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 at a fairground just across the state border in Wise County, Virginia.

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.

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 at a fairground just across the state border in Wise County, Virginia.

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.

Do Repubs seriously think that a debate about abortion that imperils health care for folks like this is an “opportunity”?

Can we survive a Congress where such self-interest is so acceptable that it is touted in public? Where is the outcry about the poor and extremely needy right here in America? Why are opponents to health care not embarrassed by the results of the free clinic?

But this battle illustrates, in a genius sort of way, WHY it is SO TOTALLY WRONG TO BAIL OUT PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES IN THE FIRST PLACE, mandating millions of new patiens to pay for policies and deductibles they cannot afford. Taxpayer money is sacred. It should NEVER be used in this manner.

I'm not against using taxpayer money to pay for people's HEALTH CARE, but NEVER to BUY INSURANCE POLICIES. The people's money should be used in a very strict, supervised and FAIR manner, that does not ALLOW ABUSE.

The abortion issue illustrates why this is wrong. Its another bailout without reform. Its corporate welfare and a mix of public and private where the public pays and the private benefits.

Abortion, managed/witheld care and euthanasia fears are as solid in the Christian camp as the rock of Gibraltar. Trust me. Have been since the anti-ecumenical movement in the 80's, especially in the Catholic Church. You might as well crucify Jesus again.

But interestingly, it makes the point that this mixing of private corporations and tax dollars is fundamentally wrong, in this case, and can never be used fairly or beneficially to the public, if given to private corporations. It just never will.

Also, “life” does not begin at conception according to Judaism, but at breath, or Ruach. Jesus did not amend this. Rather, he said, when a woman was accused of sexual immorality, to let who is without sin cast the first stone.

The “pro-life” movement is anti-Christian.