Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor

Level 3
1

Advanced

Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

whistleblower

trolley

wary

appal

mired

manipulate

scupper

recess

waver

testify

1. If you ___________________, you hesitate because you are not sure what to do.
2. If you ___________________ someones plans or hopes of success, you spoil them.
3. If something ___________________ you, it makes you feel very shocked or offended.
4. If you ___________________, you make a statement about something you know, saw or experienced, usually
in a court of law.
5. A ___________________ is a short time between periods of work in an official organization, especially a court
or a parliament.
6. A ___________________ is someone who reports dishonest or illegal activities within an organization to
someone in authority.
7. A ___________________ is a bed with wheels used in hospitals.
8. If someone or something becomes ___________________, they are caught in an unpleasant situation from
which there is no escape.
9. If you ___________________ people, you influence or control them in a clever or dishonest way.
10. If you are ___________________ of someone or something, you are nervous because you think they might
cause you a problem.

Find the information

Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible.

1. How many US citizens do not have health insurance?
2. When did Bill Clinton attempt to reform the American healthcare system?
3. How have the Republicans described Obamas healthcare reform plans?
4. When did Wendell Potter become a whistleblower?
5. Where was the free medical clinic Potter visited?

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NEWS LESSONS / Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor / Advanced

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6. How long did Potter work for the US healthcare firm Cigna?

Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor

Potters claims are at the centre of the biggest
political crisis of Barack Obamas young
presidency. Obama, faced with 47 million
Americans without health insurance, has put
reforming the system at the top of his agenda.
If he succeeds, he will have pushed through
one of the greatest changes to domestic policy
of any president. If he fails, his presidency
could be broken before it is even a year old.
Last week, in a sign of how important this
issue is, he addressed the nation in a live TV
news conference. It is the sort of event usually
reserved for a moment of deep national crisis,
such as a terrorist attack. But Obama wanted
to talk about healthcare. This is about every
family, every business and every taxpayer who
continues to shoulder the burden of a problem
that Washington has failed to solve for decades,
he told the nation.

Obamas plans are now mired and the

opponents of reform are winning. The
Republican attack machine has cranked
into gear, labelling reform as socialist and
warning ordinary Americans that government
bureaucrats, not doctors, will choose their
medicines. The bills opponents say the huge
cost can only be paid by massive tax increases
on ordinary Americans and that others will
have their current healthcare plans taken away.
Many centrist Democratic congressmen, wary
of their conservative voters, are wavering. The
legislation has failed to meet Obamas August
deadline and is now delayed until after the
summer recess. Many fear that this loss of
momentum could kill it altogether.

To Potter that is no surprise. He has seen all

this before. In his long years with Cigna he rose
to be the companys top PR executive. He had
an eagle-eye view of the industrys tactics of
scuppering political efforts to get it to reform.
This is a very wealthy industry and they use
PR very effectively. They manipulate public
opinion and the news media and they have built
up these relationships with all these politicians
through campaign contributions, Potter said.

Paul Harris
26 July, 2009
1 Wendell Potter can remember exactly when he
took the first steps on his journey to becoming
a whistleblower and turning against one of the
most powerful industries in America. It was July
2007 and Potter, a senior executive at giant US
healthcare firm Cigna, was visiting relatives in
the poverty-ridden mountain districts of northeast
Tennessee. He saw an advert in a local paper for
a touring free medical clinic just across the state
border in Virginia.
2 Potter, who had worked at Cigna for 15 years,
decided to check it out. What he saw appalled
him. Hundreds of desperate people, most without
any medical insurance, descended on the clinic
from out of the hills. People queued in long lines
to have the most basic medical procedures
carried out free of charge. Some had driven more
than 200 miles from Georgia. Many were treated
in the open air. Potter took pictures of patients
lying on trolleys on rain-soaked pavements.
3 For Potter it was a dreadful realization that
healthcare in America had failed millions of poor,
sick people and that he, and the industry he
worked for, did not care about the human cost of
their constant search for profits. It was
over-powering. It was just more than I could
possibly have imagined could be happening in
America, he said.
4 Potter resigned shortly afterwards. Last month
he testified in Congress, becoming one of the
few industry executives to admit that what its
critics say is true: healthcare insurance firms
push up costs, buy politicians and refuse to
pay out when many patients actually get sick.
In chilling words he told a Senate committee: I
worked as a senior executive at health insurance
companies and I saw how they confuse their
customers and dump the sick: all so they can
satisfy their Wall Street investors.

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009

NEWS LESSONS / Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor / Advanced

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Whistleblower tells of Americas

hidden nightmare for its sick poor

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Advanced

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Level 3

Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor

Level 3
8

Advanced

He says the industry is afraid of Obamas

reforms and that is why it is fighting so hard.
It scuppered Bill Clintons attempt at reform in
the 1990s and Potter admits that he is worried
the industry might win again. I have seen their
tactics work. I have been a part of it, he said.
He knows he has no chance of ever working
again for a major firm. I am a whistleblower and
corporate America does not like whistleblowers,
he said. But there is one thing Potter is not
sorry about: leaving the healthcare industry and
speaking out. I have absolutely no regrets. I am
doing the right thing, he said.

Comprehensive healthcare reform in the US

has been an ambition of many presidents since
the early part of the 20th century. None has
succeeded in creating a system that gives all
Americans the right to health cover. Barack
Obama is desperate to avoid the same fate.

Guardian News & Media 2009

First published in The Observer, 26/07/09

3 Comprehension check
Choose the best answer according to the text.
1. Why did Wendell Potter become a whistleblower?

a. Because he wanted the USA to introduce a socialist healthcare system.

b. Because he realized the healthcare industry was more interested in profits than people.

c. Because he wanted to scupper Obamas health reform plans.

2. Why was it unusual for President Obama to use a live TV news conference to talk about healthcare?

a. Because such events are usually reserved for moments of national crisis, such as terrorist attacks.

b. Because Obama does not usually broadcast live to the American people.

c. Because Obama has not previously expressed an interest in healthcare reform.

3. Why, according to Potter, will he never be able to work for a major company again?

a. Because he resigned from Cigna.

b. Because he supports healthcare reform.

c. Because he is a whistleblower.

4. What did Potter see in Virginia in July 2007?

a. A lot of poverty.

b. People receiving medical treatment in the open air.

c. People driving to the hills for medical treatment.

he people who visited the free medical clinic were people without health
insurance.
2. Potter believes that the American healthcare has failed millions of poor, sick
people.

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NEWS LESSONS / Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor / Advanced

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3. The Republicans are in favour of Obamas healthcare reforms.

Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor

Level 3

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4 Find the word

Find the following words and phrases in the text.
1. A two-word expression meaning extremely poor. (para 1)
2. A two-word expression meaning very wet after rain. (para 2)
3. An adjective meaning so strong that you cannot control it. (para 3)
4. An adjective meaning making you feel suddenly very frightened or worried. (para 4)
5. A verb meaning to abandon. (para 4)
6. A three-word expression meaning bear the cost of a difficult problem. (para 5)
7. A three-word expression meaning to start working effectively. (para 6)
8. A three-word expression meaning an excellent view of something from a high position. (para 7)

5 Phrasal verbs
Match these phrasal verbs from the text with their meanings.
1. turn against

a. perform

2. check out

b. succeed in getting a law accepted quickly

3. push up

c. go and examine something to see if it is satisfactory

4. push through

d. state your opinion publicly about something

5. carry out

e. make something increase

6. speak out

f. stop supporting someone and start opposing them

6 Word building
Complete the sentences using the correct form of the word in brackets at the end of each sentence.
1. ___________________ of Obamas healthcare reforms say they will lead to tax increases. [OPPOSE]
2. The healthcare industry is an extremely ___________________ one. [WEALTH]
3. The industry has built up ___________________ with politicians. [RELATE]
4. Healthcare companies have made ___________________ to political campaigns. [CONTRIBUTE]
5. The free medical clinic carried out basic medical ___________________. [PROCEED]
6. Obamas ___________________ is facing its first crisis. [PRESIDENT]

7 Discussion

NEWS LESSONS / Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor / Advanced

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What are the arguments for and against free healthcare for everyone?

Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor

Level 3

Advanced

KEY
1 Key words

5 Phrasal verbs

1. waver
2. scupper
3. appals
4. testify
5. recess
6. whistleblower
7. trolley
8. mired
9. manipulate
10. wary

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

2 Find the information

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

47 million
in the 1990s
as socialist
in July 2007
Virginia
15 years

f
c
e
b
a
d

6 Word building
1. opponents
2. wealthy
3. relationships
4. contributions
5. procedures
6. presidency

3 Comprehension check
1.
2.
3.
4.

b
a
c
b

4 Find the word

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NEWS LESSONS / Americas hidden nightmare for sick poor / Advanced

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1. poverty-ridden
2. rain-soaked
3. overpowering
4. chilling
5. dump
6. shoulder the burden
7. crank into gear
8. eagle-eye view