Health care companies, like all persons invested in maintaining the status quo, stoop to any thing to prevent change.  The whistleblowers deserve our gratitude and thanks. 

IT IS NOT ABOUT THE OUTCOME; IT IS ABOUT A FAIR AND OPEN DISCUSSION AND DECISION BY VOTE OF OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES.

Are there too few of us who believe in the ideals of the democratic system?

From CNN, Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Wendell Potter  . . . [t]he former vice president of corporate communications at insurance giant Cigna, who left his post, says the industry is playing “dirty tricks” in an effort to manipulate public opinion.

“Words matter, and the insurance industry is a master at linguistics and using the hot words, buzzwords, buzz expressions that they know will get people upset,” he told CNN Wednesday.

Now a senior fellow on health care for the watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, Potter writes a blog on health care reform. He is focusing on efforts to defeat legislation supporting a government health care plan — something he supports.

In early July, Potter testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, telling senators that “I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry.”

Potter described how underwriters at his former company would drive small businesses with expensive insurance claims to dump their Cigna policies. Industry executives refer to the practice as “purging,” Potter said.

“When that business comes up for renewal, the underwriters jack the rates up so much, the employer has no choice but to drop insurance,” Potter had said.

In an e-mail to CNN, Cigna spokesman Chris Curran denied the company engages in purging.

[go to CNN for more of the article]