David Pakman of Midweek Politics Interviews Wendell Potter

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David Pakman, host of Midweek Politics Radio, interviewed Wendell Potter, CMD's Senior Fellow on Health Care, in Cleveland on August 4. As a former Vice President of Communications for Cigna Healthcare-turned health reform proponent, Wendell discussed the internal dialogues he was privy to in his position as an executive of a large health insurance company. He is frequently called a "whistleblower," but doesn't consider himself such in the sense that he saw anything illegal occur during his time at Cigna. Instead, Wendell prefers to discuss what is wrong with the health insurance industry in general, like the lengths they go to to keep from disappointing their shareholders, to the detriment of policyholders. Wendell was responsible for communications support for Cigna's Government Affairs department, worked closely with lobbyists in Washington, D.C and was familiar with insurance company disbursements from political action committees, and tells listeners how the practices of big, for-profit insurance companies are contributing to the desperate state of the American health care system. You can hear the entire interview at Midweek Politics web site.