Former Health Insurance Insider Pushes For Public Option

[dtotire]

Former Health Insurance Insider Pushes For Public Option



Rick Green
November 3, 2009


Wendell Potter, a former vice president for corporate communications at CIGNA, returned to the Insurance City Monday to politely bite the hand that once rewarded him.

Potter spent years with CIGNA, where it was his job to convince the public that insurance reform with government-sponsored health care amounted to a "government takeover."

"That's a phrase I used to write. That's a lie," Potter told me during a whirlwind visit sponsored by the health care reform group Citizens for Economic Opportunity. Instead, he said "it will give people an additional choice."

I listened closely to this soft-spoken man, in his bland suit and horn-rimmed glasses, who talks of respect for his former insurance industry colleagues — and his disdain for corporate leaders, blinded by profits, now trying to block reforms that include the public option.

This longtime executive's path to enlightenment is revealing. The more he learned and the higher he climbed within CIGNA, the more questions and sleepless nights he had.

"You really cannot trust the insurance companies to do the right thing. I know that from many years of working for them," said Potter, the industry's highest-ranking — and perhaps only — whistle-blower. "I regret that I have to say that."

At CIGNA, spokesman Chris Curran e-mailed me to say that "we strongly support comprehensive health care reform with the goal of expanding access, controlling costs and improving the quality of care. We strongly disagree with the suggestion that, motivated by profits, the insurance industry has deliberately attempted to confuse or unfairly treat covered individuals."

As he cut a swath through Hartford Monday, Potter offered a very different picture. He stumped for the public option now before Congress. He blasted the "Wall Street model" for health care that dumps sick patients, "purges" small business and shifts an unfair burden of medical costs to the consumer.

Insurance companies, he said, "spend enormous amounts of money in focus groups. They pay a lot of premium dollars to gauge public attitudes. It is a careful study of linguistics and knowing what motivates people and how to reach people on an emotional level."

Potter, who is 58, believes health care reform that includes a government-run alternative to private insurance won't be a financial disaster. He predicted that none of this will eliminate private jobs because the insurance industry is, above all else, adept at adapting to changes in the marketplace.

After 20 years in the business, Potter had a revelation in 2007 that he likens to a "a bolt of lightning" striking him.

That year he watched CIGNA initially deny coverage to a woman needing a liver transplant. Then, while visiting relatives, he went to a health exposition in Virginia, where he saw thousands of people, many with insurance, lining up for charity health care, waiting for treatment like cattle in a barn. He left CIGNA within a year.

Potter is now a consultant, his six-figure CIGNA job gone. His own health insurance is now a high-deductible plan through his wife, who manages a retail store for The Gap.


http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-wendel-potter-cigna-green-column-1103,0,5897293.column


Wendell Potter, a former vice president for corporate communications at CIGNA, returned to the Insurance City Monday to politely bite the hand that once rewarded him.

Potter spent years with CIGNA, where it was his job to convince the public that insurance reform with government-sponsored health care amounted to a "government takeover."

"That's a phrase I used to write. That's a lie," Potter told me during a whirlwind visit sponsored by the health care reform group Citizens for Economic Opportunity. Instead, he said "it will give people an additional choice."

I listened closely to this soft-spoken man, in his bland suit and horn-rimmed glasses, who talks of respect for his former insurance industry colleagues — and his disdain for corporate leaders, blinded by profits, now trying to block reforms that include the public option.

This longtime executive's path to enlightenment is revealing. The more he learned and the higher he climbed within CIGNA, the more questions and sleepless nights he had.

"You really cannot trust the insurance companies to do the right thing. I know that from many years of working for them," said Potter, the industry's highest-ranking — and perhaps only — whistle-blower. "I regret that I have to say that."

At CIGNA, spokesman Chris Curran e-mailed me to say that "we strongly support comprehensive health care reform with the goal of expanding access, controlling costs and improving the quality of care. We strongly disagree with the suggestion that, motivated by profits, the insurance industry has deliberately attempted to confuse or unfairly treat covered individuals."

As he cut a swath through Hartford Monday, Potter offered a very different picture. He stumped for the public option now before Congress. He blasted the "Wall Street model" for health care that dumps sick patients, "purges" small business and shifts an unfair burden of medical costs to the consumer.

Insurance companies, he said, "spend enormous amounts of money in focus groups. They pay a lot of premium dollars to gauge public attitudes. It is a careful study of linguistics and knowing what motivates people and how to reach people on an emotional level."

Potter, who is 58, believes health care reform that includes a government-run alternative to private insurance won't be a financial disaster. He predicted that none of this will eliminate private jobs because the insurance industry is, above all else, adept at adapting to changes in the marketplace.

After 20 years in the business, Potter had a revelation in 2007 that he likens to a "a bolt of lightning" striking him.

That year he watched CIGNA initially deny coverage to a woman needing a liver transplant. Then, while visiting relatives, he went to a health exposition in Virginia, where he saw thousands of people, many with insurance, lining up for charity health care, waiting for treatment like cattle in a barn. He left CIGNA within a year.

Potter is now a consultant, his six-figure CIGNA job gone. His own health insurance is now a high-deductible plan through his wife, who manages a retail store for The Gap.


http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-wendel-potter-cigna-green-column-1103,0,5897293.column

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Wendell Potter has been an intelligent and empathetic advocate for Universal Health care.

His background in the business makes his opinions even more relevant and impactful.

He should be on all the news media..all the time. He is one of the few that can be relied upon to tell the truth.