Reflecting on Conflicting Priorities of Health Insurers

For almost 20 years, Wendell Potter was a health insuance insider; he rose to vice president in charge of corporate communications for the nation's 4th largest health insurance company - Cigna. Now he's seen as a whistleblower who has testified before Congress on the necessity of health insurance reform. His epiphany came in his home state of Tennessee at a "medical expedition" that offered health services to thousands of uninsured Americans in animal stalls at a state fairground.

The following link connects us to a conversation between PBS' Bill Moyers and Wendell Potter and the subject is the elucidation of conflicting priorities of health insurance companies. Providing care to policy holders is in direct conflict with rising shareholder expectations for profitability. Potter outlines how companies pursue cuts in "medical loss ratios" to meet that expectation. These ratios are essentially the money companies spend to provide health care to the insured. He reports that in the 1990's 95% medical loss ratios were commonplace, but now it is in the 80% range. Fewer dollars for healtcare treatment translates to more aggressive efforts to deny and rescind coverage for insured people.

During the interview the strategies he and other communication directors used to steer the public conversation about health reform are detailed and exemplified through current video clips of lawmaker, policymaker, and pundit discourse.

The clear and concise story of his personal transformation on these issues is worth your time: http://pbs.org/moyers/journal/07312009/profile.html