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CNN: ‘Disingenuous Insurance Companies’ or Disingenuous Reporting?
Written By : Warner Todd Huston

On October 13 CNN’s John Roberts conducted an interview with purported “insurance industry insider” Wendell Potter who claimed that the disingenuous actions of the insurance industry made him “decide to become a critic of the industry.”

Mr. Potter is a former head of Public Relations of the CIGNA Corp and Humana, Inc. but he is more than that, not that John Roberts told his viewers this fact. The first major problem with this interview is that Wendell Potter is now a member of Center for Media and Democracy, a group funded by the left-wing Tides Foundation (itself supported by George Soros) and other left-wing organizations. The only hint that viewers got of this affiliation was a three second caption at the bottom of the screen. Roberts never verbally identified the group to which Potter belongs nor that its agenda was anti-insurance company.

Potter went on to rail against the insurance companies calling them disingenuous with their dealings with Obama and Congress.

I think the industry has been disingenuous from the beginning of this debate. They have never had any intention of being good faith partners with the president and Congress. And I know this from having been a part of many, many efforts over the past 20 years, almost, to defeat reform, or to help shape reform to the industry’s benefit. And I was a part of some of the efforts to plan this very campaign.

Roberts, of course, did not challenge this assertion.

Of course, there is a major fact that neither John Roberts nor his left-wing guest mentioned: the insurance companies thought they had a deal with Obama yet Congress said that they would not be held by any deals Obama might make. So, who is disingenuous here? The insurance companies or Obama?

Back in July, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus told reporters that Congress would not be held by any deals such as those struck between Obama and the healthcare industry, drug companies, or insurance industry representatives. He said that since Congress wasn’t a party to these deals they aren’t held by them.

This was echoed by comments by Charlie Rangel (D, New York), House Ways and Means Chair, who said he “didn’t care” what agreements Obama negotiated with industry reps and that he’d carry forward with his own ideas regardless. And it looks like his ideas are to punish industry, not try to work with it.

Additionally, Henry Waxman (D, Calif.) Energy and Commerce Chair, also looked to be ready to slap industry representatives that thought they had a deal with Obama saying that since he wasn’t involved in negotiations, he wasn’t bound by Obama’s deal making.

Finally, Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) concurred with the other two that since his committee wasn’t involved in Obama’s wheeling and dealing, why those agreements are meaningless to him.

So, who is it that is “disingenuous” here? The Insurance industry, Congress, or Obama?

Isn’t it curious that none of these facts made it into John Roberts’ report?

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  • http://networdblog.blogspot.com/ Christopher_Taylor

    I think it would be useful for us to remember that, while we don’t want socialized medicine or some government takeover of insurance, that doesn’t mean that insurance companies are nice guys or pure as driven snow.

  • http://conservativebootcamp.com martinhale

    So, hoggo, let's take a different tack on things. Rather than to force people to respond to you individually, I've assembled a sampling of the responses to your commentary from the past week or two, just to make responding to your inanities a bit more efficient.

    Shut up, hoggo. Nobody cares what you think.

    Posted by mightysamurai

    2009-10-03 09:49:39

    Go f*ck yourself, hog.

    Posted by Kingfisher

    2009-10-04 10:21:00

    How droll, another fart in the wind that is the hollow left, and it's brainless, thoughtless, emotion laden drones. Providing no facts, false allegations, and/or flat out lies, to make it's banal point.

    Posted by bthewolf

    2009-10-01 10:03:14

    You keep using those words, but I do not think they mean what you think they mean. Did you copy-and-paste them from the daily talking points memo?

    Posted by CavalierX

    2009-09-30 12:37:28

    Cigarettes? Is that the best you can do?

    Sheesh. If they can afford cigs, then they can afford the tax.

    Posted by D-Vega

    2009-09-30 16:45:54

    Hog, no one cares what you think and no one wants to see you display your ignorance of the Insurance industry. Please have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up!

    Posted by TheBaud

    2009-10-07 00:59:15

    Gee, spamming and trolling, how attractive.

    Posted by Christopher_Taylor

    2009-10-10 21:38:23

    Shut up Hoggo. Nobody cares what you have to say!

    Posted by Bill_Dalasio

    2009-10-14 12:42:16

    Shut up hoggo, you're an idiot!

    Posted by bthewolf

    2009-10-15 00:10:54

    Sort of like your bullshit has been proven lies, Hogground. I see you haven't condemned those lies about Rush, typical liberal hypocrite.

    Posted by Dick_Nixon

    2009-10-15 21:38:25

    I especially like the one from fellow liberal D-Vega, who was so confounded by your ignorant idiocy that he couldn't help but offer a comment about it.

    The joy here is that this compilation will continue to grow with time as more and more people give you the same basic message:

    "Get lost. We don't care what you think; you're not very bright; and your opinions are poorly thought through."

    Now you have yourself a hoggerific day out there in WA, marmota monax!

  • GDR

    In light of the PWC report, lets not forget that for months on end the Health Insurance lobby was colluding with the enemy in the WH to take away our liberties and advocated the use of FORCE to make us buy there product.

    I care about having a truly free market in health care and health insurance, not simply about helping the Insurance companies get fines up enough in an already Unconstitutional law to keep them profitable.

    Until they renounce the Individual Mandate provision, they are not to be trusted any more then Reid, Pelosi, etc as this all could be nothing but political theater to throw us off track.

    A government takeover is still result of a plan without a government option entitlement – we need to keep the focus on the Individual Mandate and insist that the Health Insurance lobby also drop this requirement a condition for our support.

    Yes, I understand that private Health Insurance is threatened without the Individual Mandate because of the "preexsisting condition" and "community rating" mandates. However, that is their own lobbiests putting them into that box with backdoor deals with a dishonest WH (it was always the lefts intent to destroy Private Health Insurance, any fool could see thatt). We are obligated to fight for our Individual Liberties and the concept of a Free Market/Private Health Insurance. However, we are under NO obligation to defend the creation of a quasi-government monopoly under the guise of supposedly private Health Insurance.

    Isnt this the kind of government/business/union corruption we are all enraged about?

    Here is a great NRO blog that sums up the situation:

    "AHIP/PriceWaterhouse Blowback? [John R. Graham]

    Full disclosure (in the spirit of James C. Capretta): I don't do consulting work for private health insurers, and I doubt they'd have me. I share Benjamin Zycher's frustration with the various corporate interests, including AHIP (the health-insurers' trade association), which have managed to get the enemy (government) "exactly where they want us," with their eager appeasement of the ruling faction.

    All intellectual capitalists since Adam Smith have known that we cannot rely on business to carry our philosophical water for us, but even I'm amazed that AHIP has waited so long to release a report (so ably summarized by Mr. Capretta), that describes how the Baucus memorandum (it's not a "bill") will destroy Americans' access to private health care. Indeed, they waited so long that the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report has revived the so-called "public option."

    The health insurers have become so committed to the idea of the federal government ordering people to buy health insurance, that the media and most laypeople are convinced that the "public option" is the only way to prevent insurers from gouging beneficiaries.

    The government is not going to change tack as long as the corporate interests are encouraging it to assume greater power over Americans' access to medical services. Instead, it's time for AHIP to change tack, abandon the ill-founded notion of mandatory health insurance, and adopt a policy advocating individual choice and responsibility."

    I would make too much of this supposed "treachery" the health insurance lobby and the various Obama/Democrats threats on anti-trust etc. I think this all more "political theater" for the masses….

    Until such time as the Health Insruance lobby drops their call for the Unconstitutional Individual Mandate, they only have themselves to blame for cutting deals with devils….

    I think this is all just show to keep the far left appeased that they are "fighting" evil big health insurance and will have a "fall guy" to blame when the government option is dropped as negotiated….

    It also keeps Republican and Conservatives tied to unconditionally supporting the health insurance lobby – which is not good politically nor something we should do until they renounce the WHOLE backroom deal and OPPOSE THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE!

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