LEO asks Humana employees to share internal memos on Sicko -- and they do

JULY 18, 2007
CONTACT: Cary Stemle
cstemle (at) leoweekly.com
502-895-9770 ext. 206

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY — What does Humana Inc. think of Michael Moore’s new documentary, Sicko?

That’s what the Louisville Eccentric Observer wanted to know. And what better way to find out than to invite employees of the Louisville-based health-care giant to spill the beans?

Humana and Moore have a past that dates to at least 1999 when Moore, then working on his TV show The Awful Truth, shot an episode in which a man who’d been denied an organ transplant by his insurer — Humana — was given a mock funeral right in front of Humana’s chic Michael Graves-designed headquarters in downtown Louisville.

Within days, Humana had changed its mind and signed off on the procedure. That set Moore to wondering just how many lives he could save. That incident was arguably the genesis of Sicko.

Given that rosy past, LEO figured Humana had a few things to say to its employees about the Michigan maverick. The newspaper put a short notice in its July 11 issue, inviting those employees to share interoffice memos, with the promise of anonymity and a full, unedited reproduction of those memos.

Humana employees came through, and this week, LEO published three documents. To read them, go to www.leoweekly.com. For more information, contact LEO Editor Cary Stemle.