Whistleblower tells of America's hidden nightmare for its sick poor

[kpete]

Source: The Guardian

Whistleblower tells of America's hidden nightmare for its sick poor

When an insurance firm boss saw a field hospital for the poor in Virginia, he knew he had to speak out. Here, he tells Paul Harris of his fears for Obama's bid to bring about radical change

Wendell Potter can remember exactly when he took the first steps on his journey to becoming a whistleblower and turning against one of the most powerful industries in America.

It was July 2007 and Potter, a senior executive at giant US healthcare firm Cigna, was visiting relatives in the poverty-ridden mountain districts of northeast Tennessee. He saw an advert in a local paper for a touring free medical clinic at a fairground just across the state border in Wise County, Virginia.

Potter, who had worked at Cigna for 15 years, decided to check it out. What he saw appalled him. Hundreds of desperate people, most without any medical insurance, descended on the clinic from out of the hills. People queued in long lines to have the most basic medical procedures carried out free of charge. Some had driven more than 200 miles from Georgia. Many were treated in the open air. Potter took pictures of patients lying on trolleys on rain-soaked pavements.

For Potter it was a dreadful realisation that healthcare in America had failed millions of poor, sick people and that he, and the industry he worked for, did not care about the human cost of their relentless search for profits. "It was over-powering. It was just more than I could possibly have imagined could be happening in America," he told the Observer


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/us-healthcare-obama-barack-change

[Bozita]

1. Link to transcript and video of Potter on Bill Moyers' PBS show ...

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html

Wendell Potter on Profits Before Patients

July 10, 2009

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 extended 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 , 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."

Potter began his trip from health care spokesperson to reform advocate while back home in Tennessee. Potter attended a "health care expedition," a makeshift health clinic set up at a fairgrounds, and he tells Bill Moyers, "It was absolutely stunning. When I walked through the fairground gates, I saw hundreds of people lined up, in the rain. It was raining that day. Lined up, waiting to get care, in animal stalls. Animal stalls."

Looking back over his long career, Potter sees an industry corrupted by Wall Street expectations and greed. According to Potter, insurers have every incentive to deny coverage — every dollar they don't pay out to a claim is a dollar they can add to their profits, and Wall Street investors demand they pay out less every year. Under these conditions, Potter says, "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."

You can view Wendel Potter's congressional testimony online or read the text.

You can learn more about Remote Area Medical, the organization that put on the "health care expedition" here.

[Tx4obama]

43. Bozita

Thank you for posting your comment and the link to the article/video :)

[undeterred]

2. So the whole world knows how bad it is here...

Meanwhile the Republicans keep saying how bad heatlhcare is everywhere else.

Those who have eyes to see, let them see.

[Fumesucker]

31. There are none so blind as those who will not see.. n/t

[Ahpook]

32. Been screaming that exact thing for ages

These motherfuckers tell us how crappy it is overseas or Canada for healthcare when they know its a lie.

I have a friend that lives in Brighton, one that lives in Amsterdam, and another near Glascow. Also friends in Canada and they ALL ask what the fuck is going on in the states. Not just with healthcare, but the whole "failed state" as they put it. They always want to explain to me that the lies our media is spewing is complete and total bullshit. Not a false statement here and there, but a complete lie.

They are actually offended!

[FunkyLeprechaun]

46. I live in the UK

And I had a massive argument with a friend in Minnesota about UHC. I told him that I've experienced both systems and the UK's health service beats the US's by a mile. On Facebook there are polls about UHC and I couldn't believe the comments in those polls (not to mention most of the votes are towards NO to the public plan). It's all fearmongering, and where the hell did that fearmongering come from???

I'm actually thinking about talking to my representative in MN to see if he wants me to appear on a commercial or answer questions about UHC. I'm also thinking about writing a letter to the editor of my local paper about it.

[loudsue]

57. "Where did that fearmongering come from?" From dollars WE pay our insurance companies.

The insurance lobby has put thousands and thousands of people to work on message boards and blogs telling everyone how awful it would be to have the public option. They're making up things for the public to be fearful about, and posting them over & over, everywhere.

:argh:

We thought things would get better with a Democratically controlled congress/white house. This last couple of years have proven NOTHING of the kind.... we're still living in a corporatist state, and it's going to take a revolution to change it. But then, hell, even the corporate MILITARY (blackwater) will fry our asses if we revolt. Look what they did during Katrina.

Houston, we've got a REAL problem.

[Ahpook]

68. Listening to some callers on Washington Journal REALLY blows my mind

One idiot called in saying how sick he was and fairly close to death, but did not want to "suck off the tit" of Americans.

What the hell does it take for a person to get that confused?

Ahh, to hell with it, just fucking die already

On edit: I dislike the person I can become while facing the problems in this country. It is just so hard to understand how some people got so fucked up.

Some Americans just lie to me, you, and themselves for some kind of complacency. Is that right?

Is it laziness? Fear? Is it easier to be a stooge and just accept a shitty lifestyle while pissing everything away?

[clear eye]

65. Please try those things.

There's no guarantee the Congressman will take you up on your offer to testify or speak at functions, or that your local paper will print your letter, but if they do, your back home neighbors will thank you. One complicating factor is that the Democrats' proposal is not even single-payer, much less the socialized medicine the UHC is. But if you're heard, it could lessen the fear of sliding toward "socialized medicine" and instead show it to be the logical solution to a public need like "socialized" fire depts and libraries are.

[No Elephants]

3. While I appreciate that this guy finally came forward, his conscience did not seem to kick in

until after he was out of the industry. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html

I have about as much respect for his morality as I do for Scott McClellan.

[northernlights]

9. according to the article, his conscience is what drove him to quit

'Potter resigned shortly afterwards. Last month he testified in Congress, becoming one of the few industry executives to admit that what its critics say is true: healthcare insurance firms push up costs, buy politicians and refuse to pay out when many patients actually get sick. In chilling words he told a Senate committee: "I worked as a senior executive at health insurance companies and I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick: all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors."'

He was visiting family in Tennessee. He saw the free clinic -- and photographed people waiting in the rain to be treated in animal stalls at the fairgrounds -- and "resigned shortly afterwards."

[No Elephants]

51. Please see Reply 49.

[xxqqqzme]

39. You need to read a little more carefully.

[No Elephants]

49. No. I watched Bill Moyers interview this guy. His reasons for waiting

as long as he did were not credible, IMO. Nor was his demeanor when he gave those reasons. It was my impression that Moyers did not buy his story, either. But, I'll rest on my own impression.

Also, IMO, very few people are smart enough to become very well paid executives, yet truly too dumb to get that their decisions are affecting human beings in a very serious way.

If I read and heard about all the horror stories and lawsuits brought by survivors of denied insured patients all those years, where was this guy? Did he never pick up a newspaper or watch TV, or did he just skip over all the stories about his own industry?

If you want to buy his story, fine. I don't.

[clixtox]

47. Thanks for sharing...

Different strokes...

I am very happy that he testified, period!

The reality he exposed has to be common knowledge before justice prevails.

Why chastise the messanger

Quality health care is a human right, not another market commodity.

Our situation is beyond shameful, it is an embarrassment.

How can we expect the respect of the civilized world while we treat our own people like animals!

Greed and hypocrisy, made palatable with adroit public relations, are starting to get the bad "rap" they so richly/justly deserve.

[No Elephants]

50. I want single payer. That has nothing to do with my opinion of this guy. And

my post said that I appreciated his testimony. Still doesn't mean I appreciate his own participation in the problem for so long. Please see Reply 49.

[clixtox]

58. "Thanks for sharing" meant to put the relative importance of your opinion...

of this whistleblower compared to the importance of the message he communicated in perspective.

See?

I don't care at all what your opinion is of this fellow that you are seemingly compelled to castigate relentlessly for his previous complicity.

Who cares now about his possible motives previously, his relative greed, his obliviousness(or not), etc. but you and perhaps some other DU scolds.

We heard you the first time(s)!

[Stumbler]

4. But, but, but....

... this story only PROVES that all Americans have access to health care!! All you have to do is find "a touring free medical clinic at a fairground" near you! Anyone who disagrees with this is an anti-capitalist, unpatriotic America-hater!

(This is meant to be delivered in the screechy/defensive-Hannity voice for best effect)

[destes]

12. The screechy voice?

I got it.

[Chisox08]

16. You forgot the GET OF MY PHONE screech

[AwakeAtLast]

22. You betcha! Just like the ones in Haiti

(delivered in the same voice ;) )

:hi:

[clear eye]

66. Welcome to DU.

and thanks for the laugh.

[nightrain]

5. K&R horrifying reality. Thank you for posting.. nt

[gabby garcia]

6. it is true isn't it that 62% of bankruptcies are

caused by medical bills?
in 1981, only 8% of families filing for bankruptcy did so because they couldn’t pay their medical bills.

[inna]

30. and even more shocking, in over 70% of those medical bankrupcies...

... patients were actually INSURED. (and most of them had no clue that they were grossly inderinsured - until they got hit by a catastrophic illness.)


this system is deeply immoral and just monstrous. why and how we are the only industrialized nation in the world that puts up with this medieval crap, is simply beyond comprehension. :grr:

[No Elephants]

52. I read that 4 out of 5 who file for bankruptcy because of medical bills had medical insurance.

So much for the attitude that everyoe who has problems could have prevented them by taking "responsibility" for themselves.

On edit. Sorry, I posted this before I read Inna's post.

[Wednesdays]

7. K&R

:kick:

[MissWaverly]

8. I will never forget Andy Stephenson and his lack of insurance

Andy was one of the nicest people that I have ever met in my life, he had lost his job through a fluke in November by July, he had died of pancreatic cancer. We at DU collected 50,000 for him to have surgery at Hopkins, the cancer still beat him. But the process of begging for care when he had worked hard at a steady job all his life only to lose his job and insurance a month before he he became ill and was diagnosed with cancer. This somehow made him unworthy for care, how was that.
Why should we debate anyone's eligibility for health care, we spend billions on obselete weapons, subsidies for farmers not to grow crops and bridges to nowhere, how is it that we have the right to judge whether someone deserves to live or not.

[offog]

14. Heartbreaking story.

Greetings from a concerned Canadian. There are too many stories about people who end up like Andy. I really hope America finally gets some proper health care reform.

My favorite motto is "What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all." Republicans seem to have a hard time grasping this kind of concept. BTW, the quotation is from J.S. Woodsworth, one of those "evil Canadian socialists" who was a Member of Parliament during the 1930s.

Best wishes to all you folks out there fighting for the cause.

[gabby garcia]

19. we don't have the right..

dontcha know only the rich have that right?

:grr:

[truedelphi]

26. One of the few peoplel I have ever met as nice as Andy was his partner T.

T. had to bear so much of the anguish of our sloppy system, just as the family around the under insured sick person has to somehow figure out how to get them to the hospital for treatments, care for them after surgeries, argue day in and day out with the insurance "providers" and the pharmacy and the doctors etc.

What Andy and T. did to deserve the crappy lifestyle we have created here, I don't know.

[Skittles]

45. I donated to that fund

just a horrendous story :cry:

[shanti]

10. just like a third world country

:( "they" have achieved their goal.

[xchrom]

11. recommend

[I Have A Dream]

13. Again, the Guardian comes through. nt

[Window]

35. Don't they always. Just once I'd like to see blanket coverage of something of this importance

here. I won't hold my breath waiting for it though.

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. If the USA could spend all that war-machine money on HELPING people

.
.
.

maybe the USA wouldn't NEED such a massive war-machine . .

just a thought . .

[newfie11]

21. How very true but no one talks about that! n/t

[conscious evolution]

55. Stop making sense

You know thats not allowed here.

[bkkyosemite]

17. Wendell Potter needs to be in a televised conference with Obama standing next to him and tell the

public (while all stations carrying this) what he knows with regards to what the insurance companies are doing. Buying the legislators, not caring about the health of people, their lavish lifestyles off the back of those without or denied insurance. They are scum and all of country needs to know that.

If the insurance companies win again like with Clinton there will be an uproar in this country. It is desparate times now to get all covered with healthcare. So Mr. Potter standing next to Obama and spilling what he knows just might cause the insurance companies so much grief that HR676 will pass.

To hell with the insurance companies with regards to healthcare. They have no business overseeing anyone's health for their profit. Pigs!

I left a message on Wendell's orgs phone and sent an email to Obama with the above scenario. If things looks like we're not going to get coverage then we need to bring out the whistleblower and let the games begin.

[nightrain]

18. fantastic idea!! nt

[MetaTrope]

23. What, a page 31 story in a British newspaper isn't good enough?

[truedelphi]

28. I like it.Surely there is a beer or two left over from

The Obama, Crowley and Gates' beer bash.

Let's see some real PR for a health system that will actually work.

[redqueen]

20. K&R

Glad to know at least one overpaid exec *eventually* developed a conscience.

[natrat]

24. and the really fucked part is this stuff is just getting rolling

what a country, incredible

[jasi2006]

25. "The relentless search for profits" is what is bringing this country

to its needs. It's not people first. It's profits first. It is a ridiculous pursuit. What good are "profits" without a safe, healthy, productive, happy nation?

[JHB]

44. Actually, it's bringing us AWAY from our needs...

...and bringing the country to its knees.

(sorry, couldn't resist) :toast:


It figures we only see this on Bill Moyers and a British paper. If we actually had a liberal media, this guy and a dozen like him would be on Tv nearly 24/7.

[PA Democrat]

27. Great article. I just sent it to my MIL to forward to her wacko right wing neighbor,

The woman sent my MIL yet another crazed email about Obama, this time she made the statement that the House health care bill would mean a "death warrant for seniors".

[truedelphi]

29. As someone who does hospice -

I have some real horror stories to tell. For instance, the nurse whose breast was sawed off in what is called a masectomy. She was sent home 36 hours after the procedure, with her arm on the surgery side so swollen that she could not move it.

The hospital discharged her with a small pamplet detailing instructions on how she should change her own wound dressings. Because of her training as a nurse, she knew better than to try and do this herself, with only one arm and not even two full days after the surgery.

And the expenses to pay for my services through a nursing agency, she bore out of pocket.

But many people don't know the impossibilitiy of what is expected of them. They try and comply, and try and not burden ttheir families. And they fear that if they complain to the medical people, they will suffer even more.

I have no idea why the system works like this. i can only imagine a sky-high infection rate, adding much more to the cost than the hsopital room for an extra day or two, but then I am not a bean counter.

[No Elephants]

53. A doctor told me that some masectomies are done on an out patient basis.

Not even 36 hours. No overnight. Just slam, bam, please leave, ma'am. God forbid there's bleeding or infection.

[wolfgangmo]

61. Let's be clear about this.

The US has NO SYSTEM of health care.

We have, at best a patchwork that has the highest rate of rationing in the world. about 50% of our citizens have zero to substandard care.

[truedelphi]

67. Marin General Hospital - a hospital in the second or third

Richest County in the USA, had bandages that were labeled "Sterile" but they were over four years old.

A four year old bandage is not sterile no matter how big the font type on the word.

A huge number of nurses working there are from agencies. That way, the hospital avoids paying out bennies.

The nurses spend a great deal of each day trying to figure out where the med supply cabinet is, and in terms of knowing what that ward's patients needs are - are you kidding me?

The patients are discharged so quickly that the nurses cannot keep up with who has what malady and need. And that would pose a major headache if the nurse was permanent to the environment.

But for a nurse who had never been inside that hospital hospital until the morning of her shift - she has no idea who is occupying what bed where and what it is that they have wrong with them. It is really scary.

[inna]

33. interesting....

What is the current system?
It is a complex mish-mash of systems. Millions of Americans have their own private healthcare plans, either individually or through their employer. About 47 million Americans have none. However, systems do exist to cover the very poor and the old. The system is fiendishly complex and full of loopholes, so even those with coverage can have it withdrawn.

What is the biggest problem?
Critics say the biggest issue is the profit motive that drives US healthcare. This ensures that costs are always rising as the incentive is there to provide expensive treatment. It also gives health insurers the incentive to refuse treatment to claimants, by seeking to withdraw their cover.

and here's the kicker -

What is Obama's solution?
Obama has asked Congress to draw up a government option, allowing all Americans to get some sort of cover. The sheer size of the state plan should theoretically allow it to drive down costs by economies of scale.

ah, but silly Brits! little do you know (as well as most Americans too, btw...) ... that... ahem, there's NOT going to be any sort of viable "state plan"/"public option". http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8553784&mesg_id=8554047


so far for the "solution".


darn, we're so screwed. :( :(

[Amos Moses]

40. Thanks for posting a link to that thread.

[defendandprotect]

34. ...plus 23 million Americans are seeking health care in other nations . ..

and presumably insurance or Medicare pays -- from Schultz the other day if I

understood correctly!

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. +1

[stlsaxman]

37. Wendell Potter needs a sit-down with Barack Obama.

[grahamhgreen]

38. Mr. Barak needs a sit-down with his conscience.

[SammyWinstonJack]

48. +1

:thumbsup:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

41. Why don't we encourage that? A sit-down with Mr. Obama and the Congress?

Why don't we encourage Obama to openly discuss the lobbying by the ins. industry to destroy any chances to REPLACE the demonic health industry in the U.S. with a real one?

[stlsaxman]

54. I would fear Wellpoint would have him "Wellstoned"... way too much money at stake.

[Stand and Fight]

42. Replying to kick and recommend...

As well as a bookmark to read tomorrow. Wow.

[Doctor_J]

56. the reason that there is no outrage is Big Media

Potter testifies, it runs on C-SPAN, and then Big Media condemns it to the black hole of truth. It is never seen again. Meanwhile, Hate Radio and Cabal News give 24/7 coverage to lies and propaganda from Big Insurance and the rest of the fascist power structure.

I hopr I live to see the day when We The People have finally had enough and take the country back from the fascists. But I have doubts at this point (I am 52 yrs old)

[wurzel]

60. The "Media" gets a ton of revenue Healthcarefrom "" corporations.

[LeftHander]

59. Make a movie of it......that will make waves....

Images speak louder than words and I am sure hollywood could make a very disturbing picture out of the story of this free touring clinic.

[wurzel]

62. Blow your own WHISTLE. Email the media.

And demand to know why we have to go to the UK to find out what is happening in America.

[treestar]

63. Of course this comes from the Guardian and there is no hour long

documentary on 24/7 American "news."

And the irony is that it sounds like red areas and these people probably voted for McPalin if they voted at all.

[go west young man]

64. Seeing is believing. At least he came around.

I like the fact the article points out how we spend 16% GDP versus France. I can personally attest to how good the health care systems are in Canada and England versus the U.S. I have had treatment in all 3 countries.

I had a cyst removed from my neck in Montreal in 1992 and they did it free of charge the day I went in with it even though I am a UK national who resided in the U.S. No charge whatsoever. Done that day. In 1998 I was in England and had a severely infected tooth. Went to a dentist with my old NHS card ( I had been living in America for 10 years at that point) and I was treated then and there free of charge. I waited roughly 30 minutes before treatment.
In 1996 I was living in Athens, Georgia and playing in a band and had a hernia probably due to heavy lifting. I worked at the local hospital and had an HMO plan. The doctor misdiagnosed me twice and I got an infection. I ended up going to a different doctor only to realize after the fact he wasn't covered in the HMO even though he was local. They refused to pay out for me even though I had paid in for three years. At the time HMO's were a relatively new thing and I didn't understand how they worked. I was left with $2000 in bills after their misdiagnosis and I was in pain for roughly 2 and a half months.

Recently a friend who is a poor southern 20 year old waitress collapsed at work with severe pain in her side. They called the ambulance and took her to the emergency room here in Brunswick, Georgia. She arrived at 7 pm and waited until 12:30 am to be seen. She has no insurance. They ended up removing her appendix and found and removed an ovarian cyst. The bill hasn't come yet but according to a friend who works at the hospital she is looking at a bill of roughly $30,000. She's 20 and lives paycheck to paycheck. That is the real America.