FOX news invaded China. Those something got talents are spread widely over there already. Soon they'll promote Communists are the greatest. Remember how they promote Capitalists are the greatest here? They don't need anything new.
Right leaning media wont touch this story. It is against the interests of big money. ALOT of money is spent to discredit and to provide disinformation on subjects like this. The shear fact the over 4 BILLION was spent to smear nancy pelosi in the mid term elections says it all. 4 BILLION to just smear one single person... can u imagine how many people 4 billion dollars could help care for? And now those same people are begging Obama for an extended tax break! WAKE THE -F- UP PEOPLE!
We as conservatives stand against the socialized government controlled vaccine program that currently exists in the United States.
We want to privatize this institution. Americans should have the freedom to take responsibility for themselves, stop looking for hand outs, and shop the free market for a best H1N1 vaccine.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for ONE people to dissolve the political partys which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and EQUAL station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures God ENTITLE them, a Decent Respect to the opinions of HUMANKIND requires that they should declare the CAUSES which impel them to the separation.-" from for profit DenialCare Barons!
This sounds good, but until the lawmakers we VOTE into office nothing will change or get better for us! The people that we put into office should be there for the people not for themselvels! Just like SS until the lawmakers are on the same plan we the people are on nothing will change!
Believe it or not, but a Doctor turned Lawmaker (no I'm not talking about Ron Paul) has introduced a bill that would make it that those that vote for a Health Plan have to give up their's and good with what they voted for, but I can't remember his name right now. If you're interested I could try to dig up the HR number and his name.
What pisses me off is how people who oppose the new healthcare program are so clueless as to the other half of the debate. The don't want to spend any money on those in need (which is rediculas when you think of what they are actually spending on healthcare or lack there off) they don't want socialism because it's controlling ( clueless as to how their insurnance company ties the hands of their own doctors) and then doesn't trust Obama (but trust those who would let them die for a bonus.)WTF?
If everybody likes this, check out confessions by Linda Peeno here on YouTube and her part as a gatekeeper with a death panel like job for an insurance company. She admitted denying care so the patient died as result. Tragic. It is worse now, she admits.
Email it to as many people as you can. People are being duped. Half the idiots who show up at these "town hall meetings" are shills. Insurance companies are even sending employees. People need to wake up.
The media needs to point out the congressmen who are taking contributions from these health care vultures. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out who's getting the money and how it's effecting their vote. I'm at the point where I'd be willing to purge the entire legislator to get some honest people in office.
Now that Wendell is loaded with cash..... Now he wants to bang on the gates of heaven saying "let me in now". If WENDELL really does care....... he would give ALL his money up to his NEW cause. Am I wrong???
Everybody makes mistakes but that does not mean he should give up his income to a cause. He is giving time and spreading the truth. I know how it is to work for a company without ethics. It is hard to live with.
Create a negative movement to blunt the actual issue.
Republican's/Coporatist would see Our Country burned to the ground, rather than them lose profit, or back away from such an issue.
They're walking a fine-line with their RACIAL politics. Deliberately inciting simple TOWN HALL folk, and FOX NEWS fanning the flames of hate directly calling our President a Racist.
I've never seen this country tense.
If Repulicans/Corporatist persist, 'There Will Be Blood!'
I agree. The problem is they don't want to understand "why" we need reform. They are just falling in line and following the industry and don't even know it. They just don't get it.
It doesn't matter. These idiots have one purpose in mind: Take down Obama. If the rest of the country suffers as a result, so be it. The fact that "Fixed" News is the number one news channel in America pretty much says it all. One day people will look back at this period of history and hang their heads in shame.
LOOK at your negative rating. They are watching this video. You have to understand these people have invested so much emotion into fighting against the dems and healthcare reform that facts no longer work on them. Its sad but as long as fox is in business the truth will continue to suffer.Everybody acknowledges that fox is a terrible news station but nobody will talk about how fox's distortions and fear mongering has become a MAJOR issue.Somebody needs to make them tel the truth.
Fox news station blows away all the other, how is it that they are terrible. Provide examples of stories they have distorted. What fear mongering? The news and reality is where the fear lies. when have they not told the truth. I am sure many others on here would like to read your list as well, considering you are all about FACTS. Thanks
i agree with you. there are so many people that post stories but then have no real facts to prove otherwise. i watched glenn becks show on here and the last segment this perosn with a college education thought they knew more. they posted info about toyota but had no web sites to reference. so i found some web sites and posted them. its real easy.
Personally, I think the answer is that EVERYONE in America including all Government "officials' be under the same health plan.I bet that would make things a LOT better for everyone.
I have a link to actual bill in my comments section on my profile so that any of you who choose to do so can easily read it for yourselves without any bias and without anything being taken out of context. I also have several ways in which you can contact your representatives including phone numbers. We have been trying to do this for over 60 yrs. no more excuses. The longer we wait the worse things will be and the more it will cost.
Sadly Obama is a "Corporate Man" thru & thru.. he will find the 'fix' that everyone THINKS is the best option (because it'll be sold to y'all that way by the mainstream media) but in reality it'll be another money-spinning Corporate fix which won't address the basic premise that FREE healthcare IS easily deliverable AND it acts as a restraining influence on corporate GREED! If people can get medicaid for FREE the only way corporates will be able to charge MORE is by offering something BETTER.
Whistleblowers often put a lot on the line and risk trouble, harassment, and so on for doing the right thing on behalf of the American people. There ought to be a award like Patriot of the year rewarding whistleblowers in addition to improvements to protect them. Government officials denouncing criminal activity by an agency have been harrassed by the FBI instead of rewarded and protected.
Obeliskian, you are so wrong. You want to understand single payer system. You don't have to look beyond the VA system or medicare. Do a little research on Medicare Part C and you will then learn that there is a way for the private sector to profit very nicely with a single payer plan.
Tobacco lobbyists changed jobs to oil company lobbyists so it isn't a surprise that Bush (who had political ads funded by tobacco lobbyists) needed pre-emptive war to subsidize the "needs" of oil companies. Just shows how corrupt the political system is when the Republican Party tries to get tax cuts for the super rich lobbyists and their corporations.
I can't be silent anymore. I'm a physician in solo practice. I deal with Medicare and for-profit insurance companies daily. Insurance is not the same as coverage. We need to join the rest of the civilized world and provide at least a single payor system. Our health should not be traded on the NYSE.
@BabaORiley1972 THANK YOU! I've often opined that insurance is gambling, and your health is not something you want to make bets against. Actuaries are odds makers, insurance agents are bookies. How foolish must we be to choose to gamble against our health as a means of paying for our healthcare rather than embracing the fact that we all get sick, we all need care at some point in our lives, and we as a society should all have access to decent care.
This is all very relevant to all in need of health, (ie everybody), yet it also mirrors the world water crisis. Many are unaware; many are trying to solve the problem with new methods of water procurement, ie desalination. Yet it is TRUE, that water conservation benefits far out runs production, just as pro-active health efforts benefit the body beyond the despicable practices of what is called "healthcare" in this country. Find the natural health solution easily and stop worry about it!
This is all very relevant to all in need of health, (ie everybody), yet it also mirrors the world water crisis. Many are unaware, many are trying to solve the problem with new methods of water procurement, ie desalination. Yet it is TRUE, that water conservation benefits far out runs production, just as pro-active health efforts benefit the body beyond the despicable practices of what is called "healthcare" in this country. Find the natural health solution easily and stop worrying about it!
Those PR and Marketing persons working for those industries should go home feeling crappy for what they pull off selling to the public at the end of the day. I know I would have left after learning what I was promoting. At least I have a conscience.
America land of the free and home of the brave expert when it comes to Americans doing business then it's "take when you can get"! Thanks PBS for excellence with this broadcasting!
The people of this country need to wake up! The mega-corporations have raped us enough!! No more sheeple!!! The pharmaceutical, insurance, petroleum, and financial corporations are raping us for every spare dollar we earn, not to mention the 25% we pay the government in taxes. A government that is supposed to listen to its people, not bend over and take it for a lousy dollar.
This revelation was most welcome. It is virtually impossible to purchase health insurance in the private market if you have ever seen a doctor for anything. The industry assesses points for every problem you ever had whether under treatment currently or not or even if it only occurred once. Then the points are added up and you are(guaranteed) denied. This is why even affordable health care will be unavailable until these bastard rules are done away with.
AddyGoose the bad guys run the show in corporations, and insulate the good guys from the truth, and the money is sooo intoxicating .... team"player" mentality rules in American corporations, NOT teamwork (as we are misled to believe)
What baffles me is that it's widely known that the corporate business model is nothing but a behemoth pyramid/ponzi scheme which sucks up approximately 80-90% of the wealth from about 95% of the public & deposits it into the private bank accounts of roughly 5% of the so-called "elite" population, and no one is taking any real steps to stop it. Why aren't our laws being upheld?
These practices are morally & ethically wrong; and not even technically legal-- per The Constitution-- in this country.
Well... at least this guy felt guilty... of course he knew he was part of the system screwing over everybody else... but at least he comes and speaks against it; he could have been a wonderful lobbyist and made an awesome retirement from the skills he polished at CIGNA during all those years: sugarcoating shit
Let me tell you something my friends: There is NO such thing as single payer ONLY system in any country of the world.
If you're rich, you can get whatever treatment you require right away in private hospitals and clinics. The difference is that a single payer system would take the abject middle man HMO's out of the equation. I remind you that between a doctor and patient -NO statistician-ad campaign-profit taking is required.Go figure.
The IDEA of bankruptcy by medical bills totally baffles me.
You Americans need to finish what you started in the 60' .... This time you know wall-to-wall anti-socialism is more then BS ...its intellectual sodomy when its practiced in the cartoonish way your degenerate republican party and your perverted democrats do it.
"Single payer would bring SOCIALISM in the country .....BOoohHOo ! ..." as if its a case closing argument...
Senator Bunning of Kentucky, Senator Vitter of Louisana, & Senator Burr of North Carolina have all taken big contributions from the Insurance Industry & are in the pocket of the Insurance Industry & MUST BE DEFEATED IN 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unregulated, profit driven, heartless. We are like crops to these zombies in three piece suits who collect our premiums every month and use them to lobby against our best interests with politicians we elected. Politicians; listen up, we fire people too. If you are taking lobbyist's money, (our money) to disservice the American people your problems will come to roost.
The problem is not only the insurance companies but also the American Medical Association mafia and government excessive regulations. The system has to be simplified and disband the mafias that protect themselves from the free market competition.
In other words the Health Care system has to be reconstructed from scratch.
Thanks Bill for interviewing folks and talking about things the mainstream media often ignores. Health Insurance is nothing more than a pyramid / ponzi scheme / scam. They spread lies. They are directly associated with the corrupt banking industry. Their goal is the same, take a lot of money from a lot at the bottom of the pyramid and move it to the top. The way Reagan did when he cut the tax rate for the top wealhty and raised them on the bottom. It's a scam. Single Payer NOW. Kucinich 2012.
people need to get smarter,they often vote against their own best interests,cause some turd like limbaugh or hannity told them to.use what brains you've got to make up your own mind.common sense should prevail,but seldom does.
ANIMAL STALLS? What in God's Name have we become that human being have to go to "medical expeditions" to see a physician in an animal stall- because that's all the health care they can afford? Corporate greed equates to the deaths of thousands each year. Where is the outrage?
It's all about feeding the never ending greed of wall street/corporate America. 60 people a day are dying due to lack of healthcare and they couldn't care less as long as the money keeps rolling in.
I suspect Mr. Potter is a bit disingenuous. He's made his big pile of cash off the backs of people that could ill afford the costs of health care. Perhaps now he's trying to ease his conscience. When he gives the money back then he'll have my respect. Otherwise he's just another PR man.
To MrAntiRepublican: I am also an ATR, but I don't think we can lay this solely on the Republicans. In my opinion greed is the common denominator.Greedy corporations.Corporations come in both Republican and Democrat. To me Wall Street is just a big Monopoly Game for the Rich and Greedy, and corporations are where they live.I am pretty embarassed to be an American.I have needed 2 joint surgeries for at least 5 years and as far as I can tell I may never get thembecause I am uninsured!!!
Vital info. Everyone should see this. BLACKOUT? Why didn't this run on public tv in Chicago last night? Instead there was 20-25 min of dead air followed by an old rerun. Even the late-night rebroadcast was the rerun. WHASSUP PBS?
This is a vital interview that EVERYONE should see! BLACKOUT: I wonder why it didn't run in Chicago last night -- instead there was 20+ min of dead air followed by an old-rerun. Even the rebroadcast showed the oldie rather than the Moyers-Potter intvw. WHASSUP PBS?????
What is so bad with having a government health care plan? We wouldnt have any of this if our government was more focused on the people's interest and needs, rather than on companies' profitability. Ups! I'm sorry! I forgot that is not the government who controls, is the wealthy companies.
It is doubtful that the majority of our elected officials understand the health care crisis encountered by working class Americans when his/her pockets are lined by not understanding it.
We, the people must demand our elected officials and other governement employees do not receive health insurance (that we pay for), until every American has the same coverage. Employees(government workers)never have better benefits than the employers(we the people).
If everyone would cancel or stop paying their premiums on health insurance, how fast would these bastards go out of buisness. Greed has destroyed this once great country, because it is never enough for the greedy.
well, that's what a single payer national health care system will do. the congress and lobbyists are afraid socialized medicine will drive millions from private insurance.
so be it.
i say that the private insurance industry is no longer a workable luxury. right now, i can't think of a better scenario than putting a million insurance workers intended to clog up the medical system, in the unemployment line.
i'm curious, who do you think those people at the free clinics vote for?
It's that million plus workers that would be on the unemployment line that Obama and others are worried about...they do not do meaningful work - in fact that contribute vitally and mightily to this corrupt system but they will have to be retrained into doing something different. This is where I think the Administration is really stuck - there would be no energy towards fixing this without the economy but the economy and unemployment are making it very difficult
Lobbyists - Lying - Disinformation campaigns - Media mouthpieces for big business agendas (Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdock, etc.) - No wonder we are in the place where we are today. The middlemen are siphoning off as much as they can get away with.
Nationalize health care. Cutting out the middle men (insurance industry) will ultimately save us substantial money.
Health care is already socialized (who do you think pays for indigent visits to emergency rooms?). It's high time to end the corruption.
RE: "The middlemen are siphoning off as much as they can get away with."
And somehow, many of the American citizens are allowing them to get away with it.
One of the reasons for that is because people are terrified of - gasp - SOCIALISM! Well, it's time to get over that fear and start providing health care for even the poorest Americans. If it works, use it.
Here is a great talking point when confronting the 'socialist' hysteria: Point out that private sector health care could NOT exist without the 'socialized medicine' of Medicare for the elderly. Without Medicare, most elderly simply could not afford healthcare and would be dying in the streets and would expose for-profit healthcare for the cruel, inadequate ripoff it really is.
excellent point... I also love the new ads they're putting out saying "do you really want a gov't bureaucrat in charge of your healthcare" ? No, I want an insurance bureaucrat trying to deny my claims so he can make a nice fat bonus.
I watched the whole interview at the PBS site, very eye opening.
It's so incredibly sad to see this. I worked in the health care for several years, and I've seen people choosing between buying medicine or buying food that month.
Thats a great point. Whats missing from the healthcare debate is the issue of massive price gouging by the drug companies. There needs to be a separate campaign to reduce unjustified drug cost themselves.
Only Americans could be so stupid to think a health care system working in the interest of profit takers would actually work. A government run system looks to cover costs but not necessarily make a profit - the word socialism scares the hell out of wall street. American democracy no longer belongs to the voter - it belongs to corporations and Wall Street.
Forward this to every congressman. Republicans need to know that this may be their final undoing. However they will still be on CSPAN spouting their alliances to profit at the cost of cancer treatment for children. Use this video to stop the horror and help Americans who need help.
Mr Potter has provided the smoking gun to reveal the heart of the Republican Party. From what you know now watch CSPAN Coverage of the Health Care Debate and try telling me the Republicans represent working people or care about anything but profit. This is the final nail in their coffin
Amazing! Well done Wendall Potter! Not easy to face up to, but it's never too late, you earned my respect. Hopefully your new work will inspire more people to do a broad reality check on their own personal integrity. I suspect there are many more corporate employees that have similar stories to tell in many business areas. instead of looking after their own personal ambitions and greed.
If only people like this could find the courage to speak from within the system instead of waiting until they were safely removed from any repercussions such as constructive dismissal and the like; such a move would hold more water for me. Still good that such former insiders do finally speak.
This clip truly disgusted and angered me, I had already come to suspect that what happen during the Clinton years was happening right now in congress with the newest attempt at health care reformation!
Don't just write your politicians! Share this video and get your friends and family to write as well! It is time for American's to stand up and demand an end to this kind of disgusting corruption!!!
The USA has the ... "BEST SPECIALISTS" ... but our Health Care System stinks and is ranked as the Low 37th on a World Scale !! It's like saying "THE USA WON THE MOST GOLD MEDALS IN THE OLYMPICS ... SO THE ENTIRE AMERICAN POPULATION IS MADE OF TOP ATHLETES !! Don't buy into the Right-Wing propaganda. See my profile for more information as well as ways in which you can contact your representatives. Thank you.
There is a special place in hell for the Health Care Industry and the Politicians who have allowed this to happen to Americans. Shame on us, who allow this to happen. Write to your politicians and tell them where to shove it.
FOX news invaded China. Those something got talents are spread widely over there already. Soon they'll promote Communists are the greatest. Remember how they promote Capitalists are the greatest here? They don't need anything new.
beancube2010 1 year ago
H.R. 676
medicare for every American is here
88madmax88 1 year ago
Right leaning media wont touch this story. It is against the interests of big money. ALOT of money is spent to discredit and to provide disinformation on subjects like this. The shear fact the over 4 BILLION was spent to smear nancy pelosi in the mid term elections says it all. 4 BILLION to just smear one single person... can u imagine how many people 4 billion dollars could help care for? And now those same people are begging Obama for an extended tax break! WAKE THE -F- UP PEOPLE!
DungbeetleXL5000 1 year ago
Kill the ILLEGAL HC Tax & Jail Trojan Horse Mandate Bill.....
Kill the Bill....
Vote em out..
Nobody wants it..
hadenufnow 2 years ago
@hadenufnow if noone wanted it obama wouldn't have won in a landslide on the promise that he would pass hcr
realtheloniuscrunk 1 year ago
We as conservatives stand against the socialized government controlled vaccine program that currently exists in the United States.
We want to privatize this institution. Americans should have the freedom to take responsibility for themselves, stop looking for hand outs, and shop the free market for a best H1N1 vaccine.
NO to publicly funded vaccines.
ConservativeHealth 2 years ago
Conservative, Very short sided & some untrue statements you have left.
DERBYCLOWN 2 years ago
We have to spread this! It's amazing!
brunodemoura 2 years ago 5
Thanks to Michael Moore "mmflint" I found out about Wendell Potter. It's really sad this story wasn't played on most media news stations.
kittenpawsbb 2 years ago 5
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for ONE people to dissolve the political partys which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and EQUAL station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures God ENTITLE them, a Decent Respect to the opinions of HUMANKIND requires that they should declare the CAUSES which impel them to the separation.-" from for profit DenialCare Barons!
Single Payer or die broke!
research HR 676
rwcbanzai 2 years ago
This sounds good, but until the lawmakers we VOTE into office nothing will change or get better for us! The people that we put into office should be there for the people not for themselvels! Just like SS until the lawmakers are on the same plan we the people are on nothing will change!
ukgolft 2 years ago 3
Believe it or not, but a Doctor turned Lawmaker (no I'm not talking about Ron Paul) has introduced a bill that would make it that those that vote for a Health Plan have to give up their's and good with what they voted for, but I can't remember his name right now. If you're interested I could try to dig up the HR number and his name.
kcjenner1 2 years ago
What pisses me off is how people who oppose the new healthcare program are so clueless as to the other half of the debate. The don't want to spend any money on those in need (which is rediculas when you think of what they are actually spending on healthcare or lack there off) they don't want socialism because it's controlling ( clueless as to how their insurnance company ties the hands of their own doctors) and then doesn't trust Obama (but trust those who would let them die for a bonus.)WTF?
jeangrey65 2 years ago 10
If everybody likes this, check out confessions by Linda Peeno here on YouTube and her part as a gatekeeper with a death panel like job for an insurance company. She admitted denying care so the patient died as result. Tragic. It is worse now, she admits.
bonnieblue12 2 years ago
How come this video has so few views?
People need to see this. Post it on facebook or mail it to friends!
copypolice 2 years ago
Email it to as many people as you can. People are being duped. Half the idiots who show up at these "town hall meetings" are shills. Insurance companies are even sending employees. People need to wake up.
mss627 2 years ago 2
Not many people know who Bill Moyers is. It's sad that real journalists are pushed aside to make room for blowhards like O'Reilly and Hannity.
okplayer420 2 years ago 10
The media needs to point out the congressmen who are taking contributions from these health care vultures. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out who's getting the money and how it's effecting their vote. I'm at the point where I'd be willing to purge the entire legislator to get some honest people in office.
mss627 2 years ago
these videos need to fowarded to everyone in The United States!
TIXGUY2010 2 years ago 2
Now that Wendell is loaded with cash..... Now he wants to bang on the gates of heaven saying "let me in now". If WENDELL really does care....... he would give ALL his money up to his NEW cause. Am I wrong???
moodlem 2 years ago
Everybody makes mistakes but that does not mean he should give up his income to a cause. He is giving time and spreading the truth. I know how it is to work for a company without ethics. It is hard to live with.
bonnieblue12 2 years ago
A public option is a must! Any health care bill without one won't control costs enough.
Longlakedreaming 2 years ago 3
This is BASIC politics.
Create a negative movement to blunt the actual issue.
Republican's/Coporatist would see Our Country burned to the ground, rather than them lose profit, or back away from such an issue.
They're walking a fine-line with their RACIAL politics. Deliberately inciting simple TOWN HALL folk, and FOX NEWS fanning the flames of hate directly calling our President a Racist.
I've never seen this country tense.
If Repulicans/Corporatist persist, 'There Will Be Blood!'
ruppstomp 2 years ago
If only the town hall crazies would watch this interview.
Eaacker 2 years ago
I agree. The problem is they don't want to understand "why" we need reform. They are just falling in line and following the industry and don't even know it. They just don't get it.
alfredoelhombre 2 years ago
It doesn't matter. These idiots have one purpose in mind: Take down Obama. If the rest of the country suffers as a result, so be it. The fact that "Fixed" News is the number one news channel in America pretty much says it all. One day people will look back at this period of history and hang their heads in shame.
mss627 2 years ago 2
Very true.
copypolice 2 years ago
LOOK at your negative rating. They are watching this video. You have to understand these people have invested so much emotion into fighting against the dems and healthcare reform that facts no longer work on them. Its sad but as long as fox is in business the truth will continue to suffer.Everybody acknowledges that fox is a terrible news station but nobody will talk about how fox's distortions and fear mongering has become a MAJOR issue.Somebody needs to make them tel the truth.
qualityrkc 2 years ago 16
Fox news station blows away all the other, how is it that they are terrible. Provide examples of stories they have distorted. What fear mongering? The news and reality is where the fear lies. when have they not told the truth. I am sure many others on here would like to read your list as well, considering you are all about FACTS. Thanks
OneBigAzzMistake 2 years ago
i agree with you. there are so many people that post stories but then have no real facts to prove otherwise. i watched glenn becks show on here and the last segment this perosn with a college education thought they knew more. they posted info about toyota but had no web sites to reference. so i found some web sites and posted them. its real easy.
onewhocares08 1 year ago
@qualityrkc
Can we boycott fox?
pluto4847 1 year ago
Personally, I think the answer is that EVERYONE in America including all Government "officials' be under the same health plan.I bet that would make things a LOT better for everyone.
mrsyeltrik 2 years ago 3
THANK YOU WENDELL for telling whats going on
rickbar123 2 years ago 4
i second that
thesparitan 2 years ago
I'm sure these guys got the scales to tip against tobacco companies. Not because it was killing people but because it took away the bottom line.
DO SOMETHING. VOTE UNTIL YOU GET IT RIGHT AND UNTIL THEY GET IT. GET IT?
LouisMattheeMusic 2 years ago 2
I have a link to actual bill in my comments section on my profile so that any of you who choose to do so can easily read it for yourselves without any bias and without anything being taken out of context. I also have several ways in which you can contact your representatives including phone numbers. We have been trying to do this for over 60 yrs. no more excuses. The longer we wait the worse things will be and the more it will cost.
Smartassawhip 2 years ago 8
Sadly Obama is a "Corporate Man" thru & thru.. he will find the 'fix' that everyone THINKS is the best option (because it'll be sold to y'all that way by the mainstream media) but in reality it'll be another money-spinning Corporate fix which won't address the basic premise that FREE healthcare IS easily deliverable AND it acts as a restraining influence on corporate GREED! If people can get medicaid for FREE the only way corporates will be able to charge MORE is by offering something BETTER.
ejbh3160 2 years ago
come again in 20 years when health problem start pilling up.
your money already wasted on health insurances profits when they should have had a long term horizon for your golden years.
amet1980 2 years ago
Whistleblowers often put a lot on the line and risk trouble, harassment, and so on for doing the right thing on behalf of the American people. There ought to be a award like Patriot of the year rewarding whistleblowers in addition to improvements to protect them. Government officials denouncing criminal activity by an agency have been harrassed by the FBI instead of rewarded and protected.
Rickdeckard2020 2 years ago 2
Obeliskian, you are so wrong. You want to understand single payer system. You don't have to look beyond the VA system or medicare. Do a little research on Medicare Part C and you will then learn that there is a way for the private sector to profit very nicely with a single payer plan.
mtemrich 2 years ago
Tobacco lobbyists changed jobs to oil company lobbyists so it isn't a surprise that Bush (who had political ads funded by tobacco lobbyists) needed pre-emptive war to subsidize the "needs" of oil companies. Just shows how corrupt the political system is when the Republican Party tries to get tax cuts for the super rich lobbyists and their corporations.
Melville0 2 years ago
Thank you Mr Potter (from Tennessee no doubt!) for standing up for the American people.
Mr Moyers keep up bringing important stories to PBS.
techygrrlkush 2 years ago 5
I can't be silent anymore. I'm a physician in solo practice. I deal with Medicare and for-profit insurance companies daily. Insurance is not the same as coverage. We need to join the rest of the civilized world and provide at least a single payor system. Our health should not be traded on the NYSE.
BabaORiley1972 2 years ago 30
@BabaORiley1972 THANK YOU! I've often opined that insurance is gambling, and your health is not something you want to make bets against. Actuaries are odds makers, insurance agents are bookies. How foolish must we be to choose to gamble against our health as a means of paying for our healthcare rather than embracing the fact that we all get sick, we all need care at some point in our lives, and we as a society should all have access to decent care.
tgrigsby7 2 months ago
RIGHT ON! Good for those doctors!
TheFlocklessShepherd 2 years ago 2
This is all very relevant to all in need of health, (ie everybody), yet it also mirrors the world water crisis. Many are unaware; many are trying to solve the problem with new methods of water procurement, ie desalination. Yet it is TRUE, that water conservation benefits far out runs production, just as pro-active health efforts benefit the body beyond the despicable practices of what is called "healthcare" in this country. Find the natural health solution easily and stop worry about it!
Planetman1z 2 years ago
This is all very relevant to all in need of health, (ie everybody), yet it also mirrors the world water crisis. Many are unaware, many are trying to solve the problem with new methods of water procurement, ie desalination. Yet it is TRUE, that water conservation benefits far out runs production, just as pro-active health efforts benefit the body beyond the despicable practices of what is called "healthcare" in this country. Find the natural health solution easily and stop worrying about it!
Planetman1z 2 years ago
Those PR and Marketing persons working for those industries should go home feeling crappy for what they pull off selling to the public at the end of the day. I know I would have left after learning what I was promoting. At least I have a conscience.
neutrotwo 2 years ago
Depends on how you look at it > omigosh, Americans would have SOCIALIZED healthcare, or omigosh, Americans would have socialized HEALTHCARE !!!
Yankhadenough 2 years ago
WTF???
jer4703 2 years ago
It's not certain we'll get real change - Insurance companies are now getting MILLIONS to Democrats & Republicans in Congress right now.
It's not just the GOPers, the DEMS are getting big money as well.
DillonX 2 years ago 6
America land of the free and home of the brave expert when it comes to Americans doing business then it's "take when you can get"! Thanks PBS for excellence with this broadcasting!
PaulLeary 2 years ago 4
The people of this country need to wake up! The mega-corporations have raped us enough!! No more sheeple!!! The pharmaceutical, insurance, petroleum, and financial corporations are raping us for every spare dollar we earn, not to mention the 25% we pay the government in taxes. A government that is supposed to listen to its people, not bend over and take it for a lousy dollar.
COME ON AMERICA!! WAKE THE HELL UP!!!
PlayTilTheyBleed 2 years ago 7
ha ha that's a laugh
atripa645 2 years ago
'There is no such thing as good and evil...only power, and those too weak to seek it." (Lord Voldemort, speaking to another Potter).
dailyrev 2 years ago
This is exactly what Micheal Moore pointed out in his documentary Film Sicko.
This guy Wendell Potter who worked for CIGNA for 15 years,points out the dirty little tricks that these large insurance companies keep pulling off.
Less and Less health care for higher and higher costs to the consumer.
It is clear as day to any logical thinker,our current insurance run health care system does not work.
It is time to look at a single payer system.
It works quite well in other countries.
Subgenius4u 2 years ago 6
This revelation was most welcome. It is virtually impossible to purchase health insurance in the private market if you have ever seen a doctor for anything. The industry assesses points for every problem you ever had whether under treatment currently or not or even if it only occurred once. Then the points are added up and you are(guaranteed) denied. This is why even affordable health care will be unavailable until these bastard rules are done away with.
sensenbrenner 2 years ago 6
This guy must be stupid. How someone like this is at the high level of management belies belief. How could he not put 2 and 2 together.
AddyGoose 2 years ago
AddyGoose the bad guys run the show in corporations, and insulate the good guys from the truth, and the money is sooo intoxicating .... team"player" mentality rules in American corporations, NOT teamwork (as we are misled to believe)
aspieresearchmom 2 years ago 5
"Team player" ~ that's the joke and the crime, although not a funny joke!
Planetman1z 2 years ago
AddyGoose......I think Mr. Potter grew a conscience.
mrsyeltrik 2 years ago
Great Interview, If Cigna manage to smear this guy then they have a magic genie who would allow them to dig up dirt on the dalai lama
Cdogmaximilian 2 years ago 3
Mr. Potter, you know what you have to do next.
Tell the truth and keep telling the truth.
TrishfromOhio 2 years ago 7
What baffles me is that it's widely known that the corporate business model is nothing but a behemoth pyramid/ponzi scheme which sucks up approximately 80-90% of the wealth from about 95% of the public & deposits it into the private bank accounts of roughly 5% of the so-called "elite" population, and no one is taking any real steps to stop it. Why aren't our laws being upheld?
These practices are morally & ethically wrong; and not even technically legal-- per The Constitution-- in this country.
FriedDaisy 2 years ago 6
Well... at least this guy felt guilty... of course he knew he was part of the system screwing over everybody else... but at least he comes and speaks against it; he could have been a wonderful lobbyist and made an awesome retirement from the skills he polished at CIGNA during all those years: sugarcoating shit
onlyrey 2 years ago 5
Let me tell you something my friends: There is NO such thing as single payer ONLY system in any country of the world.
If you're rich, you can get whatever treatment you require right away in private hospitals and clinics. The difference is that a single payer system would take the abject middle man HMO's out of the equation. I remind you that between a doctor and patient -NO statistician-ad campaign-profit taking is required.Go figure.
The IDEA of bankruptcy by medical bills totally baffles me.
worldismorphing 2 years ago
You Americans need to finish what you started in the 60' .... This time you know wall-to-wall anti-socialism is more then BS ...its intellectual sodomy when its practiced in the cartoonish way your degenerate republican party and your perverted democrats do it.
"Single payer would bring SOCIALISM in the country .....BOoohHOo ! ..." as if its a case closing argument...
worldismorphing 2 years ago 8
Touchet!!
kipptumor 2 years ago
The proper term is "touché". :)
Vierotchka 2 years ago
Senator Bunning of Kentucky, Senator Vitter of Louisana, & Senator Burr of North Carolina have all taken big contributions from the Insurance Industry & are in the pocket of the Insurance Industry & MUST BE DEFEATED IN 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DillonX 2 years ago 4
Unregulated, profit driven, heartless. We are like crops to these zombies in three piece suits who collect our premiums every month and use them to lobby against our best interests with politicians we elected. Politicians; listen up, we fire people too. If you are taking lobbyist's money, (our money) to disservice the American people your problems will come to roost.
LordTempist 2 years ago 6
capitalism is just rape by a different name
qazwas2001 2 years ago 4
The problem is not only the insurance companies but also the American Medical Association mafia and government excessive regulations. The system has to be simplified and disband the mafias that protect themselves from the free market competition.
In other words the Health Care system has to be reconstructed from scratch.
Lucem2 2 years ago 4
Thanks Bill for interviewing folks and talking about things the mainstream media often ignores. Health Insurance is nothing more than a pyramid / ponzi scheme / scam. They spread lies. They are directly associated with the corrupt banking industry. Their goal is the same, take a lot of money from a lot at the bottom of the pyramid and move it to the top. The way Reagan did when he cut the tax rate for the top wealhty and raised them on the bottom. It's a scam. Single Payer NOW. Kucinich 2012.
markdown01 2 years ago 3
people need to get smarter,they often vote against their own best interests,cause some turd like limbaugh or hannity told them to.use what brains you've got to make up your own mind.common sense should prevail,but seldom does.
heyeddie451 2 years ago
yeah
gwjib04 2 years ago
Thanks to 3slimdog for sending me this and the republican party is only worried about their rich friends.
The insurance companies are covering less and less while charging more.
Learnthetruth100 2 years ago 6
We taxpayers of the USA Provide and pay for government health insurance for all of CONGRESS ......OUTRAGED Yet ???????
4nola27 2 years ago 6
4nola27.... YES!!!! I am outraged that we pay for conmgress's insurance and I am SURE that it is TONS better then anything you or I have.
mrsyeltrik 2 years ago
ANIMAL STALLS? What in God's Name have we become that human being have to go to "medical expeditions" to see a physician in an animal stall- because that's all the health care they can afford? Corporate greed equates to the deaths of thousands each year. Where is the outrage?
yoursaxman 2 years ago 5
Some of the outrage is being redirected to the common scapegoats: minorities, foreigners, and the like, and the Phantom Red Menace.
Scentless 2 years ago
It's all about feeding the never ending greed of wall street/corporate America. 60 people a day are dying due to lack of healthcare and they couldn't care less as long as the money keeps rolling in.
vvroses52 2 years ago 5
Watch this first!
dammitdog99 2 years ago
I suspect Mr. Potter is a bit disingenuous. He's made his big pile of cash off the backs of people that could ill afford the costs of health care. Perhaps now he's trying to ease his conscience. When he gives the money back then he'll have my respect. Otherwise he's just another PR man.
equifilibricum 2 years ago
Awe, the insurance companies don't want competition? Now, how special is that?
aspenmogul 2 years ago 8
compartmentalization - a common tragedy.
ho2cultcha 2 years ago
Thank G'd there are some places left that tell the truth!
7inga7 2 years ago 5
To MrAntiRepublican: I am also an ATR, but I don't think we can lay this solely on the Republicans. In my opinion greed is the common denominator.Greedy corporations.Corporations come in both Republican and Democrat. To me Wall Street is just a big Monopoly Game for the Rich and Greedy, and corporations are where they live.I am pretty embarassed to be an American.I have needed 2 joint surgeries for at least 5 years and as far as I can tell I may never get thembecause I am uninsured!!!
ripleysb 2 years ago 2
Vital info. Everyone should see this. BLACKOUT? Why didn't this run on public tv in Chicago last night? Instead there was 20-25 min of dead air followed by an old rerun. Even the late-night rebroadcast was the rerun. WHASSUP PBS?
scanditube 2 years ago 3
This is a vital interview that EVERYONE should see! BLACKOUT: I wonder why it didn't run in Chicago last night -- instead there was 20+ min of dead air followed by an old-rerun. Even the rebroadcast showed the oldie rather than the Moyers-Potter intvw. WHASSUP PBS?????
scanditube 2 years ago
What is so bad with having a government health care plan? We wouldnt have any of this if our government was more focused on the people's interest and needs, rather than on companies' profitability. Ups! I'm sorry! I forgot that is not the government who controls, is the wealthy companies.
ismael22089 2 years ago
Wendell Potter deserves a medal.
gerrycgc 2 years ago 2
It is doubtful that the majority of our elected officials understand the health care crisis encountered by working class Americans when his/her pockets are lined by not understanding it.
We, the people must demand our elected officials and other governement employees do not receive health insurance (that we pay for), until every American has the same coverage. Employees(government workers)never have better benefits than the employers(we the people).
Single payer now.
bpartoens 2 years ago 2
We are the only country that runs health care on a greed-as-you-go basis!
Name one country that has adopted nationalized health care and then given up on it.
TheDAMageReport 2 years ago
If everyone would cancel or stop paying their premiums on health insurance, how fast would these bastards go out of buisness. Greed has destroyed this once great country, because it is never enough for the greedy.
70road 2 years ago 5
Are you kidding? They would get a bailout and charge you and your kids for the privilege.
biantai888 2 years ago
well, that's what a single payer national health care system will do. the congress and lobbyists are afraid socialized medicine will drive millions from private insurance.
so be it.
i say that the private insurance industry is no longer a workable luxury. right now, i can't think of a better scenario than putting a million insurance workers intended to clog up the medical system, in the unemployment line.
i'm curious, who do you think those people at the free clinics vote for?
tomitstube 2 years ago 4
It's that million plus workers that would be on the unemployment line that Obama and others are worried about...they do not do meaningful work - in fact that contribute vitally and mightily to this corrupt system but they will have to be retrained into doing something different. This is where I think the Administration is really stuck - there would be no energy towards fixing this without the economy but the economy and unemployment are making it very difficult
donnageiger 2 years ago
"put faces to numbers"... great idea...
ProfesorMacOnline 2 years ago
Lobbyists - Lying - Disinformation campaigns - Media mouthpieces for big business agendas (Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdock, etc.) - No wonder we are in the place where we are today. The middlemen are siphoning off as much as they can get away with.
Nationalize health care. Cutting out the middle men (insurance industry) will ultimately save us substantial money.
Health care is already socialized (who do you think pays for indigent visits to emergency rooms?). It's high time to end the corruption.
pcc7407 2 years ago 6
RE: "The middlemen are siphoning off as much as they can get away with."
And somehow, many of the American citizens are allowing them to get away with it.
One of the reasons for that is because people are terrified of - gasp - SOCIALISM! Well, it's time to get over that fear and start providing health care for even the poorest Americans. If it works, use it.
sundragon0330 2 years ago 4
sundragon0330 Thomas Jefferson , the socialist, introduced the bill for public education for all. :-)
Yankhadenough 2 years ago
Here is a great talking point when confronting the 'socialist' hysteria: Point out that private sector health care could NOT exist without the 'socialized medicine' of Medicare for the elderly. Without Medicare, most elderly simply could not afford healthcare and would be dying in the streets and would expose for-profit healthcare for the cruel, inadequate ripoff it really is.
freddycupples 2 years ago 5
that's just the tip of the iceberg.
when people compare medicare to private insurance must be kidding the world..
the one directed to people with a 80% to 90% rate of health problems.
the other offered to healthy people.
as long as the 2 systems are separated will always have the people screwed.
imagine a similar separation in social security, its insane even in the concept of it.
health care insurance must be a long term through life singular project.
amet1980 2 years ago
excellent point... I also love the new ads they're putting out saying "do you really want a gov't bureaucrat in charge of your healthcare" ? No, I want an insurance bureaucrat trying to deny my claims so he can make a nice fat bonus.
I watched the whole interview at the PBS site, very eye opening.
livardo 2 years ago 2
It's so incredibly sad to see this. I worked in the health care for several years, and I've seen people choosing between buying medicine or buying food that month.
Zenoah1 2 years ago 3
Thats a great point. Whats missing from the healthcare debate is the issue of massive price gouging by the drug companies. There needs to be a separate campaign to reduce unjustified drug cost themselves.
freddycupples 2 years ago 3
do it japan way if you dont like european one.
fixed prices or top roof prices fixed by goverment.
amet1980 2 years ago
Only Americans could be so stupid to think a health care system working in the interest of profit takers would actually work. A government run system looks to cover costs but not necessarily make a profit - the word socialism scares the hell out of wall street. American democracy no longer belongs to the voter - it belongs to corporations and Wall Street.
wildcardnt 2 years ago 7
Forward this to every congressman. Republicans need to know that this may be their final undoing. However they will still be on CSPAN spouting their alliances to profit at the cost of cancer treatment for children. Use this video to stop the horror and help Americans who need help.
MrAntiRepublican 2 years ago 3
Mr Potter has provided the smoking gun to reveal the heart of the Republican Party. From what you know now watch CSPAN Coverage of the Health Care Debate and try telling me the Republicans represent working people or care about anything but profit. This is the final nail in their coffin
MrAntiRepublican 2 years ago 3
Republicans? The Democrats are every bit as complicit. If you don't wake up to that fact, you're never going to solve this problem.
fulluvit 2 years ago 2
Only in America ! The worst and also the best.
aya3769 2 years ago 2
Send this video to your congressman & ask their position on the health-care issue & specifically, a single payer system.
Dr. S
symonsgmail 2 years ago
Right On, Bill! You come through, once again.
You are so appreciated.
Dr. S
symonsgmail 2 years ago
Amazing! Well done Wendall Potter! Not easy to face up to, but it's never too late, you earned my respect. Hopefully your new work will inspire more people to do a broad reality check on their own personal integrity. I suspect there are many more corporate employees that have similar stories to tell in many business areas. instead of looking after their own personal ambitions and greed.
Wickeddreams123 2 years ago
If only people like this could find the courage to speak from within the system instead of waiting until they were safely removed from any repercussions such as constructive dismissal and the like; such a move would hold more water for me. Still good that such former insiders do finally speak.
pacree 2 years ago 2
But it's winky time...
leeroynaggins 2 years ago
This clip truly disgusted and angered me, I had already come to suspect that what happen during the Clinton years was happening right now in congress with the newest attempt at health care reformation!
Don't just write your politicians! Share this video and get your friends and family to write as well! It is time for American's to stand up and demand an end to this kind of disgusting corruption!!!
emmile84 2 years ago 3
excellent comment. I am with you 100%
Dr. S
symonsgmail 2 years ago
The USA has the ... "BEST SPECIALISTS" ... but our Health Care System stinks and is ranked as the Low 37th on a World Scale !! It's like saying "THE USA WON THE MOST GOLD MEDALS IN THE OLYMPICS ... SO THE ENTIRE AMERICAN POPULATION IS MADE OF TOP ATHLETES !! Don't buy into the Right-Wing propaganda. See my profile for more information as well as ways in which you can contact your representatives. Thank you.
Smartassawhip 2 years ago 2
There is a special place in hell for the Health Care Industry and the Politicians who have allowed this to happen to Americans. Shame on us, who allow this to happen. Write to your politicians and tell them where to shove it.
kashman1225 2 years ago 5
Great interview! Thank you.
graphicsprincess 2 years ago 5
Down right scary! People are sheep to follow the healthcare industry.
lordcron 2 years ago 5
Yet you are here watching this video.. lol
Smartassawhip 2 years ago
This comment re: Lordcron, reveals that your ID is a misnomer.
Dr. S
symonsgmail 2 years ago
You no doubt work for the industry. You seem to be casting a negative light on all of us who are victims of what the industry is doing.
Are you working in this industry?
lordcron 2 years ago
See also part 2
beldapriest 2 years ago