Deadly Spin
An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans
By Wendell Potter
November 2010
$26.00
288 pp
6.125 x 9.25 in
Hardcover
By Wendell Potter
"My name is Wendell Potter, and for twenty years I worked as a senior executive at health insurance companies. I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick—all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors."—Senate testimony, June 24, 2009
Wendell Potter is the insurance industry's worst nightmare.
In June 2009, Wendell Potter made national headlines with his scorching testimony before the Senate panel on health care reform. This former senior VP of CIGNA explained 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 designed to spread disinformation.
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. The last straw: when he visited a rural health clinic and saw hundreds of people standing in line in the rain to receive treatment in stalls built for livestock.
In Deadly Spin, Potter takes readers behind the scenes to show how a huge chunk of our absurd healthcare spending actually bankrolls a propaganda campaign and lobbying effort focused on protecting one thing: profits. Whatever the fate of the current health care legislation, it makes no attempt to change that fundamental problem.
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.
Advance Reviews for Deadly Spin:
"Wendell Potter is a straight shooter -- and he hits the bulls-eye here with an expose of corporate power that reveals why real health care reform didn't happen, can't happen, and won't happen until that power is contained." —Bill Moyers
"Wendell Potter transformed the national debate over health care when he stood up and told the truth about the health insurance industry. By breaking the insurance industry’s code of silence and explaining to his fellow Americans how health insurance companies put profits ahead of patient care, Wendell showed extraordinary courage. The compelling story of Wendell’s conversion from a health care executive to an outspoken reform advocate is essential reading for anyone trying to understand the American health care system."—Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia
"The recently passed health care bill did many good things, including make health insurance available to more Americans and restrain some of the most egregious practices of the health insurance industry. It also forced more people to become customers of that industry. What the bill did not do is reform the healthcare system. Wendell Potter explains why not, and what went wrong.”—Howard Dean
Reviews/Media for Deadly Spin:
"An illuminating, up-to-the-minute testimonial sure to garner widespread attention and controversy.” —Kirkus Reviews
A great blog post by Wendell Potter, author of DEADLY SPIN (on sale 11/9, pub 11/16) on The Huffington Post today – of course it has generated quite a few comments! At the bottom of the post they have included the jacket art for the book.—The Huffington Post Read blog.
Listen to Wendell Potter’s 25-minute interview about his book Deadly Spin with C-SPAN’s “BookTV” Go >
