Deadly spin
Subtitle: an insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing health care and deceiving Americans
By: Wendell Potter
Edition: 1st U.S. ed.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 277
ISBN-13: 9781608192816
Subjects: Health insurance; Health Care Sector; Public relations; Economics; Delivery of Health Care; Public Relations; Health Insurance; Health Care Reform; Insurance companies
Other titles: Insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing health care and deceiving Americans
Description: In June 2009, Wendell Potter made national headlines with his scorching testimony before the Senate panel on health care reform. This former senior VP of CIGNA explained how health insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, how they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and how they skew political debate with multibillion-dollar PR campaigns designed to spread disinformation. Potter had walked away from a six-figure salary and two decades as an insurance executive because he could no longer abide the routine practices of an industry where the needs of sick and suffering Americans take a backseat to the bottom line. The last straw: when he visited a rural health clinic and saw hundreds of people standing in line in the rain to receive treatment in stalls built for livestock. In Deadly Spin, Potter takes readers behind the scenes to show how a huge chunk of our absurd healthcare spending actually bankrolls a propaganda campaign and lobbying effort focused on protecting one thing: profits. Whatever the fate of the current health care legislation, it makes no attempt to change that fundamental problem.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-261) and index.
Table of contents: title: The beginning; title: The campaign against SiCKO; title: Perception is reality; title: Remote area medical in Wise County, Virginia; title: Health care history, reform, and failure; title: Consumer-driven care; title: It's all about the money; title: An end too soon; title: Erisa Stymies the Sarkisyans, and us; title: A victory, of sorts; title: The playbook; title: Spinning out of control.