Public option advocate speaks at KU
The former head of corporate communications for the health insurance company Cigna, Wendell Potter, known for recently becoming an advocate for reforming America’s health care system, visited KU on Wednesday, Jan. 20.
Potter expressed his concern and disappointment for the $871 health billion care overhaul bill passed by President Obama and Democratic leaders last Christmas Eve, which did not include a public option, a federally regulated marketplace to shop for coverage options, or new insurance exchanges.
“Without a public option our only option would be to buy insurance from an insurance company unless we are eligible for an existing government program,” said Potter.
Obama used health care reform as a platform while he campaigned for the presidency, calling on Congress in his January 2009 inaugural address to send him legislation that would remake the health care system to expand coverage, add new industry regulations, and slow rising health insurance rates.
“How did we lose the public option? How did we get to the point of having a bill passed by the Senate that many progressives may think is worse than no bill at all?” he asked an audience of KU students, professors, and members of the surrounding community. Attendees sought bipartisan solutions to the war-on-words from the man coined “the ideal whistle-blower” by Time Magazine after he “turned against his old colleagues in June to testify before a congressional committee about what he viewed as the health insurance industry’s ‘duplicitous’ behavior in the current health reform debate.”
Potter pointed to Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D. Mo) five-word explanation: “We [the Democratic party] lost the messaging battle.”
Obama vows to continue to push health reform by asking lawmakers to take another look at the proposed plan in an effort to relieve middleclass families that do not receive adequate coverage, aid lower income families that receive federal subsidies to defray high health costs, and provide medical coverage to people with chronic or critical illness. Potter believes that by passing legislation to reduce profit-oriented insurance administrative expenses, more Americans would receive the health care they need.
Karen Feridun, president of the Kutztown Area Democratic Club, part of Berks Progress, who co-hosted the event with the KU College Democrats, said, “We want to do everything we can to encourage civic participation here on campus. When I speak to student groups, I always point out that elections have much more to do with them than they have to do with me. Everything happening today, every problem in our society, will have ramifications for them as they enter into the job market, become homeowners, and start families. Being informed citizens will help them make the best choices.”
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