Tauzin’s tireless work for the pharmaceuticbal industry. So are Faith’s

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Potter and Penniman: “The System Is Rigged Against Regular People”

In their new book, Nation on the Take, Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman portray a government and politics polluted by big corporate dollars. But the authors also offer solutions.

By Michael Winship | March 18, 2016

Few are as qualified to tackle the massive topic of money in politics as Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman. Their new book, Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy (read an excerpt), is a comprehensive and important examination of

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Is America a ‘Nation on the Take’?

America stands at a historic crossroads. One path leads to a renewal of our Democratic ideal, the other to government by the few, the rich and the powerful. So argue Wendell Potter and Nick Penniman in their new book, “Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts our Democracy and What We Can do About It” (Bloomsbury).

Potter will be familiar to Center for Public Integrity readers as a former health insurance executive turned critic, Center columnist and

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On Super Tuesday, a Battle Plan to Save Democracy

Nick Penniman Executive Director, Issue One and Wendell Potter Author of Nation on the Take, to be published March 1, 2016

Tens of millions of political dollars have been injected into the 13 states holding their primaries this Super Tuesday as the presidential candidates angle for the 1,639 delegates that are up for grabs. Because of such massive outlays, political spending in 2016 will likely reach $10 billion, blowing the roof off all previous records. Yet, amidst the blinding …

Take Back Your Power!

There are not many things that Republicans and Democrats seem to agree on these days, but there is one issue in which there is almost unanimity: we must do something about the corrosive role that Big Money plays in American politics.

That “something” is this: We must take back our power. Our ability to self-govern. And we must undertake this with a sense of urgency.

There is agreement from one end of the ideological spectrum to the other that the …

Doctors for America Featured Speech

http://wendellpotter.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/wendell_potter_doctors_for_america.mp3

Wendell was a featured speaker at the Doctors for America National Leadership Conference. What can doctors do to take their work to the next level and have a greater impact on society’s health?  Listen to Wendell’s speech and find out!

Download an mp3 of Wendell’s Doctors for America Speech Here…