A health care 'Judas' recounts his conversion (former Cigna exec, via CNN)

[pinto]

A health care 'Judas' recounts his conversion

By John Blake, CNN

(CNN) – When Wendell Potter first saw them, he froze.

“It felt like touching an electrical fence,” he says. “I remember tearing up and thinking, how could this be real.”

Thousands of them had lined up under a cloudy sky in an open field. Many had camped out the night before. When their turns came, doctors treated them in animal stalls and on gurneys placed on rain-soaked sidewalks.

They were Americans who needed basic medical care. Potter had driven to the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia in July 2007 after reading that a group called Remote Area Medical, which flew American doctors to remote Third World villages, was hosting a free outdoor clinic.

Potter, a Cigna health care executive who ate from gold-rimmed silverware in corporate jets, says that morning was his “Road to Damascus” experience.

“It looked like a refugee camp,” Potter says. “It just hit me like a bolt of lightning. What I was doing for a living was making it necessary for people to resort to getting care in animal stalls.”

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/27/a-health-care-judas-recounts-his-conversion/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Please read: this is not so much a religious conversion story so don't let that put you off.

Wendell P is a hero!

[Skittles]

4. THANKS CURTEASTPOINT

I tend to shy away from religious stuff

[whathehell]

5. Ummm

Although it may sometimes appear so, everybody on DU

doesn't break out in hives at the mere thought of "religion", so I think the "warning",

especially since the OP includes quote marks around "Judas" and the words

"Cigna insurance executive" might have been a tad unnecessary.

Just sayin.

[roguevalley]

8. hear, hear, whatthehell

[whathehell]

12. That "hear hear" is duly noted, Roque

and I appreciate your support

[pinto]

11. Agree. A strongly humanist POV with a religious sub-context.

Compelling story and a great insight from a former top insider.

[steve2470]

2. k&r nt

[hue]

3. Potter has written a book: Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR

Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans (November 16, 2010; Bloomsbury Press; ISBN 978-1-60819-281-6)

Thanks for this great post!! Potter is a sentient, brave man!!

[nolabear]

6. I saw this earlier. Glad you thought to post it.

K&R

[DeSwiss]

7. Maybe a Judas to the Corporatocracy....

...but I'd rather say he's more like The Prodigal Son. I once was lost but, now I'm found -- I was blind, but now I see.



- K&R

[roguevalley]

9. absolutely. nice.

[tclambert]

15. I think the guy's "Road to Damascus" analogy is spot on.

The health insurance industry regards him as a Judas. Of course, in their analogy, the insurance companies are Jesus Christ.

[YOHABLO]

10. This is the most important statement of all:

“Christians needed to be reminded of what Jesus did,” Potter says. “It was important to him for people to have access to healing care. That’s what he did. A lot of people of faith lose sight of that.”

So what are these bastard preachers telling their sheep each Sunday from the pulpit? Huh? Go Shopping? That the lord helps those who help themselves .. to everything? That they make a lot of money and have nice things because they are blessed and the rest are not? I get very angry at the way these so called "Christians" rationalize their greed. Oh yeah, not all "Christians" are like that I suppose, but I don't see Rick Warren out there campaigning for a Single Payer Universal Health Care System. I hate them all, I really do.

[cilla4progress]

14. The hypocrisy is stunning

and hideous.

[L0oniX]

17. Most people who call themselves christian are spiritually poisoned.

They are kept in a toxic state so that they are unable to see the truth. That's why you see and hear about heretical doctrines like you mentioned. There are only a few ways to become detoxified. The main one is to discover and fully realize and apply what grace really is. The other ways are about as important. They have conflicts with the God they think they believe in. One is that they think God needs them to do ..whatever. That is just plain stupid because they also claim that He is omni powerful ...so why would He need them for anything? Another one is that they believe He has always existed and knows the future. Well if that is the case then He has known from the foundation of the universe what everyone has done and will do ...so when they being so called born again claim that you have to ask for forgiveness of sin they fail to accept that it was already known what they would do. I've spent a lot of my life looking into the problems of these so called christains and their doctrines. They will stay blinded willingly rather than admit they or their church are wrong. After all ...they do have to support that big glorious church building rather than offer real help to the needy without the requirement to gather more tithe payers to support their big glorious church ...and the pastors kids college fund. It burns me up the God is maligned by all the heresy that passes for the truth.

[Stuart G]

13. K and R nt. thanks for posting

[ProfessionalLeftist]

16. Wendell Potter's book, "Deadly Spin" is a must-read. n/t

[ljm2002]

18. Nice article...

...this is the part that got my hackles up:

When he takes this message to churches, some shut their doors, he says. They don’t want to hear him. Pastors know the debate over health care divides their congregations.

“A lot of pastors are just too afraid to get involved in this and step up and say this is a moral issue,” he says. “They’re afraid of offending their parishioners.”

(emphasis mine)

In other words, these pastors are abrogating their responsibility to be moral leaders, teaching the morality of Jesus Christ, who fed the poor, healed the sick, and made it very clear what our responsibilities are to each other.

Churches, like pretty much everything else in our increasingly weird society, are now primarily businesses, whose purpose is to please their customers -- certainly not to lecture them, God forbid! (irony alert)