Insurance Industry Whistleblower Headlines Health Care Forum

On Friday, December 18, Wendell Potter was the featured speaker at a health care forum that posed the question, “What is the status of national health care reform now?”

The former health insurance executive, health insurance crisis story tellers and panelists spoke out about what's really going on in Washington on health care reform, told true tales of insurance company bad practices and informed about 80 attendees how current proposals solve these problems.

Potter, who has testified before Congress, discussed how his executive experience at insurance companies CIGNA and Humana can help Americans see through the health insurance smoke and mirrors that leave a growing number of Americans without health care and executives with large salaries and big bonuses.

A panel consisting of Senator Jack Hatch, chair of the White House Legislative Working Group on Health Care Reform, Betty Ahrens, Executive Director Iowa Citizen Action Network, and Ken Sagar of the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans explained the health insurance situation and what people can do about it.

Iowans affected by the health care crisis including Darrell Lewis of Des Moines, Chris Petersen of Clear Lake, Cindy Ramer of Denver, and ReShonda Young of Waterloo told moving stories of their struggle to gain coverage and respect from the insurance industry.