Health

Wendell Potter: Game Changer

by Lisa Graves — October 17, 2009 - 1:36pm

The Center for Media and Democracy's Wendell Potter is featured in this weekend's West Virginia Gazette. He was in Charleston along with Senator Jay Rockefeller, who has been pressing for a public option as part of health insurance reform.

Main Source: 
West Virginia Gazette-Mail, October 16, 2009

It's Plain in Maine

by Wendell Potter — October 17, 2009 - 9:54am
  • Topics: Health

    • (The following op-ed appeared in the Bangor Daily News, on Saturday, October 17, 2009.)

    This Is Going to Hurt: What Your Doctor Doesn't Say Can Cost You

    by Anne Landman — October 16, 2009 - 3:16pm
  • Topics: Economy, Ethics, Health

    • Insurance companies are hot targets right now in the debate over skyrocketing medical costs and health care reform. But there is another, little-noticed factor could also be sucking untold health care dollars out of our pockets, and it's one we seem loathe to address: the part that doctors themselves have in quietly pushing up the costs of our medical care. This is an area that is begging for closer scrutiny, and in which patients need more help.

    As Goes Maine...

    by Lisa Graves — October 13, 2009 - 12:05pm

    This weekend's Bangor Daily News editorializes in favor of the public option and quotes the Center for Media and Democracy's Senior Fellow, Wendell Potter. Maine is a particularly crucial state in the health insurance reform debate because Senator Olympia Snowe is considered one of the only Republicans in the Senate who might possibly support reforms that are essential to a successful transformation of the nation's health care system.

    Main Source: 
    Bangor Daily News, October 10, 2009

    Where's Wendell, TIME's 'Ideal Whistleblower' ?

    by John Stauber — October 10, 2009 - 8:25am

    A business news website notes, "Since early summer Wendell Potter, a former public relations executive for the health insurer CIGNA, has testified before Congress, given speeches and granted interviews aimed at boosting the cause of health care reform and especially a strong public alternative to private industry.

    Main Source: 
    WisBusiness.com, October 9, 2009

    "Death Panels" and Big Tobacco

    by Lisa Graves — October 7, 2009 - 9:36am
  • Topics: Health, Think Tanks, Tobacco

    • This week's issue of Rolling Stone has an illuminating article, "The Lie Machine," by Tim Dickinson on anti-heath reform spin. Dickinson's article quotes internal corporate memos showing how Big Tobacco spun media stories about health care reform in 1994 and how its progeny are striking again.

    When Big Insurance Rejoices, Something's Wrong

    by Wendell Potter — October 6, 2009 - 11:31pm
  • Topics: U.S. Congress, Health, Lobbying

    • If you had any doubt about who some Senators on the Senate Finance Committee really, truly care about, consider their recent votes. Just look at the votes against creating a public option to compete against private insurers. Then, consider the giddy response of the industry, according to an article in the trade press:

    "We are pleased by the rejection of both the Rockefeller and the Schumer amendments containing public plan options," says Tom Currey, president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Falls Church, Va.... America's Health Insurance Plans, Washington, is also welcoming committee rejection of the amendments. "The government-run plan is a roadblock to reform," AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach says.... "[W]e are very pleased with this outcome," says Janet Trautwein, president of the National Association of Health Underwriters, Arlington, Va.

    Just Say "No" to Sex and the Public Option?

    by Lisa Graves — October 1, 2009 - 7:27am

    Heads are spinning after the discredited Senate Finance Committee blocked the public option from being part of the health care bill proposed by Senator Max Baucus of Montana and then voted for spending $50 million on the (also discredited) abstinence-only education program that President Obama had pressed to eliminate from the federal budget.

    Main Source: 
    The Associated Press

    Amy Goodman Interviews CMD's Wendell Potter

    by John Stauber — September 30, 2009 - 8:42am

    CMD's Wendell Potter has become a frequent guest on Democracy Now!. Host Amy Goodman interviewed him again on September 30th: "Efforts to create a government-run health insurance plan were dealt a setback Tuesday after the Senate Finance Committee rejected a pair of amendments to create a public option.

    Main Source: 
    Democracy Now, September 30, 2009

    Wendell Potter: Baucus' Health Care Bill Needs Urgent Care

    by Wendell Potter — September 28, 2009 - 3:03pm
  • Topics: U.S. Congress, Health

    • There are so many problems with the health care reform bill proposed by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, it is little wonder that members of his committee have proposed more than 500 amendments to fix it. Unfortunately, some of the worst amendments that would make the bill even more of a gift to the health insurance industry are being offered by Republicans. If there is a God in heaven, they will not be adopted. But many other amendments are vital, including those that will make this key bill more like the better bills that have been reported out of four other Congressional committees. All of those bills call for the creation of a public insurance option, which is an absolutely critical element of reform. Without it, all of us who are not eligible for an existing government-run program, like the Medicare and VA programs, will be forced to buy coverage from the private insurance industry, which is dominated by a cartel of huge for-profit companies.

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