if you have ever had health insurance

[kaigou]

or filed a claim, or seen a doctor, or wanted insurance and not had it, here's a real eye-opener.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch2.html

It's an interview with Wendell Potter, a former VP for Cigna (medical health insurance company), talking frankly about how the health insurance industry works. Some of it is pretty chilling, and some of it's crazy-making, and you may end up angry and frustrated at the end, but it's information we really need to disperse as much as possible. People need to know this stuff, and not let the big corporations -- who stand to gain profit on the backs of ill folks -- run us over any longer.

NOTE: the one-hour interview is apolitical. Just FYI.

Comments

[cinnamonical.livejournal.com]

Thanks for linking - interesting but frightening and disheartening. I'll pass it on.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

I knew a little of it, from a bit of time working in HMOs -- but I had no idea just how far down the rabbit hole goes.

[muffiewrites.livejournal.com]

And we're always Yay! Capitalism! Boo! Hiss! Socialism! around here. I'm not 100% for either one. I'd like a nice mix of both, please. Some things simply should never be ruled by the ethic of profit. Some things should never be rules by the ethic of paternalism.

*sigh*

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

I'd like a nice mix of both, please.

I agree -- if it's possible, if we could get something sane out of it. But I don't deny that sometimes, when my dad talks about healthcare in Sweden, I sometimes (okay, always) end up feeling just a bit envious. I'd like that kind of complete, affordable, coverage, and without the health-care-approval hassles that I'd go through to get it, in this country. But, still, anything's an improvement over what we've got right now.