Michael Moore posts this leaked memo (PDF format) from an insurance company's VP of corporate communications.

The money quote: "You would have to be dead to be unaffected by Moore's movie, he is an effective storyteller."

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The memo goes on to outline all the alleged "misperceptions" about the industry as portrayed in the movie, summarizes the "takeaways," and offers some rebuttal "talking points". Here are a few.

• "The [companies] are committed to improving the U.S. healthcare system for our nearly 100 million members through continuous innovation that reflects the ever-changing healthcare landscape and the needs of the consumer."

• "The [company's] participation in the Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured is a primary example of how the broader healthcare community is working together to reduce the number of uninsured in the United States."

• "The [companies] are working on myriad initiatives that ensure Americans have access to quality and affordable healthcare. Each day, [company] Plans across the country are bringing healthcare value to their members in a number of ways such as new advances in health information technology and greater access to cost and quality information."

This sounds like a lot of corporate double-talk that won't be nearly as effective as any random five minutes of Moore's movie. The system is broken, and they know it. Now they're just scrambling to keep their jobs.

That second point about "working together to reduce the number of uninsured" is a cruel joke. This same company refused to write me an individual policy at any price at any deductible. They would, however, write my company a policy that covers me. That's because there's no state law in Tennessee that requires them to write individual policies, but they are required to offer employer group plans. I'm not sure what I would have done if I wasn't self employed with the means to pay the company premiums.

Prior to that, we had an individual policy that got canceled when the company decided to get out of the health insurance business and sold the policy group to another company. The new company said everyone would have to reapply but gave assurances of continued coverage. They canceled our policy and denied our new application without any explanation.

At the time that policy was canceled, we had paid approx. $100,000 in premiums over eighteen years or so, with a net present value of approx. $250,000 based on the S&P 500 rate of return during that period. The policy had a $10,000 deductible (I thought it was $5,000, but the Mrs. corrected me). They never paid out a single penny because we never filed a claim, and still haven't to this day.

We would have been better off opting out of the system and stashing the money in a mutual fund for a rainy medical day. But that's what you get for trying to be responsible and for playing a game where the deck is stacked against you in favor of big corporations.

Back to the memo, if you read the "takeaways" section it's a pretty damning indictment of the industry that sums up the PR nightmare they are facing. The conclusion lays out a strategy of not attacking the movie but rather distancing themselves and their brand. That's probably a good idea.

They probably ought to be thinking about a new line of work, too. I hope it's processing claims and offering supplemental policies for expanded Medicare that covers everybody, or something along those lines.

P.S. "Leaking" the memo is a pretty smart viral marketing move. More people will likely see their message now than would have otherwise. But they're pretty smart that way. After all, they're selling an expensive product that they sometimes don't deliver as docuumented in SiCKO, and they've built an industry around getting people to buy into a broken system that costs us $2 trillion a year, leaves nearly 50,000,000 people behind, and gives the other 250,000,000 people false hope that they are covered until they file a claim and find out differently.

Millions of Americans are one layoff or one heart problem away from bankruptcy. How this is a good deal for America is beyond me.