Op-Ed

Op-Ed

The Supreme Court Will Uphold Health Care Reform, and Here's Why

by Wendell Potter — November 17, 2011 - 1:45pm
  • Topics: Corporations, Health, U.S. Government

    • Opponents of the Affordable Care Act who believe the Supreme Court will declare the law unconstitutional are going to be disappointed next year when a majority of the nine justices vote to uphold it. It will likely be a 5-4 decision, but moderate conservative Anthony Kennedy will, I'm confident, recognize that without the law, the free-market system of health insurance, so highly valued by conservatives, will implode, sooner rather than later.

    The high court announced earlier this week that it will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the law next March. A decision is expected in June, just a few weeks before the parties hold their conventions. Regardless of which way the justices go, the decision will ensure that health care reform will be as contentious a campaign issue as it was in 2008.

    Op-Ed

    Consumers Could Save Billions on Health Insurance If This Dog Succeeds

    by Wendell Potter — November 15, 2011 - 11:46am
  • Topics: Corporations, Ethics, Health, U.S. Government

    • If there is one organization that insurers despise and fear more than any other, it surely must be Consumer Watchdog.

    Since its founding in 1985, Los Angeles-based Consumer Watchdog has dogged insurers relentlessly and played a key role numerous times in forcing them to change business practices and price their policies more fairly. I first heard of the organization in 1996, when I was still an insurance industry spokesman. Consumer Watchdog seemingly came out of nowhere to take the lead in trying to put a halt to a new practice in the insurance industry: requiring women to be discharged from the hospital within a day after delivering a baby or undergoing a mastectomy. Largely because of Consumer Watchdog's efforts, insurers had to rewrite their discharge policies.

    Op-Ed

    As Zuccotti Park is Cleared, Congress Moves to Gut Financial Reform

    by Mary Bottari — November 15, 2011 - 11:09am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Corporations, Democracy, Economy

    • In the dead of night November 14, the movement to hold big banks accountable for their crimes took two major hits. Occupy Wall Street activists were swept from Zuccotti Park as radical members of Congress moved to gut funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and advance a series of shocking proposals to roll back financial reform.

    Op-Ed

    Rove's Crossroads GPS Attacks Occupy Movement, Elizabeth Warren

    by Brendan Fischer — November 11, 2011 - 8:59am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Corporations, Democracy, Economy

    • Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS is running an ad in Massachusetts attacking the Occupy Wall Street movement and U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren with some questionable assertions.

    Op-Ed

    Insurers are Recycling a Front Group to Cheat Us Out of Benefits

    by Wendell Potter — November 10, 2011 - 9:18am
  • Topics: Corporations, Ethics, Health

    • The special interests seeking to gut those portions of the health reform law that would be of greatest benefit to consumers clearly believe there is no such thing as historical memory in Washington.

    Why else would they bring one of their old front groups out of the storage locker, with just a single new word added to its name? A front group designed to persuade Americans that what they might have thought was in their best interests really isn't after all.

    Op-Ed

    How the Koch-Funded ALEC Works to Deny Voting Rights; Brave New Film Highlights Voter Suppression

    by Lisa Graves — November 8, 2011 - 3:38pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Right Wing, Corporations, Democracy, Race / Ethnic Issues

    • A new film from the Brave New Foundation outlines the role of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council in new voter suppression tactics; the Center for Media and Democracy is one of the voices featured in the film.

    Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state and federal laws that govern your rights. The so-called "model bills" of this corporate bill mill -- which has been funded by Koch profits and other corporations -- reach into almost every area of American life, including the right to vote.

    Op-Ed

    Walker's "Anything But Jobs" Special Session Wraps

    by Mary Bottari — November 8, 2011 - 11:00am
  • Topics: Democracy, Economy, Real Economy Project

    • Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has promised to create 250,000 new jobs. In advance of a planned gubernatorial recall election, Walker announced last month that the State Legislature would focus "like a laser" on job creation. With his "special session" on jobs now concluded, it is clear that the legislative package had little to do with jobs and much to do with spin, special interests and the illusion of momentum.

    Op-Ed

    Remember, Remember the 5th of November! Bank Transfer Day

    by Mary Bottari — November 4, 2011 - 7:37am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA

    • November 5th is "Bank Transfer Day," a hopping Facebook campaign urging Americans to move their money out of big national banks and into local banks or credit unions.

    Day Inspired by Bank Of America Fee

    Kristen Christian, a 27-year-old Los Angeles art gallery owner, organized the effort after Bank of America (BofA) issued a new $5 monthly fee to debit card users that would be implemented in early 2012. The fee targets those who have less than $20,000 in Bank of America accounts. The "Bank Transfer Day" movement cites this as a direct attack on the impoverished and working class. BofA is also a notorious foreclosure mill, doing little or nothing to help their clients facing foreclosure. The Bank Transfer Day Facebook page has 35,000 likes and support for the movement is growing by the second.

    Op-Ed

    Insurers Want Obama to Defy Law So They Can Continue Keeping You In The Dark

    by Wendell Potter — October 31, 2011 - 8:50am
  • Topics: Corporations, Ethics, Health

    • If you have no idea what you're paying good money for when you enroll in a health insurance plan, there's a good reason for that: insurers profit from your ignorance. And they're waging an intense, behind-the-scenes campaign to keep you in the dark.

    In my first appearance before Congress after leaving the insurance industry, I told members of the Senate Commerce Committee that insurers intentionally make it all but impossible for consumers to find out in advance of buying a policy exactly what is covered and what isn't, and how much they'll be on the hook for if they get sick or injured. Insurers are quite willing to provide you with slick marketing materials about their policies, but those materials are notoriously skimpy when it comes to useful information. And the documents they provide after you enroll are so dense that few of us can understand them.

    Op-Ed

    Positive Policing From Wisconsin's "Original Occupation"

    by Mary Bottari — October 31, 2011 - 7:46am
  • Topics: Banking, Democracy, Economy, Real Economy Project, Wisconsin Protests

    • After two tours of duty in Iraq, 24-year-old Wisconsin native Scott Olsen managed to escape unscathed and with seven medals for valor. But Olsen was critically injured in an Occupy Oakland march last week by a police projectile. According to eyewitnesses, Olsen was acting as a human barrier between unarmed civilians and Oakland police in riot gear who were charged with keeping a public park cleared for sanitation purposes.

    Whether this was a case of an inexperienced Mayor (check) or a historically aggressive police department (check), the incident underscored the potential for catastrophe as cops increasingly confront peaceful protesters with riot control weapons.

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