With almost 20 years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our health care system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of health care reform. This PBS special unveils the two party system that is entrenched in denying health care for Americans. Whether you have your own health care insurance or whether you used to have it, the goals are the same – to deny service, while taking money for premiums. If you get sick, chances are pretty good that you’ll be targeted for removal from the health care insurance provider. This video is a “must see”. Full text transcript of the program can be accessed at this LINK.
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You know, we have more people who are uninsured in this country than the entire population of Canada. And that if you include the people who are underinsured, more people than in the United Kingdom. We have huge numbers of people who are also just a lay-off away from joining the ranks of the uninsured, or being purged by their insurance company, and winding up there.
And another thing is that the advocates of reform or the opponents of reform are those who are saying that we need to be careful about what we do here, because we don’t want the government to take away your choice of a health plan. It’s more likely that your employer and your insurer is going to switch you from a plan that you’re in now to one that you don’t want. You might be in the plan you like now.
But chances are, pretty soon, you’re going to be enrolled in one of these high deductible plans in which you’re going to find that much more of the cost is being shifted to you than you ever imagined.
Patients gather outside the Virginia-Kentucky Fairgrounds for their turn to enter the Remote Area Medical (RAM) Health Expedition in Wise, Va., July 24, 2009. Photo by Paul Morse for AARP Bulletin Today. More at the LINK
You should start your own health care company that “puts people before profits”. Think of all the millions of people that would sign up – you could help all of them! All you have to do is figure out how to pay for doctors and medical research. Piece of cake!
Hey Travis,
Thanks for weighing in on the issue. According to research, the government is much more efficient than the for-profit health care insurance companies. In fact the administrative costs for the government run about 3% and typical insurance company admin. costs are about 20-35%.
Did you hear about the health care company top executive that just was awarded ONE BILLION DOLLARS as a bonus?
You take those kinds of excesses out of the equation, and you can pay doctors even better than what they are getting rooked out of right now by big Insurance and their wall street robbers.
Travis,
Think Kaiser Permanente.
Medical Research – you think Cigna & Aetna are paying for that?
And rationing – its happening now – Do you think Cigna or Aetna will pay for a Johns Hopkins or the Mayo Clinic specialist?
Larry, if Kaiser has it all figured out, why haven’t consumers abandoned the rest of the evil for-profit insurers? If Kaiser is so great, why should the government get involved?
Do you think the top Johns Hopkins specialist takes medicare?
Miss Red,
God help you, all brain’s, no vision to see when your being taken for a fool!
Have you ever heard of the California Endowment?? Califonia Health Foundation??
Why do you think the cost of health insurance in california is so high??
Two reasons:
No real competition. a handful of insurance companies can operate in California. They do so with the blessing of the state! Why??
California Endowment and California health foundation was a welpoint company that wanted to go from not for profit to for profit, the state of california made this company which is now Blue Cross, take all of is asset approx. 4 billion and split it in to 2 foundations, Endowment,california foundation,
both foundations fund groups ie. Accorn, Califoniakids (non-profit that gives funds to ensure illegal Aliens), then their is the Kasier foundation, ect……. Who do you think is making up for the lost profits of these companies and who do you think benifits from these foundation’s??
So not only do hospital’s ie. CHOC, St.Joseph charge their paying customers an arm and a leg for their health care. Foundation fund’s not for profits who give assistance to unisured illegal Aliens and their children to get Government assistance in the form of Caloptima, healthy familes. which makes the states favourite health insurance companies alot of money, thanks again to the taxpayer. And yeah all those great non-profits ie. Orange County Health Alliance. Choc, st. josephs, coaltion of community clinics, ect..
Really,
whether you are a lib or a right winger, your an American first, and your being taken up shit creek, by a bunch of rich crooks.
And if you think public option is the answer, you should ask my mother! O yeah she died of a heart attack in a public hosptial, with out anyone monitoring her heart. She was in the hospital for chornic heart failure. Socicalised anything is bad bad bad. Take a look at a vet hospital!
And take a look who benifits the poor, and who pays, the middle class and who benifits the rich!
Thank you Red Vixen.
This is a wonderful post!
I hope that people with an open mind will think deeply about this issue.
No one should ever be making a profit over the illnesses of another.
Haya,
alot of people benifit over the illness of other’s, the point is “how, and how much”.
Just like drug cartels!
#2
Red Vixen you say “Government is much more efficient” Look around you, every thing Government puts its hands on goes to hell.
OCGator,
UPS, the VA and Medicare are hardly losing programs by the government. What programs are YOU referring to?
I hope you take the time to see the video. It puts the discussion where it needs to be. Our collective health care is under seige by for-profit insurance companies that award BILLION DOLLAR BONUSES to their top managers, all the while denying care and affordability to the rest of us.
No you have it wrong!
Yes the insurance companies rip us, with the help of the Government not allowing competition. just like the school districts, no competition, bad schools that rake in the money!
Michelle,
You have very entrenched opinions. Could you please view the video and comment from there?
I’d like to have a discussion going with some common ground, if possible. This health care thing is very important to us all and is worth knowing more about so we don’t get screwed by lawmakers.
Red,
the point is “we will get screwed”, you really have no idea what public healthcare is like. In Dublin hospital people are treated in the hallways.
My opinions are based on doing my homework. Again look into the Calofornia Endowment, if they take all their funds, they could insure all the uninsured. In california health insurance cost, is due to lack of competition. which is mandated my the state. Please look up insure the uninsured web site and look under the workshop’s. Insurance companies want public health insurance, because it would be an endless supply of taxpayer money. Hosptials want public health insurance, because it’s more money for them.
Caloptima, health net is blue cross, blue sheild, ect… Medical money going to insurance companies. how do you think is going to manage the massive government health plan???
Don’t watch videos on health care, do your homework!
Michelle,
I am really quite suprised at you. You are a member of health care services, yet you cannot be bothered to view a video clip on the discussions?
C’mon now…. it’s not that hard to follow along.
FOR PROFIT health insurance premiums are killing this country. We’ve got to find a solution.
I did view it, believe me the English couple were staged. Right now the have an epidemic of MRSA in British and Irish hospitals, it is killing thousands every year, especially the elderly.
Look up Daniel Hanan, Parliment. He talks about the awful problem they are having with public healthcare.
And your right, “i did work in health care and know what is at stake”.
Choc and St.Josepth is not for profit, they pay Kim Cripe CFO over 1.2mil yearly
It is greed and politics that is causing health care cost to go sky high! competition is the key, not socialized healthcare.