Wendell Potter and Sick For Profit on The Ed Show

[hughes7520]

Garunteed profit? That doesn't sound like the free market to me.

[k9kmc]

DON"T LIKE OBAMA HEATH CARE ?  TRY GOP NO CARE !!!

[333BozskiPA]

as a CANADIAN im required to have medical insurance, enforcement of coverage is generally lax. once in my early twenties i hurt my had with fireworks and went to the hosptal, where they proceeded to backdate my expired coverage (OF 6 MTHS) and care for my hand before the paperwork was completed as it needed a signature. i fear my hand wound would have been revused care if uninsured in usa

[imajorhavoc]

its against the law for the federal government to interfere with the states laws

[wear2whale]

@imajorhavoc lol. thats politically correct... but oh my gosh has that rule been broken so many times.

[rich2rock]

HOW IS THIS NOT WRONG!!!???

[wear2whale]

since when does a business have to pay people for doing nothing. Greed is what runs this country. Its what makes people get up in the morning and go to work and work harder than the next person. if they raise their insurance rates... go to a different insurance company. the last thing you want to do is get rid of peoples options... then the government will screw us all over.

[funkyflights]

Yeah uh huh...... wear2whale.... you do realize the insurance companies have a monopoly right? There all charging HIGH PREMIUMS.... So I say fuck um.... don't have health insurance... unfortunately people that have equity and a big saving account might lose everything they've worked so hard for though... America is turning into the biggest corporate whore EVER....

[wear2whale]

@funkyflights your right. lets take a monopoly and lets let the people that don't know how to run an educational system... and have them run all the hospitals in america. then if your illegal and hurt yourself you don't get help.

[funkyflights]

@wear2whale

And put a man on the moon.... has the most powerful military in the world... great police force... fire department... look I"m not saying government is the only answer BUT a non profit SYSTEM in health care is desperately needed... Product and innovation can remain the same but let's GET a system that doesn't leave people behind... in 7-8 years our current health care system is gonna bankrupt the country... SOMETHING has to be done... our leaders are gonna have too... HAVE TO!

[graverobber35]

Who is this "ED" dick , anyway.

Don't you people know that liberals are idiots?

[upsilon054]

I have a question for everybody here. Would anybody be really very surprised if the Obama White House was somehow or another engaged in some sort of shell game with the people who put him in office? And furthermore, that Obama never really intended any change in this area to begin with?☺

[johnnorvaisas]

The real scary part of all this would be a government run public option that scares the hell out of me.

More rationing less doctors a road to a full fledged socialist universal health care that scares me.

[wear2whale]

@johnnorvaisas that is my biggest concern as well. These stupid democrats don't realize how much money we put into our healthcare system. the rest of the country wishes they had our science and technology.

[johnnorvaisas]

The Wall Street Journal is calling Nancy Pelosi's 1,990-page government takeover of healthcare the "worst piece of post-New Deal legislation ever introduced."

The 20-pound, 1,990 page healthcare "reform" bill (H.R. 3962) will create 111 NEW federal bureaucracies.

The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) said on Thursday of last week that the U.S. House health-care system reform ("PELOSICARE") has a price tag of $1.055 trillion.

[gggreggg]

i wish Ed would tone it down!!!! he shouts too much.

[wear2whale]

@gggreggg or maybe he could just move to europe or cuba where they have healthcare that is shitty like he wants it.

[chrisfo19]

@wear2whale if is so shitty then why do Americans flood abroad for treatment. Also those foreigners that come here for treatment well for one thing are Rich and decide too. name one common citizen from Europe, Japan, or Cuba.

Also i know a few Americans that went abroad My school teacher when I lived in San Diego still drives to Mexico for his checkups, A friend of mine finishing med school flew to singapore for a kidney transplant and it cost her less than here.

[chrisfo19]

@wear2whale A neighbour of mine flew to the Netherlands for Cancer treament. My Grandpa flew to India for Heart surgery becuase those leeches from the HI companies denied him coverage. So why don't you go back to bed and be a whore for the Health Insurance Companies.

[auxpower13]

@wear2whale I'd take theirs over ours any day. You would too if you weren't an ignorant fool. But, that is asking alot.

[BLaZeDRas]

@wear2whale no offense to Americans (I understand that it is the corporations treating people like this) but there is no way in hell I would give up our NHS (British National Health Service) to go over to a system like the US has. Healthcare for profit (not to mention them actively denying care because of profits) is one of the worst things I could imagine. Greedy corporate assholes killing people to make money, sickening.

[wear2whale]

@BLaZeDRas excellent points. i won't pretend capitolism doesn't have its flaws. Sometimes i wonder why God let us have so many choices, and didn't save so many of us from tempation and problems.... but we shallow Americans love our dental care... our plastic surgery. Our idealism has gotten the better of us and we pay a steep price for it. What i wonder is how many people will die as a result of the hospitals slowing down because the doctors severed salary.

[BLaZeDRas]

@wear2whale yes I worry about that too for a few American doctors. Though I don't believe many doctors would be demoralized by having free reign on helping people with a slightly smaller salary. I mean, our doctors get paid very well in the UK but I am sure not quite as well as yours. It will be a big change for them over in the US if they did ever have universal healthcare but I would imagine a lot if not most doctors get into the field to help people. The pay is just a bonus

[funkyflights]

@BLaZeDRas

Hey man well said!! It's good to hear people from out of the USA talking about the ridiculous attacks from the right wing on how BAD England and Canada has it.... I have family from England and my grandfather was born there as was my father... It's just ridiculous what our leaders are doing to the American people with this failed health care system..... it's sad man really sad.... Your very fortunate to be English!!

[rich2rock]

Let them die!!! Tie them down and let us shit on their faces!

[wear2whale]

@rich2rock lol. i know right what a bunch of stupid reporters!

[excal505]

Democrats republicans it matters not they are on the same team.they are owned by the same people NWO. period they have control of both sides and you think that there is different for one or other no there is not. thats the thing people don't get they are the same its like good cop bad cop you hate one call for the other you hate them call back the other wake up they want us all dead PERIOD........................­..............................­..............................­........................

[carolmahoney]

I don't blame wellpoint for fighting to protect their profits for shareholders. Instead I see this as an example of why we should not have a public company in the heath business. It's a conflict of interest - not a win/win.

[upsilon054]

I'm starting to wonder if more than a few of the members of the Obama administration are in the pockets of the Insurance cartel. ☺

[luvofcountry]

You're right. Obama & the Dems better grow a pair -real quick. This video might have come out b4 the PricewaterCooperhouse debacle, and I hope Obama has learned something since then.

And I CERTAINLY do not want him cutting any deals with (R) Billy Tauzin of PHRMA. I may be an ex-Republican, but if the Dems blow this, I'll vote 3rd party 4ever. Rush, Glenn & their ilk will have the advantage, but when neocons realize their rates will skyrocket anyway, they'll come around. Just might take awhile.

[Textynn]

Now they are suing us for not letting them rape us. WOW, that's mind boggling.

[SYNPlaymaker88]

Frankly, i don't get it. Be it personal, as a company, city or state, If an insurer is "screwing you" or you think it is then why not find a different one? There's something like 1700 providers in the nation, and if all the ones in your area are charging the same rate then it's about factors in the market there, not a screwing. Why look to govt to do something you could easily do for your self? you already have the power to tell an insurer to go stuff it, why surrender your power to govt?

[Zootallors]

Part 1 of 2: Actually, we don't have the freedom to find another. Only a limited number may set up in a state area. Once you're denied by one, the others do, too; or if they accept you, they'll make their rates so exhorbitant it's unaffordable. We always been paying for those who cannot afford to get health insurance--the health industry raises the costs on all of us. Health insurers see their primary duty as producing profits for their shareholders; covering their customers is secondary.

[Zootallors]

Part 2 of 2: America is the only nation that allows health insurers not merely to make profits, but to be as uniquely protected as they are, moreso than most other businesses, which is why they get such consistently high rates of return for investors. Germany has both public & private insurance options--however, the difference is their health insurance companies aren't allowed to gain profits or have investors as American companies do, merely to do the business of insuring their customers.

[OrmEmber]

I worked for WellPoint. They own a lot of different insurance companies that you think are in competition with each other. If you don't demand a public option, they will bribe their way to winning this battle, and we will never get them off our backs.

[InsuranceCIO]

Ed,

What are you doing trying to expose our cute, little situation in Washington, D.C.? We have people positioned in the highest levels of government and we have an army of people willing to "die" for us. Why would be want anything that would hurt our profits? We always think about profits before people. How else would I be able to afford my fifth house in the Bahamas?

[n8glenn]

Hey, this guy is angry! That's awesome. People need to stand up on their chairs and start screaming at obama, or better yet, forget obama and the democrats and start a new party. We can't afford to go to sleep and think that the democrats are going to change ANYTHING! They've been in charge since 2006!

[1969pontiac1]

I have said for years you need a party who does not take money from these Corp companies. Both parties do it, Ed is right, what is everyone waiting on. I can tell you we might get a watered down plan if that. These companies have billions of dollars and it is hard to fight that. One thing some of the blue dogs have to worry about, if they vote for something that most of the people dont want, they are not going to vote themselves out of a job.

[n8glenn]

Anyone who votes for "reform" that does not include a public option, or anything that the insurance companies don't want, or forces americans to buy private insurance, has no business sitting in congress.

[unclestuntman]

Its not about democrats, republicans, conservatives or liberals. Its about the SUPER rich vs. the american people.

They (ELITE) have us divided with all this bullshit so they can continue to RAPE the American people.

My 2 cents.

[mastior]

XLNT...

[robespierreification]

We need a party that represents working people. The U.S. doesn't have that. Dump the Democrats. Labor Party. No money from the monopolies. How many times do we have to be screwed over for this fundamental lesson to be learned?

[scbluesman13]

You want to know why the white house can't go after these guys? It's because they're probably as big as big tobacco. For every 1 lawyer the white house puts forward, the health insurance industry will put up 20. If these fights ever come down to wars of attrition, the multi-billion dollar conglomerates will ALWAYS beat out the federal government. Too big to fail indeed.

[American5Patriot]

Our ENTIRE government is HEAVILY invested in the Big Pharma, Insurance and Military Industrial Complex. They have NO INTENTION of killing the gravy train they've set up for themselves! One of the first things they did when they began Reforming Health Care was to EXEMPT themselves, gee, wonder why?!!!!

[Anjimom]

Let the insurance companies go broke, YES. Stop paying for an invisible product.

[disturbed341]

I say let the insurance companies go broke they are nothing but a legal mafia bring me public health care.

[susanbird1]

What is wrong with Americans. Some think thatCapitalism is the only way to go. You need a balance of both. The insurance & drug companies have fleeced the American public for so long & the policitians are not being frank with us, esp. those (including Obama) who have been taking campaign monies from these companies, they need to step up for the good of the country. We do need to engage. Treat it like it was a war. We can get it together for that - then surely this is small fry in comparison.

[dizzymasekela]

Are Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins whores for Wellpoint?

Fuck Olympia Snowe! Just pass health care reform!

[ViLLiSTa]

This gentleman Ed is a good guy, I like him... he ask the right questions..

[northmeister]

I agree, it is mindblowing, but so is introducing a Healthcare Reform Bill, that starts with compromise "public option", rather than what you really want a Single Payer System. At least if that was started with, then it could of been compromised down to 'public option'. Who is advising the President these days.

[dizzymasekela]

That fucktard and hard core blue dog Rahm Emmanuel is advising Obama and is poisoning Obama's administration.

Barack Obama - Nobel Laureate

Sarah Palin - still illiterate

[susanbird1]

"Barack Obama - Nobel Laureate

Sarah Palin - still illiterate' - too funny.

[midwestcharm]

Who pays for "senior fellows"? Plus Ed spreads opinionated views under the guise of news for a profit. Is he a crook?

[carriellbee]

The government will never side with the people. I guess I should say "this government." The whole system is rotten to the core and until the people rather than the corporations are truly represented, the people will get screwed. Again. And again and again and again.

[SecularTalk]

campaign finance reform.

[MLadyAzzera]

If it wasn't for Obama proposing the public option, none of us would be talking about healthcare in the first place. While I agree he needs to step up to the plate, he at least has got the ball rolling.

Could you imagine what we'd be talking about if Bush was still president? Not health care. We'd be talking about the war, the recession, and the national deficit. He wouldn't even explore the public option, because that would dip into profits.

[1969pontiac1]

I think ED was a little hard on Obama, this problem did not happen over night and want be solved over night either. There is only so much Obama can do.Congress has to do there part and I think they are trying. This is such a maze t just don't think we will have a plan that everyone will agree on and pass this year. It may take a year to get it done. We have had private ins companies as long as I can remember. I do recall when I first started were I work, we were self insured.

[1969pontiac1]

54, might be on to something. I just don't think we will see a public option pass or a single payer, The ED show, on MSNBC gets money for commerical's not the ES show, but MSNBC does as a whole, So they take money from these ins compainies. Money talks I guess

[RomeoMD25]

O was Big Finances top recipient in 08 to the tune of $40 million. Might explain

why 9 months later there has been virtually nothing done to reign in Wall St's excesses.

[1969pontiac1]

Who is O? Wall street got a free ride, a bail out and they get to keep going on like they always have. When does it stop? My company sure would not get a bail out. Thanks if you get a chance to answer my question

[upsilon054]

You know, I am starting to think that the insurance industry has dug up some big dark ugly secret about something in the Obama administration. You have to wonder if Obama's government isn't a victim of extortion. ☺

[MacManiac]

Or maybe the Obama administration isn't and never was the populist advocate for change that it promised it would be. Look at his record so far, and one can easily make the case that he has done little more than continue the criminal policies of the Bush administration. He supports the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, supports the faux nuclear threat in Iran, stocked his administration with bandits from the financial sector, and is now failing on public health care. Is that such a big surprise?

[KeeperOfTheWord]

Could it be that big insurance corporates must fail for us to have health care?

What an intriguing concept!

[stanjz]

The corporate media takes billion every year from the same corporations they rarely ever criticize. If we didn't live in a free market I could understand that, but we do. No excuses for the corporate media when they manipulate the public like they always do. Even so called progressive websites like Daily Kos and Huffington Post takes in corporate money and it show with their unfair attacks on President Obama. Daily Kos just had Freedom Works and the Economist as advertisers.

[leofrankfurter]

Revoloootion it is time!

[gat867]

I agree with Ed - where is the White House?

[stanjz]

You are the government .The system is badly broken because lobbyists, for special interests, were the only ones involved in shaping government policy. Government is required by the Constitution and law to act on behalf of the common good. Example: The Employment Act's purpose was to lay the responsibility of economic stability onto the federal government. Corporations are only required to act on behalf of their shareholders and not the greater good.

[truefictions]

WOW this company must be really EVIL!

They manage to FORCE customers to BUY their product against the will of the customers !!! It must be magic!

LOL..

Peace

/sarcasm off

[GretnaBlast]

Yeah, pay or die, voting with your dollar is super.

[truefictions]

Who buys your food? Mom? Pop? Grandma?

[GretnaBlast]

Irrelevant, but I buy my food, I buy my gas, I pay for my school.

The sarcastic hint of an argument you made four days ago suggests that there are plenty of other insurance companies that don't practice this kind of cut throat capitalism; that suggestion would be wrong.

And no, letting the companies compete across state lines would not fix that (race to the bottom).

[chewbaca1989]

How come I can't get insurance from out of State?

I can buy ammo, porn, cars, sex toys, alfalfa, oranges, booze, weed, tv's, motor oil, bibles.

I can't buy insurance, WTF?

[jfcrow1]

Single Payer Government Option NOW!!

[GreatGig1]

Single payer NOW! Get these money sucking middle men OUT of our health care!! I need to stop watching these kinds of videos as I can feel my blood pressure go up when I do (and I don't even have problems with my blood pressure!) I KNOW my EXPENSIVE private insurance won't cover me if something happens...*sigh*

[TheGeorgeBush666]

3% profit? Thats not much.

[VanDamme123456]

We should follow the example of Scandinavian and Canadian healthcare systems. Anthem like most healthcare insurance providers are ONLY interested in making money and not in the well being of people.

[tonydddd1]

We need healthcare reform now, including a public option since single payer is not even on the table.

Insurance companies should not be profiting from peoples misfortunes.We dont need them as a middle man between doctors and patients!

[SuperNewf1]

Workers Compensation Insurance, in all States of the U.S., and all Canadian Provinces and Territories, equals fraud, theft, culpable homicide, breach of trust, breach of faith, murder, torture both emotional and physical. Their behaviour leads directly to the deaths of hose suffering chronic pain, head injuries, and other illesses. They are purposely "suicided" to make sure they can get their bonuses. While we starve, in pain, Workers comp + injured worker = a marriage made in Hell..

[kaduisaui]

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Therefore, we must forcibly remove anyone from public office who is culpable in undermining the freedoms and prosperity of the people. Hold all those corrupt politicians responsible for ruining our country. Demand single payer health care for every citizen!

Side note: What ever Fox News says, the opposite is true.

Quote from the Vulcan moral majority.

[kevinthe1st]

Be carful kaduisaui ,or fauxnews innsinuate that you are attacing Sarek's party.

[kaduisaui]

Ya, they will spin anything around.

[78SilverBronco]

FUCK YES! GO ED!!! I agree with EVERYTHING he says at the end. Time for Obama to step the fuck up and take it to the Republicans and healthcare insurers.

[tw8e60]

I wished more people would subscribe to this channel and be informed, as ignorance is what has the middle class in property.

[facelesshorseman]

Funny how the "Tort Reform" crowd throw lawsuits around like party favors.

[rewinn]

I want a guaranteed profit too!

I won't insist on $2.5 Billion though; a guaranteed $2million a year will be fine for me. After all, I'm not a health "insurer" so I don't have lobbyists to buy.

[yusefdoodie]

The big red "V" makes Potter look like a chicken LOLLLL

[idodrum50]

Solutions are simple :) A revolution of THOUGHT on behalf of "we the people". Want to know more? Go to idodrum50 (on youtube) and ask me in comment section

[NatureLegalized]

Best possible outcomes are with Medicare for All/Single Payer/Universal Health Coverage.

[KingAssmar]

And now he's making that book/booktour money...

[kazooga1234]

this is fucking screwed up i want to fucking murder all corporations right now

[boots920]

The only reason its screwed up is because the US government doesn't enforce contract law.

[kazooga1234]

ya i no that and its caz corperations r fucked up as they come thats y we need an extremely well written public option not a shitty 1 that helps the corps out more i mean a public option that uses tax payers money like single payer since they refuse to give us single payer

[boots920]

Any thing to do with government ensures you will get a shitty option.

Example: Flu Shots totally useless maybe more harmful, not studies nothing. The government promotes them as helpful.

If you haven't noticed anytime government gets involved its turns into a corrupt nightmare.

Corporations should be held accountable with the government providing the legal clout.

Single user will eventually fail its not realistic on costs.

[kazooga1234]

your wrong flu shots r for profiteering they dont do anything and there r other "vaccines" that dont do anything that r used for profiteering 1 is called garnicel (i dont no if i spelt that right) and we need to have a public option so profiteering will stop and so the insurance companys wont drop people if u prefer to use the insurance companys but im fine with single payer and saying fuck u republics we r doing single payer just so u stfu

[Myschly]

Really dude? Is that your comment on this video?

Premiums raised an average of 18%, employees benefits are cut, they're spending millions on legal fees to sue the state, all because they demand a 3% profit?! The kicker is that they're making a huuuge profit, their CEO is being paid well, and they're spending a more than fair amount on lobbying.

You have no opinion whatsoever about that? You're so hardened on your anti-government case that you can't just see this situation for what it is?

[Wendy62]

"Corporations should be held accountable with the government providing the legal clout."

...Ahh, would that be the government that turns everything into a corrupt nightmare? If you distrust them so much, why do you want them involved?

[boots920]

I want them involved so the "little people" don't have incur legal costs.

[Wendy62]

Oh so do I, I agree totally. But see, I think that if we keep the pressure enough, we can trust the government to involve them, and show some fairness for the little people. Do you?

[boots920]

The problem I see is the government is not sincere in offering universal healthcare.

Really you have to get rid of the whole lot...its not going to happen.

Garden, Gold and Guns...the government is ridiculous they won't even prosecute George Bush for War crimes.

[shadowcnidarian]

It enforces it, just in favor of the rich. Big corporations can sue anybody and win with court cost issues alone.

[KingAssmar]

I love whistleblowers as much as the next guy, but I'm pretty sure Potter was still making the big bucks at CIGNA when they let my dad die last December. It's just hard watching him, even though I know he's trying to do good now.

[kazooga1234]

sorry to read bout your dad and that guy will always be a jerk but i guess its better to do something late then never so at least hes trying but he will always be a dickshit no matter how hard he tries to change

[RazorShultzor]

Awesome.

[paulkielsmithdotcom]

we all know they make more then 3% profit

[fleecejackets]

I love the Ed Show. He really stands up for what he believes in. I think he's getting to be better then Keith Olbermann. Although then again, 1 hour Special Comment tonight :D Awesome video