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Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 58, we interview Wendell Potter. He is a bestselling author and journalist whose work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and many other media outlets. Since leaving his 20-year career as an executive at two of the world’s largest healthcare corporations – Cigna and Humana – he has testified before Congress numerous times to explain how the health insurance industry really works.
A former investigative reporter, Washington correspondent and corporate executive, Wendell delivers an insider’s perspective into those issues as editor-in-chief of his HEALTH CARE un-covered newsletter and through the nonprofit work he leads. He is the founder and president of the Center for Health and Democracy and leads the Lower Out-of-Pockets (LOOP) NOW coalition, which works with policymakers, employers and health benefits consultants to reduce the unsustainably high deductibles and other cost-sharing requirements that burden millions of American families. He also has helped produce four documentaries that delve into various aspects of the U.S. health care system.
In this episode, he shares how his career started in journalism and has now returned to journalism. He first was introduced to journalism in high school when he became a correspondent from his school to the local newspaper.
“I just fell in love with journalism,” he said.
After that, he went on to major in journalism at the University of Tennessee and became editor of the student newspaper. From there, he continued to work as a journalist after graduating, eventually working for Scripps Howard newspapers covering Washington, including Congress, the Supreme Court and White House.
His career later took another path, though, and led to him working for two of the world’s largest healthcare corporations. Now, however, he’s returning to his roots.
“I’ve kind of returned to journalism,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always loved to do, and it is one of the reasons why later in life, in my — in my corporate life — I decided that I had to leave that corporate job because of just how different it was from my job as a journalist.”
In this episode, he also discusses:
- How his career transitioned to one in healthcare
- His two decades of time spent as an executive in the health insurance industry
- Healthcare reform and the influence of corporations on politics
- Becoming a consumer advocate
- How he became an advocate for universal health coverage
- Money and politics
- The Affordable Care Act and Medicare For All
- Medicare Advantage plans
- Negative impacts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or HR1
- His Substack newsletter, HEALTH CARE un-covered
- What gives him hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Wendell is an innovative leader in health care.
Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.
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