Winning Progressive

(By Joanne Boyer, cross-posted at Wisdom Voices)

There are few people today – in any walk of life – who have the courage and wisdom of Wendell Potter. Potter’s determined passion to help educate the American public and help them understand the “deadly spin” of the for-profit health insurance industry serves as a centering force in a world that appears to be turned upside down no matter where one looks.

Potter, a former public relations executive with CIGNA, reached deep within his soul about five years ago after a life-changing event and became determined his legacy would carry far more than the words “retired health insurance executive.” Few have understood – or participated first hand – in the intentional deceit by the health insurance companies of how the for-profit health care system functions. Potter will be the first to tell you how he helped to malign Michael Moore and his movie Sicko. How things have changed. Today, the two share the podium at conferences discussing the horrifically broken U.S. health care system.

In his book Deadly Spin (see summary below), Potter provides not just an exposé of health insurers but a stark warning that corporate spin is distorting our democracy. But yet it is more than just his knowledge and “insider’s understanding” of this industry that make Potter such a force in the debate that will continue for years on how to reform a health care system that is rigged to work for corporate interests rather than people.

It is that quiet sense of speaking truth to power; the inner knowledge that he possesses that helping people is what matters in life. No screaming from a pulpit, no finger-pointing in anyone’s face. Rather a calm resolve that comes only from an inner peace that moves one forward through immeasurable odds. He remains a beacon of hope in 21^st century America that we may once again “turn our hearts” to something of value – something that is not measured in dollars and cents.

We at Wisdom Voices are honored to have had the opportunity to have talked one-on-one with Wendell Potter on a recent visit to Minneapolis, a week before the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act. As our July Progressive Profile, we have decided to let his own words do the talking. And we strongly encourage readers to get a copy of Deadly Spin and make it mandatory reading for anyone who treasures our American heritage.

For more of the facts of who Wendell Potter is, we invite you visit his web site. Our goal is to provide more of the “why” Wendell Potter pursues the tireless and thankless job of trying to make health care work for people and not corporations. In the truest tradition of providing today’s “wisdom voices”, we present Wendell Potter – in his own words.

On why he decided to have a change of heart/soul on what he was called to do with his professional life:

“I think a lot had to do with the fact that I was born to a working class family in the southern Appalachians. I was fortunate enough to get a good education and I wanted to be a journalist. I was trained to be someone who wanted to try to write in ways that revealed truth and provided people with information that would help them understand things better. I think had it not been for that, I probably would not have done what I ultimately did.

“I left my journalism career and got into public relations more than 35 years ago, and I ultimately wound up in the health insurance industry. I had a very successful PR career, but I still had that training as a journalist and I still knew where I came from.

“I went back to visit my family in Tennessee 5 years ago and I read about something called the Health Care Expedition that was being held not too far from where I grew up. I had never heard of anything like this before. There were articles that people would be traveling from hundreds of miles away – from Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia. It was being held at the Wise County (Virginia) Fair Grounds. So I was very curious and decided to go check it out. When I got there I saw something I never expected to see

“I saw people lined up by the thousands at this three-day event trying to get care that was being provided free. That morning, people were soaking wet because it had been raining. They were lined up to get care that was being provided in barns, and then it hit me. I realized that those people could have been my neighbors, people I had grown up with, people I had shared cultural roots with. I realized that what I was doing for a living, in some way, was making it necessary for those people to have to resort to those lengths in order to receive care.

“I made a commitment that day that I would figure out some other way to make a living and ultimately did. That was an eye opener for me. Had I not been from that region, had I not gone back home at that time, had I not been curious enough to check it (the health exposition) out. There were many things that impacted me. It was a reminder as I began to think more of my life. I realized that what I was doing was in many ways the opposite of what I was trying to do in my first career (journalism). Then, I was trying to educate and enlighten and inform people. Now, more often than not, I was trying to obscure and misdirect the truth. I became so utterly ashamed of what I had become that I ultimately walked away from that job a few months later.”

On why others within the industry chose not to follow Potter’s path:

“We get stuck. We have tuition payments, car payments, and house payments. We have a lifestyle we’ve grown accustomed to. Our egos (and sense of who we are) are wrapped up in what we do. It’s hard to walk away from that. People think it’s impossible to walk away from that. I realized that it was not.

“It’s been a blessing. I don’t make near as much money, but I can’t think of any measure in which this has not been a blessing. I’ve met some of the most wonderful people since I’ve been away from that industry and have had experiences I would never have had. I’ve been stretched in ways I couldn’t imagine. I was never one who wanted to speak in front of an audience or to go in front of a camera. But I’ve overcome that. It was necessary if I was going to be doing what I was going to be doing. I had to walk through my fears.

“I keep a gratitude journal and that is so helpful for me to have reminders of just how much joy I have in my life. That keeps me centered. I’m just so grateful to be doing what I’m doing. As I was contemplating making this decision, I was thinking about my own legacy – what I would want my legacy to be when I’m no longer on this earth. I realized that I sure didn’t want it to be ‘a retired insurance company executive’. I knew that I had some things that I thought I could and should do, that if I didn’t do, I would regret on my death bed.”

On the Supreme Court:

“Ultimately, there are certain things beyond my control. I can’t control what the Supreme Court is going to do. I have to look at that with detachment. I can’t control that. That’s just the reality I have to accept. And we have to work with reality. Once we know what the Supreme Court is going to do, then we can develop a strategy of how to go forward.

“It will be a decision and we will have to figure out what happens next. What I do think and hope is that advocates for single payer and universal coverage and advocates for meaningful health care reform will start to think more strategically and cohesively. I’ve observed that a lot of advocates don’t see eye-to-eye on how things should be, which result in tensions and resentments; and that’s not healthy, it’s counterproductive.

“What I would like to do is hopefully become someone who can help build bridges in the advocacy world. To get people to see that we share common goals; we may see the paths as being different on how to get to the ultimate ideal/objective, but if we don’t start working together.

On what keeps him hopeful:

“You have to look at this fight and know that we’re in for the long haul and we can’t expect instant gratification. We have to know that it takes time for significant change particularly when you’re fighting entrenched special interests. It took a long time to get the Civil Rights Act passed, to get Medicare passed. But, on the other hand, we’re seeing things today that may be able to be changed more rapidly than they have been in the past. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to be an easy slog to get to universal coverage, because it’s not. It’s going to take time. But it’s a possibility and unless we keep the faith, keep going despite discouragement, then the other side wins.”

On Deadly Spin:

“I call it ‘invisible persuasion’ and I’m hoping the book sheds some light on this and makes it more visible to people so they know how it’s done and how corporate spin has shaped the health care debate.

“In the book, I try to give people tools how to be wise to manipulation and what to look out for. People should know that most of the advertising being done (to discourage health care reform) and the organizations that are sponsoring them are in many cases just front groups for the insurance industry. It’s been estimated that $250M has been spent trying to discredit the health care law. When you get that kind of spending, it’s no wonder people don’t know what’s in the law. This is done purposely. In this book, I try to explain why that happens and where that money comes from and how all of us are susceptible to this type of persuasion.”

On his advice to the public:

“Be skeptical about what you hear. Know that almost everyone you hear expressing a point of view has an agenda. Don’t outsource your thinking to TV commentators. Take the time to try and educate yourself.

“If you don’t know what’s in the Affordable Care Act, try to educate yourself. There are more reliable places to get information. For example, Consumer Reports provides factual information on the ACA. One of the key ways why the special interests are so successful is they know we outsource our thinking – we are so willing to let others think for us…and we’re so gullible.

“We all lead busy lives, but educating yourself is important. Think beyond yourself. Think about your children and the kind of world we’re creating for them. It’s important to spend a little time to get informed before you pull a voting lever.”

Deadly Spin: Attacking the Corporate Strategy To Keep Us Ignorant

Did you ever wonder about why and how the general public stays so ill-informed on what is really in the Affordable Care Act or just how and why we remain the only industrialized nation in the world with a for-profit insurance company?

Wendell Potter explains it all in his book Deadly Spin. From clandestine meetings carefully organized to leave no paper trail to creating third party front groups, Potter lets the reader in on the dirty secrets most big corporations would rather have the masses be in the dark about because the stakes are high and the profits even higher.

“I wrote the book because I wanted people to have a better understanding of just how the special interests are able to manipulate public opinion and how the vast majorities of people just don’t have a clue,” said Potter. “And how effective it is to get people to think, act and vote against their own self-interests…and how corporate interests are capable of influencing public policy through public opinion.”

Michael Moore, at one point an adversary of Potter’s, sums up the book best: “You’re the Daniel Ellsberg of corporate America. I mean, what that man did during Vietnam helped to end that war…. People should read this book. The whole book lays it right out there about how the health insurance companies had bamboozled this country and lied, just outright lied about things.”

For information on how to order the book, click here.

(By Joanne Boyer, cross-posted at Wisdom Voices)

Amid all the noise created by the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its future now before the U.S. Supreme Court, there are some states who continue to move forward with the only common sense health care solution:  single payer.

First it was Vermont, when Governor Peter Shumlin signed a law in March that sets Vermont on a course to provide health care for all of its citizens through a single payer system called Green Mountain Care. Key components include containing costs by setting reimbursement rates for health care providers and streamlining administration into a single, state-managed system. The ACA reform law would not allow Vermont to enact single payer until 2017; Vermont is asking the administration to grant it a waiver so that it can get there even faster, by 2014.

Could Minnesota be next?

Vermont diligently and patiently worked for years to build the foundation for its law.  So too, is Minnesota under the umbrella of an organization called Health Care for All Minnesota (HCAMn).  Its mission is dedicated to establishing comprehensive single-payer health care for all Minnesotans through advocacy, education, lobbying, and community organizing.  HCAMn, a coalition of member organizations, is an independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)4 non-profit and does not endorse candidates or work on political campaigns.

No matter what the Supreme Court decides, the move to single payer is on in Minnesota.  In 2010, the Minnesota Health Act passed out of both state legislature committees before the November 2010 elections swept in a Republican controlled legislature and a Democratic governor (Mark Dayton). That effectively stalled the legislation even though Dayton is on record as supporting single payer for Minnesota.

“After the 2010 election, we decided our focus would be more to educate people on what single payer is,” said Erin Anderson, Executive Director of HCAMn.  “We are now going state-wide, via forums and meetings, telling people what the benefits are, how it would save money and how everyone would be covered.  We’re focused on education and organizing the general pubic.”

Minnesota is one state actively working to implement a health exchange as part of the ACA.  The governor’s task forces on both health exchanges and health reform offer HCAMn other avenues to turn the conversation toward implementation of single payer.

“We, in an effort spearheaded by the Minnesota chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, made a commitment to be at task force hearings and to speak during the public forum part of those meetings,” said Lisa Nilles, Vice Chair of HCAMn.  “We’re showing up and making sure the message gets through to the governor.  We’re also present at citizen forums organized by the Citizens League and helping to provide the governor input on what the citizens are saying about health care.  And the message is getting out there that Minnesotans want single payer – that single payer needs to be on the table.”

Some national polls have shown a 2/3 majority in favor of single payer. A 2007 poll of Minnesota physicians indicated a 64 percent approval of single payer.  Also, the majority of physicians (86%) agreed “that it is the responsibility of society, through the government, to ensure that everyone has access to good medical care.”

The HCAMn site provides excellent information on what single payer is and what it is not. It’s a great read for individuals concerned about knowing the facts about single payer.  In summary, single payer provides:

• One system that covers everyone
• A uniform and comprehensive benefit set for everyone
• A single network of health care providers and an end to choice-limiting networks
• A single insurance pool to spread insurance risk
• An outlet to delink health care coverage from employment

“There’s so much misinformation about single payer,” Anderson said.  “People think it’s ‘socialized medicine’ when in fact it’s not that at all.  You still have private clinics and private hospitals, but they are paid by one payer and it doesn’t have to be the government.  And people think it has to be so expensive, when all the studies show single payer saves money.”

Despite making sense and saving money, single payer faces an uphill climb with roadblocks thrown up by big insurance company lobbying. So what keeps HCAMn motivated through this long process?

“We have a fragmented health care system that keeps so many people from getting the care they need,” said Anderson, who herself carries the ‘scarlet letter’ of a pre-existing condition. “I had back surgery when I was 13,” she said.  “I’m a pre-existing condition.

“It’s the stories – that’s what keeps us motivated.  Everyone knows someone who has been affected by debt, who isn’t covered by health insurance, someone who has high deductibles or high prescription drug costs.”

For Nilles, a physician who worked in England in the early 1990s before beginning her practice in the U.S., it’s that first-hand knowledge of working in a system in which “everyone’s covered” that has been her motivating factor.

“I lived in a world where it (universal coverage) was just the norm,” Nilles said.  “And then I came back and saw the crazy and chaotic system here.  People here tend to push back and will cite horror stories about health care delivery in other countries, saying there is rationing and long lines.  And they’re not looking at their own country.  I ask: “what about here?’ We ration health care more than anyone, but people somehow think we have it better. I’ve been active in this for the last seven years, and single payer has become a real contender in the conversation – it seems to be more prevalent. People know what it is – even if they are afraid of it.  And, once they hear it explained in some depth, they are not afraid, but often turn into supporters.”

“In this country it tends to be the states have to do it first,” Anderson said.  “The states are like pilot projects and they have to implement it and then it moves to a national level.”

“For a long term view, everything we are doing is building, and when will it break in favor of single payer? I don’t know, but I do know we are making progress and that is what gives us hope, Nilles said”

Single Payer:  Common Sense & Cost Savings

HCAMn points to the recent Lewin Group report on what single payer would mean for Minnesota.  The report once again states the obvious about single payer – it covers everyone and it saves money.  A complete copy of the report is available by clicking here. Below is an excerpt:

Using health spending data provided by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), we estimate with our models that the single payer plan would achieve universal coverage while reducing total health spending for Minnesota by about $4.1 billion, or 8.8 percent, in 2014. This includes added costs due to reductions in utilization management and increased utilization costs resulting from reduced cost sharing. Additional costs and savings estimates under the single payer plan in 2014 include:

• A total savings of $35.7 million to state and local governments;
• An average savings of $1,214 per worker, for employers offering health insurance coverage prior to the ACA;
• An average additional cost of $1,963 per worker, for employers not offering health insurance coverage prior to the ACA;
• An average savings of $1,362 for families, including wage effects;
• A reduction of 42,800 Minnesota jobs for those with insurance-related job functions; and
• A ten year total statewide savings of $189.5 billion, from 2014-2023.

Wendell Potter:  Exposing The Insurance Industry

Perhaps the biggest roadblock to implementation of single payer health care system is the for-profit insurance industry and its lobby.  After all, who stands to lose the most with a health care system designed to take care of individuals rather than line the pockets of executives and shareholder.  The United States remains the only industrialized nation in the world with a for-profit health care system.

HCAMn’s annual single payer summer celebration is Thursday June 21 and will feature Wendell Potter as its guest speaker.  Information on how to purchase tickets can be found by clicking here. Following a 20-year career as a corporate public relations executive, Potter left his position as head of communications for CIGNA, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, to help socially responsible organizations — including those advocating for meaningful health care reform — achieve their goals.

Potter has been a powerful voice in exposing insurance companies and how they put profits before people.  His latest book Deadly Spin provides not just an exposé of health insurers but a stark warning that corporate spin is distorting our democracy.  Visit www.wendellpotter.com for more information on the book and the work Potter does.

(By Joanne Boyer, cross posted at Wisdom Voices) 

In the mid 1990s, I worked with an individual in Minnesota who fought hard to enact legislation for universal health care. His passion and desire to see health care reform that included coverage for all was as heartfelt as any I’ve ever seen. In what seemed (at the time) like a never ending legislative battle to change a health care system failing its people, I heard him say that he was going to round-up every three-ring binder report that had been done on the need for health care reform in the last year and just dump them all on the legislators’ desks and claim, “We don’t need another report. We need health care for everyone.” For the first time since I heard that, I feel we may be reaching the point of no more reports and binders. Thanks to Occupy Wall Street, I believe real action for single payer may be within our grasp.

Recently, attention has been focused – and rightly so – on the Occupy Wall Street movement as it continues to shine light on the simple reminder that it was Wall Street who caused the 2008 financial collapse. But lurking not far behind is the natural extension in the discussion for “We are the 99 percent.” The cry heard today from the Wall Street patriots in the streets can easily turn from “people, not profits” to “patients, not profits.” There’s little doubt that the continuing debate on health care will take center stage AGAIN during the 2012 presidential campaign. The Affordable Health Care for America Act will be under assault by many for various reasons. Only this time, the Occupy Wall Street Movement may finally empower people to no longer settle for corporate controlled heath insurance solutions.

Perhaps no one draws the parallels between Occupy Wall Street and the need for an Occupy Health Insurers better than Wendell Potter. The former CIGNA executive-turned-whistleblower remains one of the most vigilant and articulate spokespersons to call the health insurance companies what they are: corporations who value profits over the health of the people of our nation. In a recent column Potter points out but one of the horrific practices of the health insurance companies: the selling of “junk” insurance coverage to millions of Americans in 2014. He concludes that article by saying:

As I write this, the insurance industry and its corporate allies are lobbying the Obama administration to grant limited-benefit plans permanent waivers from that provision. If the White House caves in to their demands, millions of low-wage earners will be forced to buy junk coverage on January 1, 2014. That’s the date all of us will have to buy coverage from a private insurer if we’re not eligible for a public plan like Medicare or Medicaid. If you don’t want to be forced to buy junk, send the White House a message. Now.

As Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) always reminds us, the United States remains the only industrialized nation in the world with a for-profit health care system. The need to push the Affordable Health Care Act to do more should remain a primary goal for all of us in 2012. No more three-ring binders…no more studies…no more lobbyists. We need to move to single payer. The Occupy Wall Street movement has unleashed the simple reminder for all of us: We the People have a tremendous amount of power to bring positive change to our financial and social institutions. With Super Committees looking to put Medicare and Medicaid on the cutting block, we simply cannot take our eyes off the real prize: single payer in the United States. To help maintain a focus on this issue, we offer samplings of recent articles or blogs that continue to keep the issue of single payer in the spotlight.

Dave Zweifel, editor emeritus of The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, wrote that the solution to health care is simple: single payer. It’s such an obvious answer staring us all in the face that we have missed the forest through the trees.

This summer, Rochester, Minnesota, physician Mark Liebow, wrote a column for Physicians For A National Health Program urging Minnesota to follow Vermont’s lead and become the second state to pass single payer legislation. With DFL Governor Mark Dayton’s hands tied with a Republican-controlled state house and senate, the task remains a big one. But with the momentum gained from Occupy Wall Street, the old rules may no longer apply.

Health Care-Now is an excellent blog that provides information and resources on what you can do and where activities that promote single payer are planned. Bookmark this wonderful site and keep it handy when you need information on the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of health care reform.

No more reports, no more binders, no more studies. As Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners Magazine said so eloquently back in 2009:

So let us have the moral dialogue and debate. Let’s take the best of who we are, the greatest parts of our tradition and use that to lead the way. The misinformation, falsehoods and outright lies that many are now circulating obscure the moral and religious core of this debate: that millions of people are suffering in an inequitable and inefficient health care system, and that too many powerful people are profiting from that broken system in defiance of the common good.

Occupy the health care for profit industry now in existence? Impossible you say?  After what we’ve witnessed the last few weeks, I’m no longer so sure.