WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Protestors pack Humana lobby calling for healthcare reform

Protestors pack Humana lobby calling for healthcare reform

By Shayla Reaves - bio | email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Business owners, students and activists were among those near the intersection of Fifth and Main Streets Thursday. The group supported healthcare reform and they wanted the people inside Humana Insurance Headquarters to know it.

"There's huge risks if we don't do anything," said Keith Rouda, a member of move-on.org. "We've got some 50 million people who don't have access to care."

While workers watched from upstairs, more than 50 protestors marched inside the company's building for the first time. Security blocked entry past the lobby.

Humana spokesperson Jim Turner met the protestors who presented a letter for the company's CEO Michael McCallister. In it, they expressed frustration with benefits, coverage and the salary of McCallister himself.

"I have two daughters that have periodically not had healthcare because they were too old to be on my health insurance and they didn't have jobs that provided healthcare," said Fausta Luchini, one of the protestors.

"I think there's a whole lot more that we agree on than disagree on with the demonstrators who are here today," said Humana’s Turner about the protest. "We welcome the folks who are here. We know these are people who believe passionately in healthcare reform. The main point we want to make from Humana is that we absolutely want to see comprehensive health reform happen this year in 2009."

Protestors included Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare, Hoosiers for a Commonsense Healthcare Plan, Move-On.org, peace and justice groups and five major religious denominations.

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