How much time has M$M devoted to idiots screaming about fantasy fears vs interviewing an expert?

[JohnWxy]

Wendell Potter, former chief of Pubic Relations at CIGNA, one of the biggest health insurers in the country knows about health insurance. I'd say you could consider him an expert on health insurance.


And he has been out there talking about Health Care reform. He submitted testimony to Congress about health care and the health insurance companies attempts to subvert it. But other than Bill Moyers http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x67292 and a few seconds on one M$M outlet (maybe it was ABC) Wendell Potter has been ignored by M$M.

Wendell Potter's testimony to Congress (courtesy of the Bill Moyer's Journal website)

Testimony of Wendell Potter, Philadelphia, PA Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

June 24, 2009

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to be here this afternoon. My name is Wendell Potter and for 20 years, 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.

I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry. Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand — or even to obtain — information we need. As you hold hearings and discuss legislative proposals over the coming weeks, I encourage you to look very closely at the role for-profit insurance companies play in making our health care system both the most expensive and one of the most dysfunctional in the world. I hope you get a real sense of what life would be like for most of us if the kind of so-called reform the insurers are lobbying for is enacted.

When I left my job as head of corporate communications for one of the country's largest insurers, I did not intend to go public as a former insider. However, it recently became abundantly clear to me that the industry's charm offensive — which is the most visible part of duplicitous and well-financed PR and lobbying campaigns — may well shape reform in a way that benefits Wall Street far more than average Americans.
(more)

It's interesting to consider how many hours we've seen of people screaming about things that will never come to pass, about screw-ball fantasies dreamed up by Republican demagogues and cable disinformation artists but virtually NO TIME DEVOTED TO INTERVIEWING POTTER WHO WOULD MEET JUST ABOUT ANYBODY'S DEFINITION OF AN EXPERT ON HEALTH CARE AND HEALTH INSURANCE.

GOSH! DO YOU THINK CORPORATE MEDIA IS COMPLICIT IN THE AVALANCHE OF DISINFORMATION THAT HAS SO MANY PEOPLE CONFUSED AND AFRAID OF FANTASY FACTOIDS AND COMPLETELY UNINFORMED ABOUT THE DISASTER WE'RE HEADED FOR IF THERE IS NO REFORM OF HOW HEALTH INSURANCE IS DELIVERED IN THIS NATION?

I just heard one of those idiots marching in Washington saying she was "Afraid of what health care reform was going to cost."

JESUS CHRIST WOMAN, DO YOU REALIZE YOU LIKELY WON'T HAVE ANY FUCKING HEALTH INSURANCE IN 10 YRS BECAUSE YOUR EMPLOYER WON'T BE ABLE TO AFFORD IT AND WILL DROP YOUR GROUP COVERAGE? 35% to 50% of us WON'T HAVE HEALTH CARE IN TEN YEARS.

JUST HOW LUCKY DO YOU FEEL?

AND EVEN IF YOU ARE AMONG THE 'LUCKY' ONES ..GUESS WHAT, IN TEN YEARS YOUR PREMIUMS WILL DOUBLE (IN PART BECAUSE OF THE INCREASING NUMBER OF PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HEALTH CARE) AND YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO AFFORD ANY GADDAMN COVERAGE. NOW THAT'S SOMETHING REAL TO WORRY ABOUT.

BUT DONT EXPECT BRIAN WILLIAMS TO TELL YOU THAT. THAT TOADIE IS TOO BUSY GROVELLING BEFORE THE CORPORATE LOBBYIST PARTY TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE IN FOR WITHOUT ANY HEALTH CARE REFORM!

[Uncle Joe]

1. His testimony would threaten their commercial buying corporate clients,

they have major conflicts of interest and don't represent the American Peoples' best interests.

Honestly in the long run I don't believe their disservice to and dumbing down of the American People serves the majority of their corporate commercial buying clients well either.

Thanks for the thread, JohnWxy.

[Enthusiast]

2. The key point here is

"How much time has M$M devoted to idiots screaming about fantasy fears vs interviewing an expert?"

The M$M is in the bag for the insurance companies. To dispute that is laughable yet we hear every day that the protests against reform are a grass roots, regular people, effort. This country is in deep shit.