Insurance Companies Videos

During his long career as a public relations professional in the health insurance world, Wendell Potter lived a luxorious life far removed from the realities of uninsured people throughout the country. Until the day he turned up at a free healthcare fair where thousands of people lined up to receive the most basic care which they could otherwise not get. It was at this point that Wendell decided he had had enough and after leaving his job, dedicated his life to telling the world what he had done and how the insurance companies function to keep things just as they are. Beyond listening to this interview, I highly recommend this interview which appeared in Guernica Magazine. Related Posts:Hackers and Healthcare Part II (podcast #311)Health, Can Anyone Afford it?El SickoHackers and Healthcare Part 1 (podcast #310)Augusto Boal Interview

Congress put on quite a show this weekend, passionately arguing on the Senate floor over whether or not to make the same lame arguments next week over a watered down healthcare bill that will neither provide true reform or control cost. The same con artists that have always protected the special interest groups against the very people they are charge with representing have bamboozled the citizenry again.

Rights, responsibilities; the health of the nation, the health of the people who live here... On all these issues and more, almost a year after the election of Barack Obama, we're still having a hell of time taking that new direction so many voted for. Take health care: one of the biggest sticking points has been whether health care is a right or a responsibility. Barack Obama called it a right on the campaign trail; McCain said responsibility. The voters made their choice, yet we're still having the argument. Those who believe that health care is a right say it's something we actually want people to have and to use. Study after study shows that preventive care and early treatment keep people healthier and costs lower. Private insurers say if you're healthy, don't file a claim; the more claims, the more cost: that's the problem with covering sick people. It's kind of like our approach to voting. In other democracies, everyone who turns voting age receives a permit to vote. In the US, there are a mountain of hurdles to qualify. Back in 1980, Republican leader Paul Weyrich of the Heritage Foundation said ?I don't want everybody to vote... our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." What would the health insurers' equivalent be? Something like: "I don't want everyone to visit doctors because our leverage goes down as health increases? Maybe thirty years from now someone will turn up the memo. Meanwhile, there's some good news. Senator Russ Feingold and Representative Keith Ellison introduced legislation in the Senate and the House that would allow same day registration for all federal elections, making it easier for everyone to participate.. Heath care only for those who are rich and healthy enough? And voting only for those who are persistent enough? The test based approach is about as good for our health as it is for our democracy. So bravo to Feingold and Ellison.

SAN FRANCISCO - October 28th/SF Bay Area Independent Media Center More than two dozen protesters blocked the entrances to the San Francisco office of Blue Shield of California early in the morning of October 28. They were joined by close to 200 other single payer system health care advocates, who festooned the building with crime tape and chanted loudly. The demonstrators charged Blue Shield with crimes including murder, breach of contract, and subversion of democracy. Participants in the protest represented a range of local organizations including Health Care for All-California, Vote Health, Code Pink, AFSCME Council 57, Single Payer Now, Pride at Work, LAGAI-Queer Insurrection, Labor for Single Payer, Wellstone Democratic Club, Direct Action to Stop the War, California Physicians Alliance, Gray Panthers, and more. Protesters charged the health insurance industry with crimes including: Murder: A new Harvard study found that 45,000 Americans a year die because they don?t have health insurance. For the insured, denial of care and delays in approving care cause an uncounted number of deaths (see ?Patient stories? sheet in this packet). Causing sickness and suffering for millions of people with treatable health conditions who can?t get the care they need because claims are denied, policies canceled, or deductibles and co-payments set so high that patients can?t afford to seek treatment. Breach of contract: Insurance companies routinely cancel the policies of many thousands of people after they became sick. A report released in June by House Committee on Energy and Commerce showed that Blue Cross ? evaluations included reports of how many policyholders they dropped and how many millions worth of medical care they saved the company. ?The committee investigation uncovered several rescission practices that one lawmaker called egregious, including targeting every policyholder diagnosed with leukemia, breast cancer and 1,400 other serious illnesses,? wrote Lisa Girion in the June 17 edition of the L.A. Times.

SAN FRANCISCO - October 28th/SF Bay Area Independent Media Center More than two dozen protesters blocked the entrances to the San Francisco office of Blue Shield of California early in the morning of October 28. They were joined by close to 200 other single payer system health care advocates, who festooned the building with crime tape and chanted loudly. The demonstrators charged Blue Shield with crimes including murder, breach of contract, and subversion of democracy. Participants in the protest represented a range of local organizations including Health Care for All-California, Vote Health, Code Pink, AFSCME Council 57, Single Payer Now, Pride at Work, LAGAI-Queer Insurrection, Labor for Single Payer, Wellstone Democratic Club, Direct Action to Stop the War, California Physicians Alliance, Gray Panthers, and more. Protesters charged the health insurance industry with crimes including: Murder: A new Harvard study found that 45,000 Americans a year die because they don t have health insurance. For the insured, denial of care and delays in approving care cause an uncounted number of deaths (see Patient stories sheet in this packet). Causing sickness and suffering for millions of people with treatable health conditions who can t get the care they need because claims are denied, policies canceled, or deductibles and co-payments set so high that patients can t afford to seek treatment. Breach of contract: Insurance companies routinely cancel the policies of many thousands of people after they became sick. A report released in June by House Committee on Energy and Commerce showed that Blue Cross evaluations included reports of how many policyholders they dropped and how many millions worth of medical care they saved the company. The committee investigation uncovered several rescission practices that one lawmaker called egregious, including targeting every policyholder diagnosed with leukemia, breast cancer and 1,400 other serious illnesses, wrote Lisa Girion in the June 17 edition of the L.A. Times.