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'SiCKO' Has Capital Blue Cross Executive Scrambling To Respond
 "If popular, the movie will have a negative impact on our image in this community." -- Barclay Fitzpatrick, Vice President of Corporate Communications, Capital Blue Cross An employee who works at Capital Blue Cross has sent Michael Moore a confidential memo written and circulated by its Vice President of Corporate Communications, Barclay Fitzpatrick. His job, it seems, was to go and watch "SiCKO," observe the audience's reaction, and then suggest a plan of action for how to deal with the movie. The memo, which I am releasing publicly, is a fascinating look at how one health care company views "SiCKO" -- and what it fears it's larger impact will be on the public. The industry's only hope, the memo seems to indicate, is if the movie "flops." Mr. Fitzpatrick writes: "In typical Moore fashion, Government and business leaders are behind a conspiracy to keep the little guy down and dominated while getting rich." No. You don't say! That can't be! BlueCross V.P. Fitzpatrick seems downright depressed about the movie he just saw. "You would have to be dead to be unaffected by Moore's movie," he writes. "SiCKO" leaves audiences feeling "ashamed to be...a capitalist, and part of a 'me' society instead of a 'we' society." He walks out of the theater only to witness an unusual sight: people -- strangers -- mingling and talking to each other. "'I didn't know they (the insurers) did that!' was a common exclamation followed by a discussion of the example," according to Fitzpatrick. He then assesses the film's impact: "[T]he impact on small business decision makers, our members, the community, and our employees could be significant. Ignoring its impact might be a successful strategy only if it flops, but that has not been the history of Moore's films ... If popular, the movie will have a negative impact on our image in this community." The BlueCross memo then suggests a strategy in dealing with "SiCKO" and offers the BCBS "talking points" to be used in discounting the film. If ever there was an example of the power of the video documentary on today's society, I think this is a classic example. A highly placed corporate communications executive admitting that "You would have to be dead to be unaffected by Moore's movie, he is an effective storyteller". In SiCKO Moore presents a collage of injustices by selecting stories, no matter how exceptional to the norm, that present the health insurance industry as a set of organizations and people dedicated to denying claims in the name of profit. Denial for treatments that are considered "experimental" is a common story, along with denial for previous conditions, and denial for application errors or omissions. Individual employees from Humana and other insurers are interviewed who claim to have actively pursued claim denial as an institutionalized goal in the name of profit. "While Humana and Kaiser Permanente are demonized, the BlueCross and BlueShield brands appear, separately and together, visually and verbally, with such frequency that there should be no doubt that whatever visceral reaction his movie stirs will spill over onto the Blues brands in every market". Say tuned in 2007-2008, "Scam Of The Century," the 60 minute video documentary being produced by Californians Injured At Work will do to the California Workers Compensation industry what SiCKO is doing to expose the American health care industry. For more information go to www.scam of the century.com CLiCK Here to Download a PDF of the Following Document
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