Lies about health care

[tallguy]

I wish I could be surprised by this, but the facts should have been easily recognized all along.  I have long thought that our health care system should be redone, but how many people have been convinced to think otherwise by these kinds of lies?   

Last week, former health insurance executive Wendell Potter tweeted a confession that went briefly viral before disappearing again into the news cycle ether. But his mea culpa deserves more attention.

Potter, who left Cigna where he was a vice-president of communications in 2008, wrote that in his previous career, he was among those in the health insurance industry who spent huge sums to convince Americans that Canada’s single-payer system was “awful.”

The industry and its lobbying group, American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), manipulated data and found the rare case stories they needed to spread disinformation campaigns suggesting that Canadians have long waits for healthcare, he said. Not only was that untrue, but in Canada, where there are no deductibles or co-pays, “no one gets turned away from doctors due to lack of funds,” he said. “In America, exorbitant bills are a defining feature of the system.”

“I’ll always regret the disservice I did to folks on both sides of the border,” he wrote.

An ex-Cigna exec says he spread lies about Canada’s health system—and it hurt Americans

[apple 2]

Imagine that!

[Tennesseer]

We must have had a few Cigna exec's posting here as a few put down Canada's healthcare system.

[dondub]

Wendell Potter has written many editorial opinions for the Progressive Populist publication I have subscribed to for many years. Always enlightening information.

[Deleted]

Jun 29, 2020 17:09:32 GMT -5 tallguy said:

I wish I could be surprised by this, but the facts should have been easily recognized all along.  I have long thought that our health care system should be redone, but how many people have been convinced to think otherwise by these kinds of lies?   

Last week, former health insurance executive Wendell Potter tweeted a confession that went briefly viral before disappearing again into the news cycle ether. But his mea culpa deserves more attention.

Potter, who left Cigna where he was a vice-president of communications in 2008, wrote that in his previous career, he was among those in the health insurance industry who spent huge sums to convince Americans that Canada’s single-payer system was “awful.”

The industry and its lobbying group, American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), manipulated data and found the rare case stories they needed to spread disinformation campaigns suggesting that Canadians have long waits for healthcare, he said. Not only was that untrue, but in Canada, where there are no deductibles or co-pays, “no one gets turned away from doctors due to lack of funds,” he said. “In America, exorbitant bills are a defining feature of the system.”

“I’ll always regret the disservice I did to folks on both sides of the border,” he wrote.

An ex-Cigna exec says he spread lies about Canada’s health system—and it hurt Americans

I have several lifelong friends who live in Canada, mostly in the Vancouver area. 

They tell me they think Canada's health system sucks. 

For quite some time. 

[dondub]

Just not nearly as bad as ours. I’m sure they haven’t experienced 47 million without insurance or all the death that caused. Or our current situation where millions more have lost their employer based insurance and are scrambling to sign up for theACA while Trump once again tries to kill it.

[pulmonarymd]

Jun 30, 2020 10:16:23 GMT -5 @x said:

Jun 29, 2020 17:09:32 GMT -5 tallguy said:

I wish I could be surprised by this, but the facts should have been easily recognized all along.  I have long thought that our health care system should be redone, but how many people have been convinced to think otherwise by these kinds of lies?   

An ex-Cigna exec says he spread lies about Canada’s health system—and it hurt Americans

I have several lifelong friends who live in Canada, mostly in the Vancouver area. 

They tell me they think Canada's health system sucks. 

For quite some time. 

Anecdotal evidence, sure I'll buy that. WHen these things are actually surveyed, Canadians have a higher level of satisfaction with their system than we do. In addition, pick just about any health metric and they do better than we do. But continue to tell yourself we are better. They sure as hell have done better than we have with the pandemic.

[mollyc]

As a Canadian, I am always amused at how much importance is placed on “the Canadians I know say Canadian hc sucks” over “the Americans I know say US hc sucks”.

Plus I would guess that the Canadians jma knows are also wealthy like him. In my experience, many people with money feel they are more important and should be served first because they got bank.

[busymom]

My Cousin is married to a Canadian citizen.  Also, my parents had a friend who was married to a Canadian.  Both have been doing what they need to, to keep up the residency requirement.  Their healthcare system, IMHO, is better than what we have here.  Flaws & all.  


It doesn't surprise me at all, if the insurance industry is trying to destroy the reputation of the Canadian system.  Remember when the cigarette manufacturers fought so hard to hide & deny the information that cigarette use was linked to cancer?  It's just another day in the corporate world of manufactured news.

[kadee79]

Jun 30, 2020 10:40:45 GMT -5 busymom said:

My Cousin is married to a Canadian citizen.  Also, my parents had a friend who was married to a Canadian.  Both have been doing what they need to, to keep up the residency requirement.  Their healthcare system, IMHO, is better than what we have here.  Flaws & all.  


It doesn't surprise me at all, if the insurance industry is trying to destroy the reputation of the Canadian system.  Remember when the cigarette manufacturers fought so hard to hide & deny the information that cigarette use was linked to cancer?  It's just another day in the corporate world of manufactured news.

Just like "clean coal"! 

[kadee79]

An interesting development....

Deeply conservative Oklahoma narrowly approved a ballot initiative Tuesday to expand Medicaid to nearly 200,000 low-income adults, the first state to do so in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.The vote to expand the Affordable Care Act’s reach once again put voters, many of them conservative, at odds with Republican leaders, who have worked to block it or invalidate it. Five states — Maine, Utah, Idaho, Nebraska, and now Oklahoma — have used ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid after their Republican governors refused to do so.



Oklahoma pushed the G.O.P. over a notable threshold: Most congressional Republicans now represent Medicaid-expansion states. The vote also came at a striking moment, less than a week after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn the entirety of Obamacare — including Medicaid expansion.



“What we saw last night was Medicaid expansion triumph over party and ideology,” said Jonathan Schleifer, executive director of the Fairness Project, which has helped organize all the Medicaid votes. “Oklahoma voted for Medicaid expansion even as Trump is doubling down on repeal.”

www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/republican-leaders-want-to-end-obamacare-their-voters-are-expanding-it/ar-BB16dwxj?li=BBnb7Kz

[countrygirl2]

Hubs worked with Canadians, French, and English, they all liked their medical care and could not understand why we had such an awful system.

[laterbloomer]

Jun 30, 2020 10:16:23 GMT -5 @x said:

Jun 29, 2020 17:09:32 GMT -5 tallguy said:

I wish I could be surprised by this, but the facts should have been easily recognized all along.  I have long thought that our health care system should be redone, but how many people have been convinced to think otherwise by these kinds of lies?   

An ex-Cigna exec says he spread lies about Canada’s health system—and it hurt Americans

I have several lifelong friends who live in Canada, mostly in the Vancouver area. 

They tell me they think Canada's health system sucks. 

For quite some time. 

Do they actually say they think your system is better? We could definitely make improvements but I like our system way better than yours.

[NastyWoman]

Jul 1, 2020 19:31:10 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Jun 30, 2020 10:16:23 GMT -5 @x said:

I have several lifelong friends who live in Canada, mostly in the Vancouver area. 

They tell me they think Canada's health system sucks. 

For quite some time. 

Do they actually say they think your system is better? We could definitely make improvements but I like our system way better than yours.

 I am quite willing to believe JMAs friends complain since the Canadian system is not perfect (but which one is) and people like to complain. But I have a buck that says they wouldn't change their system for ours if they could. Pay more and get less ? Who in their right mind would even consider that? 

[kadee79]

As I understand it, each Canadian province does their health care differently.  Some things are the same all over, but not everything.  So one person complaining in one area of the country may not have the same advantage that someone at the other end of the country has?...am I correct?  I got this from a Canadian gal that lives near Toronto....she said this a long time ago.

[mollyc]

Yes, there are things that all Provincial health care must cover but Provinces can add additional items if they want to work it into their budgets.

[weltschmerz]

Jun 29, 2020 17:09:32 GMT -5 tallguy said:

I wish I could be surprised by this, but the facts should have been easily recognized all along.  I have long thought that our health care system should be redone, but how many people have been convinced to think otherwise by these kinds of lies?   

Last week, former health insurance executive Wendell Potter tweeted a confession that went briefly viral before disappearing again into the news cycle ether. But his mea culpa deserves more attention.

Potter, who left Cigna where he was a vice-president of communications in 2008, wrote that in his previous career, he was among those in the health insurance industry who spent huge sums to convince Americans that Canada’s single-payer system was “awful.”

The industry and its lobbying group, American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), manipulated data and found the rare case stories they needed to spread disinformation campaigns suggesting that Canadians have long waits for healthcare, he said. Not only was that untrue, but in Canada, where there are no deductibles or co-pays, “no one gets turned away from doctors due to lack of funds,” he said. “In America, exorbitant bills are a defining feature of the system.”

“I’ll always regret the disservice I did to folks on both sides of the border,” he wrote.

An ex-Cigna exec says he spread lies about Canada’s health system—and it hurt Americans

Np surprise.
We've known about crap like this for a very long time. You've heard of The Fraser Institute, a famous Canadian think tank? (cough cough)
It's funded in large part by the Koch Brothers, US Insurance companies, Big Tobacco and Big Oil. They're always slamming Canadian health care. They even said that smoking isn't that bad for you. They have to protect their investments.

[Deleted]

Jul 1, 2020 19:31:10 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Jun 30, 2020 10:16:23 GMT -5 @x said:

I have several lifelong friends who live in Canada, mostly in the Vancouver area. 

They tell me they think Canada's health system sucks. 

For quite some time. 

Do they actually say they think your system is better? We could definitely make improvements but I like our system way better than yours.

They like some aspects of the Canadian system, but seemed to complain about it all the time. 

We never really did a comparison thing, as it wasn't exactly a topic of long conversation. 

I never really talked about health insurance in the US, then as now, I've always purchased the top of the line, underwritten coverage, from Blue cross/shield. 

I myself have nothing against the Canadian system. 

If you like it, good for you.