ABCNews’ ‘Peter Jennings Reporting’ Examines U.S. Health Insurance Industry

ABCNews on Thursday aired the 60-minute special, "Peter Jennings Reporting: Breakdown: America's Health Insurance Crisis," which examined how problems in the U.S. health insurance system affect every U.S. resident and many aspects of life nationwide.

Jennings, who conducted most of the interviews for the program before he learned he had lung cancer, planned for the broadcast to be the first in a series examining the U.S. health care system, according to Tom Yellin, executive producer of the program. However, by the time the program was finished, Jennings' voice was no longer strong enough to provide narration, Yellin said (ABCNews release, 12/14).

The program included comments from:

• Penny Baldwin, an insurance agent who sells individual health plans;
  
  
• Bert Barrette, owner of a heart screening clinic in New York;
  
  
• Guy Clifton, a physician at Memorial Hermann Hospital;
  
  
• Jay Crosson, executive director of the Permanente Federation;
  
  
• Terrence Cunningham, former administrator at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston;
  
  
• Scott Elmore, a small-business owner;
  
  
• Elliot Fisher, a physician at Dartmouth Medical School;
  
  
• Alan Garber, a physician at Stanford University;
  
  
• Sherry Glied, professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University;
  
  
• Annette Guarisco, executive director for federal affairs at General Motors;
  
  
• George Halvorson, chair and CEO of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals;
  
  
• John Mackey, president of Whole Foods Market;
  
  
• Ken Mattocks, chief of staff at Ben Taub;
  
  
• Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association;
  
  
• Mirta Millares, manager of drug information services and pharmacy outcomes research at Kaiser Permanente;
  
  
• Robert Musbacher, Jr., former head of the Houston Chamber of Commerce;
  
  
• Karen Pollitz, project director of the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University; and
  
  
• Rick Wagoner, CEO of GM (Jennings, "Peter Jennings Reporting: Breakdown: America's Health Insurance Crisis," ABCNews, 12/15).