[CitizensTruth] ARTICLE- CIGNA exec - Michael Moore was right

[Walterb306 at cs.com]

All,

FYI,

Beverley

Former CIGNA executive says Michael Moore was right all along [UPDATE] 
by citisven 
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/11/752306/-Former-CIGNA-executive-s
ays-Michael-Moore-was-right-all-along-

Sat Jul 11, 2009 at 12:18:24 AM PDT
Ok, so haven't seen anyone write about this, and while we right here all 
know that the insurance companies literally go over dead bodies in their 
profiteering ways, in an interview with Bill Moyers that aired tonight on PBS , 
Wendell Potter, former Head of Corporate Communications at CIGNA, admits that 
Michael Moore nailed it on the head in his movie, Sicko . It's a 30 minute 
interview that comes close to a confessional of the health insurance 
industry's enslavement to Wall Street, and I really really hope everybody in this 
country gets to see this. It's the only thing you'll ever need to show if 
anyone ever questions the public option or rambles on about the dangers of 
government bureaucrats. IT'S THE ONLY TV YOU'LL EVER NEED TO WATCH TO KNOW THAT 
WE'VE BEEN COLLECTIVELY GETTING JACKED.
It starts with Potter, the high paid head of public relations for CIGNA 
getting out of his corporate office and taking a trip to his native Tennessee:
Potter attended a "health care expedition," a makeshift health clinic set 
up at a fairgrounds, and he tells Bill Moyers, "It was absolutely stunning. 
When I walked through the fairground gates, I saw hundreds of people lined 
up, in the rain. It was raining that day. Lined up, waiting to get care, in 
animal stalls. Animal stalls. 
He talks about how a lot of these executives, including himself, are so 
removed from the real world, that the insured are no more than just numbers.
And that was my problem. I had been in the industry and I'd risen up in the 
ranks. And I had a great job. And I had a terrific office in a high-rise 
building in Philadelphia. I was insulated. I didn't really see what was going 
on. I saw the data. I knew that 47 million people were uninsured, but I 
didn't put faces with that number. 
Then he says that everything about Canada and England that was reported in 
Michael Moore's Sicko was true and that they made a costly and concerted 
effort to derail the message of the movie. 
We shouldn't fear government involvement in our health care system. There 
is an appropriate role for government, and it's been proven in the countries 
that were in that movie. 
Potter then goes on in a very calm manner to indict the entire insurance 
industry for putting profit before people. What's most revealing is that 
ultimately all roads lead back to Wall Street. If an insurance company actually 
wanted to do good and take care of people they would pretty much go under and 
be swallowed up, because it's all just about the profit margins. In one 
particularly galling segment, he cites this example.
If one company's medical loss ratio was 77.9 percent, for example, in one 
quarter, and the next quarter, it was 78.2 percent. It seems like a small 
movement. But investors will think that's ridiculous. And it's horrible. 
Medical loss ratio, of course, being the Orwellian term for the actual 
HEALTH CARE, meaning the ultimate goal is to have as little percent of each 
dollar spent go to the treatment of the insured.
They then talk about the revolving door between insurance lobbyists and 
Washington, and how a lot of these politicians who defend the private 
insurances are bought and paid for and simply parrot talking points that the PR 
departments in those companies come up with. I'm telling you, the Godfather has 
nothing on this plot.
I recommend everyone go and watch this video 
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch2.html  and then forward it to as many people as you can.
======
Thanks for the rec list, nice to be initiated while howlin' at the moon. I 
really hope that this interview gets watched widely, it's a pivotal and even 
transcendent piece of journalism, the ultimate "The Emperor has no Clothes" 
moment.
While I have my five minutes under the almost full moon, my more eloquent 
moments often happen at A World of Words.
=======
Update: people in the comments were suggesting that this would be a great 
time to rewatch Sicko, especially since Wendell Potter has come out to say 
it's the ultimate education tool. Thanks to teh google it can be imbibed in 
its full length right here.
The other idea was to ask Mike to have public viewing parties. I don't know 
how that would work, but I'm thinking of the big screens they set up in 
European downtowns for big soccer games. Now THAT would be cool. And if anyone 
could pull that off it would be Mike. mike at michaelmoore.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/citizenstruth/attachments/20090714/8379c655/attachment.htm>