Unlikely friends - Donna Smith, American SiCKO and Wendell Potter, former CIGNA executive
Donna Smith, American SiCKO, and Wendell Potter, former CIGNA executive turned whistleblower, at rally in Harrisburg, PA, on October 20, 2009. The rally was organized in support of Pennsylvania’s single-payer healthcare legislation and was co-sponsored by many state and national organizations advocating for healthcare system overhaul, including the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Healthcare for All Pennsylvania, Progressive Democrats of America, Healthcare-Now, Physicians for a National Health Program, the Western PA Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare, and the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO .
Donna and her husband Larry were bankrupted due to medical crisis even though they carried health insurance coverage, disability insurance and a small healthcare savings account.
Donna told Wendell, “I forgive you.”
Wendell worked as an executive in the private, for-profit insurance industry (for Humana and then CIGNA) until May of 2008 when he finally decided he could not play a part in the suffering that resulted from so many of the practices of the industry.
The crowd of more than 1,200 people cheered, as Wendell teared up, embraced Donna and said, “God bless you.”