Film Screening And Panel Discussion Features Health Insurance Whistleblower

HARTFORD, CT — A film screening and panel discussion will delve into the sensitive topic of whether health insurance makes people sick Wednesday at the Legislative Office Building.

The event, scheduled for 6 p.m. in Room 2E, will feature a screening of the movie, "Midas." The film, shot in Hartford, features protagonists that fight an insurance company from the inside.

Following the movie there will be a panel discussion with reform advocate Wendell Potter, filmmaker TJ Noel-Sullivan, state senators Dr. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, and Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, and CT Healthcare Advocate Kathleen Holt.

"I knew I was part of the problem when I came face to face with hundreds of people, most of them soaking wet and standing in lines that stretched out of view, waiting to get care in animal stalls," Potter said in a comment posted on his website. "That was the day I made a personal commitment to change my life — and to change the status quo."

According to his website, Potter spent about 20 years as a communications and public affairs spokesperson for health insurance companies.

"After witnessing firsthand how these corporations use strategic PR and lobbying to tilt the scales toward corporate interests, Wendell abandoned his corporate career to advocate for meaningful health care reform," according to the site. "In 2009, Wendell appeared before Congress to offer his expert testimony on health insurance in the U.S. He pulled the curtains back to reveal business practices and propaganda tactics that contribute to spiraling health care costs and the growing number of uninsured and underinsured Americans."

He has since spoken at hundreds of public forums, written op-eds for numerous media outlets and written four books, including the New York Times bestseller Deadly Spin.

Potter is president of the Center for Health and Democracy.