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Wendell Potter Profile picture
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9 Apr, 9 tweets, 3 min read
The only reason you’re seeing this Tweet by me is because of a man named Stan Brock – whose work inspired me to leave my old job as an insurance executive.

Few people in my life have been as consequential as Stan. And he’s been even more consequential to thousands of others.
A remarkable movie about him has just been released, and I hope you’ll watch it.

"Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story" is screening nationwide til April 20 as part of the Cleveland International Film Festival @CIFF and it’s in competition for the festival’s Global Health Prize.
Stan, who starred in the popular TV series Wild Kingdom when I was a kid, went on to found Remote Area Medical in the ‘80s to fly doctors to remote parts of the globe. He was shocked when folks from the US started begging him to bring free medical care to their communities.
Now most of RAM’s (@ramusaorg) pop-up medical clinics are held in the US. I went to see one a few years ago on a trip back home to Tennessee. It was at a county fairground a few miles from where I grew up.

The highway I took to that clinic would be my Road to Damascus.
At the time, I was heading corporate communications for the big health insurer Cigna. A big part of my job was to persuade Americans that we didn’t need health care reform, that we had the best health care system in the world.
When I saw Americans lined up in the rain, waiting to get care in barns and animal stalls, I had an emotional breakdown – and an epiphany. I knew instantly that I was part of the problem and that I would have to figure out how to begin making amends for the harm I had caused.
I ultimately became a whistleblower, pulling the curtain back in testimony before Congress about how for-profit health insurance companies really operate.

I had the privilege of meeting and getting to know Stan. He became my hero and good friend.
The doc Medicine Man traces Stan’s journey from wrestling anacondas for Wild Kingdom to becoming the healthcare provider of last resort for far too many Americans. It also offers a unique perspective on the US healthcare crisis as seen from the front lines of RAM’s volunteers.
You can check out the trailer via this link. I encourage you to watch it and then watch the full movie. The winner of the Global Health Prize will be decided by audience vote during the Cleveland Film Festival. Please watch it, and vote for Stan.

bit.ly/MMciff

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More from @wendellpotter

Wendell Potter Profile picture
23 Mar
10 years ago today, on the 1st anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, I wrote about the good things the law did, but stressed that we needed to view it as only the *starting* point of a journey toward needed reform.

Unfortunately, we have not made much progress on that journey.
Although ~20 million now have health insurance as a result of the law, a huge growing percent can’t use that insurance to get the care they need. That’s because Congress & the Obama admin were too focused on premiums... exactly what the insurance industry wanted them to focus on!
Focusing on premiums meant that Dems gave scant attention to how insurers would pick Americans’ pockets by jacking up *deductibles* year after year. In fact, deductibles are patients’ biggest struggle now, more than having enough doctors in-network, or even the price of premiums.
Read 10 tweets
Wendell Potter Profile picture
4 Mar
As a former health insurance exec who quit the business, let me tell you: No one will be more excited about the new COVID package than my old friends in the corporate insurance industry. It would funnel $48 billion of taxpayer $ to them, after their most profitable year to date.
The COVID bill would temporarily pay for ACA marketplace plans & COBRA subsidies for people who lost their jobs and insurance. That would check off a major item on insurers’ wishlist because it guarantees payment to our wasteful system that’s burdened by 30% administrative costs.
A more economical approach? Open our existing Medicare program (with a 2% admin. cost) for the Americans hardest-hit by COVID-19. This would allow folks to access the care many desperately need without Uncle Sam (you) footing a bloated bill.
Read 4 tweets
Wendell Potter Profile picture
25 Feb
As a former health insurance exec, here's a trick my old industry does that is particularly vile: The @USChamber has cultivated a brand synonymous w/ small town pride & local business. But here's the truth: these orgs are front groups for the corporate health insurance industry.
A new report from the @NYHCampaign & NY Metro Chapter of @PNHP reveals why local and regional Chambers & other business groups in NY lobby against single-payer health plans, even though it would financially benefit their small business members: actionnetwork.org/user_files/use…
Why are these business groups fighting policies that would help their Main Street members? The answer, as always, is the corrupting influence of big money.
Read 13 tweets
Wendell Potter Profile picture
29 Jan
I applaud the Biden team and @ERIC_Yale’s focus on equity in the vaccine rollout, working to address what this pandemic has been a harsh reminder of: too many Americans of color face vast inequality in our health care system. And it’s systemic.
As health insurers have pushed premiums and deductibles higher over the past decade, people of color, especially those with lower incomes than whites, have been harmed disproportionately.
In 2019, before the pandemic, the U.S. Census found the median white household had $76,000 a year in income. That number dropped to $56,000 for hispanic households, and $45,000 for black households.
Read 14 tweets
Wendell Potter Profile picture
28 Jan
I know @joebiden means well in reopening the enrollment period for ACA marketplaces, so more people can sign up for coverage. But as an expert in the health insurance industry, I have a big concern: many people who sign up for these plans won’t be able to use them. Here’s why:
Many who sign up for an Obamacare plan can’t use it because they have to pay thousands out of pocket before coverage kicks in. A recent Commonwealth Fund study found 42 % who bought coverage through exchanges were underinsured because of the amount they had to pay out-of-pocket.
Almost 1/3 with coverage through employers are underinsured because of unaffordable deductibles. More than 1/4 with crappy insurance -- that’s what it is -- said they delayed needed care because of the cost & nearly half said they had medical bill and debt problems.
Read 8 tweets
Wendell Potter Profile picture
22 Jan
As millions of Americans celebrated @potus's inauguration, some of my former colleagues in the health insurance industry were quietly celebrating some news of their own: their *most profitable year ever*. That’s right: insurance companies made a fortune during a pandemic. (1/11)
Just hours before @joebiden took the oath of office, UnitedHealthcare quietly released the news that it had blown away Wall Street's most optimistic profit expectations for 2020, the year of the worst public health crisis in our lifetime that’s seen 400,000 Americans die. (2/11)
The company reported that although it insured fewer people in the US in 2020 than in 2019, it took in $15 billion more in revenues. One of the ways it was able to pull that off? By paying far fewer claims last year than the year before. Again, this was during a pandemic. (3/11)
Read 11 tweets

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