I sold Americans a lie about Canadian medicine. Now we're paying the price.

[bluewater]

In my prior life as an insurance executive, it was my job to deceive Americans about their health care. I misled people to protect profits. In fact, one of my major objectives, as a corporate propagandist, was to do my part to “enhance shareholder value.” That work contributed directly to a climate in which fewer people are insured, which has shaped our nation’s struggle against the coronavirus, a condition that we can fight only if everyone is willing and able to get medical treatment.

Had spokesmen like me not been paid to obscure important truths about the differences between the U.S. and Canadian health-care systems, tens of thousands of Americans who have died during the pandemic might still be alive.

In 2007, I was working as vice president of corporate communications for Cigna. That summer, Michael Moore was preparing to release his latest documentary, “Sicko,” contrasting American health care with that in other rich countries. (Naturally, we looked terrible.) I spent months meeting secretly with my counterparts at other big insurers to plot our assault on the film, which contained many anecdotes about patients who had been denied coverage for important treatments. One example was 3-year-old Annette Noe. When her parents asked Cigna to pay for two cochlear implants that would allow her to hear, we agreed to cover only one.

Clearly my colleagues and I would need a robust defense. On a task force for the industry’s biggest trade association, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), we talked about how we might make health-care systems in Canada, France, Britain and even Cuba look just as bad as ours. We enlisted APCO Worldwide, a giant PR firm. Agents there worked with AHIP to put together a binder of laminated talking points for company flacks like me to use in news releases and statements to reporters.
...

Most important, no one in Canada is turned away from doctors because of a lack of funds, and Canadians can get tested and treated for the coronavirus without fear of receiving a budget-busting medical bill. That undoubtedly is one of the reasons Canada’s covid-19 death rate is so much lower than ours. In America, exorbitant bills are a defining feature of our health-care system. Despite the assurances from President Trump and members of Congress that covid-19 patients will not be charged for testing or treatment, they are on the hook for big bills, according to numerous reports.

That is not the case in Canada, where there are no co-pays, deductibles or coinsurance for covered benefits. Care is free at the point of service. And those laid off in Canada don’t face the worry of losing their health insurance. In the United States, by contrast, more than 40 million have lost their jobs during this pandemic, and millions of them — along with their families — also lost their coverage.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/06/health-insurance-canada-lie/?arc404=true

[Demsrule86]

1. I have family in Canada...and they pay for prescriptions out of pocket...not included in health

care. It is not a covered expense.

[roamer65]

2. There is a provincial run drug insurance plan in Ontario.

It is called Trillium. It helps people who have lower incomes along with high drug costs.

[Swede]

3. Drugs prescribed while in hospital care are covered.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/pharmaceuticals/access-insurance-coverage-prescription-medicines.html

[bluewater]

4. Each province has it's own pharmacare system and a national system is being advocated

Right now, each of Canada’s provinces has its own pharmacare system. But across the country, there are similarities: people on social assistance receive coverage either for free or for a minimal co-payment, and low-income seniors tend to be covered. Many provinces also provide catastrophic coverage for drug costs above a set amount, such as 4% of household income. Private plans, often employer-sponsored, also cover some costs.

Canada’s lack of a national pharmacare plan has been subject to rising scrutiny. Our patchwork system means many people aren’t covered, and we also have higher costs: Canada pays more for prescription drugs than other OECD countries, something the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance is trying to lower by negotiating as a nation. An article published in this week’s Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that the total cost of a national pharmacare program would actually be less than what is currently spent by the combination of public and private drug plans and patients’ payments.

https://healthydebate.ca/2015/03/topic/pharmacare-2

[Demsrule86]

11. My family member pays out of pocket...so at this moment...there is no coverage

nationally. This was my point.

[bluewater]

13. At this moment, a family member of mine is out of work with no insurance at all.

Also, right now several family members and friends are paying out of pocket for their health insurance where formerly they were coverd by their employers.

I think I understand your point, no system is perfect.

But I think the OP article is making that point about the system here in the US even more so.

[rwsanders]

19. Out of pocket, but is the cost comparable?

In the movie "Sicko", folks in Cuba paid out of pocket for a drug he profiled. In Cuba they paid about $10. Here in the US the cost was $110.

[Scarsdale]

26. The UK system is GREAT.

My family lives there. They are horrified when they read about the costs here in the US. Drug costs are minimal. "Sicko" was a good expose. It was scheduled to show in our town, but was canceled at the last minute. We got to the theatre and it was posted on the door that it would not be showing. We bought the video and watched it. Anyone's guess as to who brought the pressure to cancel the showing. Americans should be marching in the streets demanding a health plan resembling other countries. We are being screwed over, so the pharma companies can donate large sums to their reps. the gop. They keep saying it is too expensive. Well, where are the BILLIONS coming from now, to cover tRump's disasterous pandemic? The gop will leave this country bankrupt before his reign is over. All covering his flabby, large orange arse.

[rwsanders]

35. Did you see this video?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017560781
I watched it a few times just for the "shut the fridge" reaction.
It amazes me that so many in our country are so EAGER to be duped by paid mouthpieces like Limbaugh.
If it wasn't for the tribalism encouraged by the GOP and if they'd listen. But even here there are folks who will defend the billionaires and millionaires who benefit from this mess.

[Scarsdale]

37. Yes, I saw that.

One lady said "So in America if you are not rich, you die?" Americans are SO gullible. Why shouldn't there be an affordable healthcare plan here? Every other western country takes care of their citizens. We have greedy politicians, and pharma execs who are protecting their bank accounts.

[rwsanders]

38. I guess that's why they call it Freedumb!

They think that until it affects them.
I worked with a lady that bragged about having 2 framed photos of St. Ronnie in her house. She had to divorce her alcoholic husband, but still watched over him and took him to doctor's appointment among other things. She once came to work and said "I don't understand why there aren't government programs to help people like my husband".

[dawn5651]

24. there are a lot of seniors who fall thru the cracks as do those considered to be the working poor

we really need to have drug coverage under medicare

[dawn5651]

20. i have family here too below a certain income you can get the provincial health care plans

and those family members who have that pay nothing to get their prescriptions filled.

[Fiendish Thingy]

30. I live in BC - most employers provide extended benefit plans covering most meds

Are your family members self employed?

Most of my prescriptions are covered by my retirement extended benefits, after an annual co pay of $100. The few uncovered meds I’ve had to pay for were inexpensive, under $20, definitely cheaper than the out of pocket cost in the US.

Canada also has Pharmacare, to cover prescriptions for low income folks.

[Xolodno]

36. But in cost comparisons.....

For example, my wife has a rare condition and has to have her blood thinned on any flight longer than four hours and we were going to Europe. The hematologist was going to prescribe two shots of Levenox, one for on the way and one for coming home. I asked if we could just get the pill form like Xarelto. He said sure, but the insurance company will probably push back. She'll get four pills, two for the day before and day of the trip. And two for the day before and day of return.

Went to the pharmacy and sure enough, insurance wouldn't cover it. Asked them how much out of pocket? $80 for four fucking pills. Just so we didn't have to deal with the hassle of needles, I said, sure, I'll pay it.

When we got to Rome after being in Paris for a bit...she couldn't find the pills and though she left them in Paris. So we went to a pharmacy, explained the situation and he said, sure, but with one caveat. He was going to have to sell a months worth. With little options, I said ok...it was 80 Euros for a whole month. Which was about 100 in US.

Something is seriously wrong on our side of the border.

[BlueJac]

5. My wife is from Canada

People with jobs usually have insurance that helps pay or covers it all, trillium is for low income or unemployed

[gratuitous]

6. "NOW" we're paying the price? How dare this fuck?!

People have died penniless for decades because of a late age illness. Work hard, save your money, manage your finances, and at the end of your life, hand it all over to insurance companies while your grieving survivors scramble to pay for the disposal of your remains.

[GoCubsGo]

12. That article was by Wendell Potter, who left the health insurance industry to advocate against it.

He has been pushing for "Medicare for All" for more than a decade. Hardly a "fuck."

[gratuitous]

16. He's certainly working hard to absolve himself of any responsibility

He freely confesses that he made a very good living as an insurance executive, but that only NOW is it a problem that thousands of people are dying because of his earlier personally lucrative work. I see the bodies piling up, but I don't see Medicare for All. He wrote an op-ed column for the Post, so everything's good now with Wendell.

Can't say I'm seeing it.

[GoCubsGo]

18. Nope. Just telling how things work in the insurance industry.

But, if you want to keep hating on the guy, that is your prerogative.

[MontanaMama]

28. Wendell Potter has a great website/newsletter

https://tarbell.org/

[GoCubsGo]

31. Yes, and his interviews are always very informative.

I first heard about him from Randi Rhodes, who had him on not long after she came out of "retirement."

[Newest Reality]

7. You can rework that first paragraph...

You can rework that first paragraph as a befitting outline of how every corporation essentially operates. Altruism is not even a meaningful word in that environment.

We have to address issues with the structure of the corporate charters and how it works. In many a sense, they are outdated if you want to include the impact on the environment, the commons, infrastructure, etc. We have incredibly huge, mega-corps utilizing all of that without any kind of requirement for dividends or obligation, so to speak. We pay the tab.

[bluewater]

8. +1000

[Richard D]

9. So sorry . . .

. . . I helped kill hundreds of thousands of people.

[PoliWrangler]

10. K&R nt

[mountain grammy]

14. So relevant, so true, and so ignored.

[world wide wally]

15. I knew you were lying the whole time...

So, I figured you must be a Republican

[Hekate]

17. KnR

[llashram]

21. wow, this is important

predatory capitalism at it's most destructive. Profit over lives.

[dawn5651]

22. i sat and listened to a lady from ontario who had a brain tumor that wasn't life threatening

she went i believe to arizona and had the operation to have the tumor removed, because it wasn't life threatening she had to wait in ontario for those who had life threatening tumors to be operated on first, after the operation she went to a republican campaign rally and got up and said how rotten medicare was and how she couldn't get a operation for a brain tumor ....leaving out the part the tumor wasn't life threatening.....and then lo and behold she went back to ontario and proceeded to sue the provincial government for the expenses she incurred in arizona...at about the same time my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer...she had a mastectomy a few days later.

[area51]

23. k&r n/t

[PatrickforO]

25. This is a good article. Thank you very much for posting.

Healthcare is definitely a major issue for me, and there is nothing that can ever convince me we can't afford to extend Medicare to all Americans. Nothing.

That said, it is good to see someone, just one guy, having a moral crisis about what the insurance 'industry' has been doing to us all along for the sake of shareholder profits. That is good.

The author reminds me, to an extent, of Oskar Schindler. Basically a soulless corporate profiteer who ended up being so bothered by what was going on around him that he became an advocate against the very industry that employed him. Not saying he is noble, because Schindler wasn't in the sense that we understand the word, but Schindler and this guy both have one thing in common - they could not ignore their conscience in the face of what they were seeing.

And...Oskar Schindler, as mediocre as he was as a human being, is memorialized by a tree, planted on the Avenue of the Righteous.

Kudos to the WaPo for printing this guy's opinion piece.

[geretogo]

27. I can't afford Medicare . I go to the socialist run VA . Excellent care . No paper work . All my

drugs and doctor visits are 100% paid for . This is what most of the rest of the world has for their
health care . America needs to wake up .

[SunSeeker]

29. Wendell Potter has been a valuable voice for universal coverage since he regained his soul. nt

[soldierant]

34. Agreed. More of us sholuld listen/have listened to him.

[Fiendish Thingy]

32. Biden will have 12-18 mos to ram through universal healthcare

It’s a once in a century opportunity, let’s hope he doesn’t squander it.

With so many folks out of work and losing their employer sponsored coverage, there is an openness and momentum for substantive change which we must push Dems to implement.

Recent polls show a majority of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, support some for of universal healthcare not linked to employment status.

We can’t go back to business as usual, or simply seek a “return to normalcy”.

[bluewater]

33. +1000