Between The Lines - Wendell Potter on health insurance industry's quiet opposition to GOP repeal effort of new health care reform (Week Ending 1/14/11)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

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GOP Performs Repeal Effort Political Theater, As Insurance Companies Expect Windfall from New Health Care Law

Real Audio MP3

Interview with Wendell Potter, former health insurance executive turned whistle-blower, conducted by Scott Harris

healthcare In their first week as the new majority in the House of Representatives, the Republican party has pledged to schedule a vote to repeal the health care reform law passed by the previous Democratic Congress and signed into law by President Obama. With a 49-seat advantage in the House, the GOP will almost certainly succeed in passing repeal legislation. But with a Democratic Senate and the power of a presidential veto standing in their way, the Republican's repeal effort will merely be a symbolic gesture toward their conservative base. Acknowledging the obstacles of repeal, House GOP leaders say they will attempt to de-fund implementation of the new health care reform law.

While many progressive legislators and health care activists were unhappy with the absence of a public health insurance option in the final reform legislation, most Democrats say they will defend the law and its provisions that give the poor subsidies to buy health coverage and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. On a second front, the White House is defending lawsuits in federal court that are challenging the law's "individual mandate," which compels most citizens to purchase private health insurance policies.

Between the Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Wendell Potter, a former health insurance public relations executive for 20 years, turned whistle-blower in 2008. Potter, now senior fellow on health care with the Center for Media and Democracy and author of a new book titled, "Deadly Spin," explains why the health insurance industry is quietly opposed to the GOP repeal effort, understanding that the new health care reform law will be an economic bonanza for them with 30 million new mandated customers.

WENDELL POTTER: The law itself as many flaws, but it does many good things as well. And it will make illegal some of the most egregious practices of the health insurance industry. And, it will bring a lot of people into coverage that had not had insurance coverage for a long time, many of them, as many as 30 million Americans will have coverage once this legislation is fully implemented in 2014. And it will prohibit insurance companies from refusing to sell its insurance if we've had a pre-existing condition. It will require them to keep our children on the rolls until they turn 26 if they can't get insurance elsewhere, and it will prohibit them from dropping insurance when we get sick if they just don't want to pay our medical claims. It's a practice called "rescission" that the industry has been engaging in for quite a long time. In that regard, it does a lot of good.

It falls short in that it doesn't bring everyone into coverage. There will still be probably 20 million people who don't have coverage. And it doesn't give the government the authority to really regulate rates that insurance companies charge, at least at the federal level. So we will not have as much protection from the government in terms of price gouging from the insurance industry as I would hope that we would.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Well, from the perspective of someone who worked in the health insurance industry for some 20 years, what's the attitude of the insurance companies toward the health care law, and specifically, the individual mandate that compels all Americans not eligible for government-run health programs like Medicare and Medicaid to purchase private insurance?

WENDELL POTTER: Well, the insurance industry likes this legislation quite a bit, in particular, that provision, which was the main reason they were supportive of health care reform at all. They wanted to have the individual mandate enacted into law. That was the first priority and that got that. The second priority was to make sure there was no public option included in the legislation and they got that as well. So, they will not want this legislation repealed.

And what is going on behind the scenes certainly is that the insurance companies' lobbyists are telling the Republican lawmakers, "Look you probably have an obligation to the people who voted who think that you are sincere in going to repeal this legislation. Go through the motions, you can have your vote on reform, because we know it's not going to pass, it won't get through the Senate, and even if the Senate were to repeal the legislation along with the House, then president would veto it. So, it's not likely it will be a successful effort. So it'll be in my view, a big show, largely because the insurance industry does not want it repealed.

In fact, I think they are probably telling Republican lawmakers -- who, I think many of them genuinely think as I did for many years, and the new ones in particular that are coming into Congress for the first time -- that the free market should work in health care and health insurance. It just simply does not. And I saw the reasons for that and why it doesn't in the course of my 20-year career in the industry. But they haven't seen that; they don't understand the health insurance industry because they've never been an insider. So I can understand why, ideologically, they think this legislation might not be a good thing, because it does impose more regulations on insurers, which insurers don't like. But they do like the individual mandate.

And they will be telling these members of Congress, "Look, have this vote if you need to, to set aside your voters. But we know, wink, wink, that it's not going pass."

BETWEEN THE LINES: So in essence, what's going on Washington this week will be political theater, for the consumption of people who are led to believe and be propagandized that this health care reform law was somehow a government takeover. It's actually, the way you describe it, an insurance takeover where they get 30 million more customers who have to buy their insurance.

WENDELL POTTER: Oh, absolutely. This legislation props up a private health insurance system in ways that I think the conservatives and the Republicans probably don't understand because they don't, again, understand the health care system as they should. You're exactly right, it will be political theater. The insurance industry will benefit significantly from this, because it will require us all to buy their products. It will mean that they will get billions and billions of dollars from new revenue from us, and from the federal government, because clearly, many of us would buy insurance now if we could afford it. And many people who are uninsured just simply cannot. Most of them are that way. So the federal government will be subsidizing their payment. So this will be a big windfall for the insurance industry and it will ensure that the private insurance market can continue to exist.

Without it, it would eventually crumble because you cannot keep transferring more and more of the cost of health care from insurance companies and employers to individuals as they're to do now. That just is not sustainable over the long haul.

Wendell Potter's new book is titled, "Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans." Read Potter's blog at PRwatch.org