National Press Club to Host "NEWSMAKER" Media Briefing on Reporting Obamacare with Integrity

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Jan 21, 2014, 12:36 ET

Wendell Potter, Former Cigna Insurance Communications Chief, to Address Questions Reporters Ought to be Asking to Improve Coverage

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the sometimes vitriolic debate on Obamacare, changes to insurances policies are often blamed on Obamacare. Are these changes truly caused by Obamacare, or do they represent trends that are already occurring in the insurance industry?

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Wendell Potter, former leader of communications at Cigna, will use his experience to assess the quality of reporting on Obamacare and how reporters can be responsible in their coverage. He will discuss what reporters are missing, how the quality of coverage could be improved, and what reporters need to know about Obamacare and the insurance industry.

Potter will illustrate how the communications experts at health insurance companies shape the news. He will explain why many of the insurance premiums would have increased with or without Obamacare and why many policies would have been cancelled regardless of Obamacare while highlighting the abuses of the insurance industry.

Potter will also suggest questions to ask consumers before telling the stories of problems with Obamacare and health insurance.

When he realized how much public relations and lobbying is used to advance corporate interests and hurt consumers, Potter left his corporate career behind and became an advocate for health care reform. In 2009, his congressional testimony made headlines as he revealed how insurance companies use public relations and lobbying to boost profits in a way that causes rising health care costs and causes increases in the number of people without insurance.

Potter is the author of the award-winning book, Deadly Spin, An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans. His latest offering is an eBook entitled, Obamacare: What's in It for Me? What Everyone Needs to Know about the Affordable Care Act.

This National Press Club Newsmakers news conference is scheduled for 4 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 23, 2013 in the club's Murrow Room on the 13^th Floor of the National Press Building, 529 14^th St., NW, Washington, D.C.

Contact:
Joe Sparks, NPC Newsmakers Event Host
Phone: 314-807-6059, [email protected]

SOURCE National Press Club