Kingsport Native Sees The Light On Health Care-Testifies Before Congress

It's always good to hear about a fellow Kingsport native who sees beyond their own cushy situation and has real empathy toward those of us who don't have the gold-plated health care coverage that a few have. It took an article in the Kingsport Times-News about the RAM health care clinic that was slated in Wise, Va. for him to see the reality of health care in the US as experienced by most of us. He went to Wise and came away a different man. In part, here is his story as reported by Vince Staten...

"You see, Wendell Potter, Kingsport native and retired insurance company executive, testified before Congress last Wednesday as an insurance industry critic – a “whistleblower,” CBS News called him - telling the Senate Commerce Committee that “Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand -- or even to obtain -- information we need.

”You might have heard more about Wendell’s testimony and his newfound take on the industry that employed him for two decades except for one problem. “I was scheduled to be on MSNBC Thursday and then I got a call from the producer who said, ‘We can’t do it after all. Michael Jackson just died and we are going wall to wall with that.

”Wendell’s change of heart on his former employers is a direct result of an article he read in the Kingsport Times News.

“I was home visiting my parents, who still live in Bloomingdale. John Edwards was campaigning in the area and there was a Times News story about him stopping in Wise for a free health clinic. I was really curious about it so I borrowed my dad’s ‘92 Oldsmobile and on Saturday I drove over to Wise. It was foggy and raining when I got there. A lot of those folks had been camping overnight to get in the gates and get care. The parking lot was jam-packed. I went inside and that was the most stunning part. There were long lines of people waiting in the rain to get care provided by volunteer doctors in animal stalls in the fairgrounds.”

Wendell says he was overwhelmed with emotion. “I thought, ‘Where am I? How could this possibly be the United States?’ It was such a revelation.

”Wendell had always had good jobs, well paying jobs with good insurance. “I realized I had been insulated from the way the world is. Decisions are made by corporate executives much like me, unaware of the lives of so many people in this country who don’t have health insurance or means to get routine care.

”That’s when he decided he had to do something. First came his testimony before Congress. Then, “I talked to Stan Brock who runs this organization that runs the clinics. They are going to do another one at the end of July. I’m going to issue an invitation to the President and members of the Congressional committee and corporate executives to come down and see what happens.”

And the amazing part is that the President and these other muckety-mucks just might heed the call of Kingsport native Wendell Potter. They may have to. "

Mr. Potter's full testimony is posted at Vince Staten's blog