Expert and Influencer
A storied reporter and best-selling author, Wendell offers a rare perspective on the problem of legalized corruption in America.
In June 2009, Wendell Potter made national headlines with his scorching testimony before the Senate panel on health care reform. A former senior VP of CIGNA, he explains 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 to mislead the press and public. 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, leading Michael Moore to call him "the Daniel Ellsberg of corporate America."
In Deadly Spin, Potter takes readers behind the scenes to show how a huge chunk of our absurd health care spending actually bankrolls a propaganda campaign and lobbying effort focused on protecting one thing: profits. Potter shows how relentless PR assaults play an insidious role in our political process anywhere that corporate profits are at stake, from climate change to defense policy. Deadly Spin tells us why— and how—we must fight back.
American democracy has become coin operated. Special interest groups increasingly control every level of government. The necessity of raising huge sums of campaign cash has completely changed the character of politics and policy making, determining what elected representatives stand for and how they spend their time. The marriage of great wealth and intense political influence has rendered our country unable to address our most pressing problems, from runaway government spending to climate change to the wealth gap. It also defines our daily lives from the cars we drive to the air we breathe to the debt we owe.
Since 2006, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has supported Tribal and non-Native communities coming together to highlight the need for dental therapists. In WKKF’s dental therapy ebook Wendell Potter offers a fresh look at the under-the-radar oral health crisis in the United States through the prism of an effective approach centering on equity, access and opportunity. You will learn how the growth of this community-led movement has increased access to dental care through the training and deployment of mid-level care providers known as dental therapists. The e-book is available in PDF and EPUB (Apple eBook) formats.
On January 1, 2014, the most important consumer protections in ObamaCare (the Affordable Care Act) go into effect. With both supporters and opponents of the law debating its merits and its controversial rollout, there is a need for “news-you-can-use” types of resources from credible third parties.
Enter Wendell Potter, author of Deadly Spin and former health insurance executive. Obamacare: What's in It for Me? is the authoritative source for Americans needing to know how the law will affect them and their families: How will it affect the millions of Americans who already have coverage through their employers? People who work for small companies that don't offer coverage? The unemployed? People who are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, some of whom may find that coverage costs them more than before? Older Americans not yet eligible for Medicare, many of whom will be able to get much more affordable coverage? Medicare beneficiaries? Low-to moderate income individuals and families? People with pre-existing conditions? Children?
