Wendell Potter
NBC News
Philadelphia, PA, United States
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Past articles by Wendell:
Why Trump's health care cost transparency drive doesn't actually help anyone
Trump's health care cost transparency push sounds great, but its not going to solve the problem the way Medicare for All will. → Read More
Take it from me, tweaks won't fix health care. Democrats should focus on Medicare for All.
Go for dramatic reforms. Health insurance companies are interested in profits, not playing fair. I should know. I used to be a vice president at Cigna. → Read More
Next On GOP Agenda: 'Curing' Medicare
Now that Congress has passed the GOP’s $1.5 trillion tax bill, the Senate will soon vote on President Trump’s nomination of former drug company CEO Alex ... → Read More
Why Donald Trump Hates Michael Moore
A 2007 incident with Moore changed both my opinion of him and the direction of my life and career. → Read More
Why We Need 'Pull-No-Punches Reporting' That Holds Big Corporations And Moneyed Interests Accountable
Nataline Sarkisyan might be alive today had I not been such a team player when she was so sick. Had I not been so focused on helping my company “w... → Read More
What’s Next for Obamacare? An Urgent Prognosis
Even if single-payer health care gains traction, private insurers and health care providers will fight to preserve the profits of our current system. → Read More
Conservatives and Liberals Agree on at Least One Health Care Fix
If you’re following the heated debate over whether the Affordable Care Act should be repealed and replaced, you might conclude that expanding access to h... → Read More
How America's Dental Health Crisis Created Mexico's "Molar City"
Immigration and the Mexican border have been in the news for months. But all the stories have been about people coming to the United States. The untold s... → Read More
A Major Health Care Victory In Indian Country
Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote about how an American Indian tribe in Washington state defied a powerful special interest that was making it difficult... → Read More
Why Big Insurance Adores the American Health Care Act
Health insurance lobbyists helped shape the American Health Care Act. In fact, the ACA was really the Health Insurance Profit Protection and Enhancement Act → Read More
Wendell Potter
Wendell Potter Author of 'Nation on the Take, How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It' Wendell Potter is an author and strategic communications consultant. A former health insurance executive, Wendell left his job as head of communications for one of the nation's largest health insurers after a crisis of conscience. In widely covered testimony before the Senate Commerce,… → Read More
History (of Health Insurance Greed) Repeats Itself
On a Friday afternoon 16 years and four months ago, after the close of trading at the New York Stock Exchange, my staff and I at Cigna disseminated a press release we knew would lead to a lot of angst in Washington, on Wall Street and around the country. Continue reading → Read More
Why Health Insurance Industry Consolidation Is Bad For Your Health
You undoubtedly have heard that some of the country's biggest health insurers have decided to leave several Obamacare markets, which means that tens of t... → Read More
Cry Me a River, Aetna
You might be thinking, based on what insurance company CEOs have been saying over the past few weeks, that carriers are awash in red ink because of Obamacare and would surely go bust if they had to keep paying the medical claims of their Obamacare customers for even one more year. You might even be shedding a tear or two for their poor shareholders. Here, for example, is the grim news Aetna’s… → Read More
The Lobbyist Who Made You Pay More at the Drugstore
Bill and Faith Wildrick have never heard of Billy Tauzin, but they’re paying dearly for Tauzin’s tireless work for the pharmaceuticbal industry. So are Faith’s employer and all of her co-workers. We all are. And in the future, so will our children and grandchildren. Thanks in large part to Tauzin and Washington’s infamous revolving door, the Wildricks are paying so much to fill Bill’s… → Read More
How to reduce the absurd amount of money Americans spend on health care? One community at a time
Editor's note: Wendell Potter's commentaries are being suspended for the time being. To read more from Wendell, go to his archive. If you’d like to meet someone who is truly “part of the solution,” someone who understands the problems of American health care in a way that few politicians do—and someone who is putting her money where her mouth is to get us healthier—meet Esther Dyson. Dyson is a… → Read More
Presidential candidates in fantasy land over health care
Commentary: insurers and drug companies are in charge, regardless of what the candidates say → Read More
Insurers using lobbying muscle, campaign cash to push mergers
Health insurers using lobbyists and cash to sell questionable mergers → Read More
Insurers say private Medicare plans are better, but we really don't know
Commentary: lack of data makes it impossible to know if Medicare Advantage is better than government program → Read More
Merger of health insurers usually leads to big payday for executives
Merger of giant insurance companies usually leads to big payday for executives, higher premiums for policyholders studies show. → Read More