Insurance Insider Reveals Industry Tactics Intended to Kill Health Care Reform

PBS.Org/Bill Moyers Journal

I heard Bill Moyers speak at the National Conference on Media Reform in Memphis in 2007.  It was an eloquent, inspiring speech that I will never forget.  This is how he began:  “Benjamin Franklin once said:  'Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.  Liberty,' he said, 'is a well-armed lamb, contesting the vote.'  My fellow lambs, it's good to be in Memphis and find you well-armed with passion for democracy, readiness for action, and courage for the next round in the fight for a free and independent press in America.” 

You can still read Moyers' entire speech at the The Nation or watch it on YouTube.


~Last month, testimony in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science and Transportation by a former health insurance
insider named Wendell Potter made news even before it occurred: CBS NEWS headlined: “Cigna Whistleblower to Testify.” After Potter's testimony the industry scrambled to do damage control: “Insurers defend rescissions, take heat for lack of transparency.”

In his first television interview since leaving the health insurance
industry, Wendell Potter tells Bill Moyers why he left his successful
career as the head of Public Relations for CIGNA, one of the nation's
largest insurers, and decided to speak out against the industry. “I
didn't intend to [speak out], until it became really clear to me that
the industry is resorting to the same tactics they've used over the
years, and particularly back in the early '90s, when they were leading
the effort to kill the Clinton plan.”

“When you're in the executive offices, when you're getting prepared for
a call with an analyst, in the financial medium, what you think about
are the numbers. You don't think about individual people. You think
about the numbers, and whether or not you're going to meet Wall
Street's expectations. That's what you think about, at that level. And
it helps to think that way. That's why you – that enables you to stay
there, if you don't really think that you're talking about and dealing
with real human beings.” – Wendell Potter

Not only that, but check this out:  This was sent out to Michael Moore's e-mail list on Friday, prior to Bill Moyers Journal.

Bill Moyers Show Reveals Insurance Lobby's Secret Plan to Attack 'Sicko' and Michael Moore

ALERT: We've just been informed that Bill Moyers, on his show later tonight, will expose for the first time the health insurance industry's secret campaign against Michael Moore and his film, “Sicko.” It contains a stunning revelation and admission by a top health insurance executive – the former head of publicity for CIGNA, one of the top health insurance companies in the country – that the disinformation and attacks on Michael and the film were extensive and well-planned. Their job was to stop the movie from reaching a wide audience (and, more importantly, from having the widespread political impact the industry feared “Sicko” would have).

Wendell Potter, former Head of Corporate Communications at CIGNA (which provides health insurance to nearly 70 percent of the Fortune 100 companies) admits that, in fact, “Sicko” “hit the nail on the head” and told the real truth about how much better people in other countries have it when it comes to their health care.

[The show aired on Friday, but you can still see a video here:]

You can check out the segment about Michael and “Sicko” here:

Check here for local listings (and rebroadcasts):

See the video of the full show and read the text at PBS.