I am watching Michael Moore's "Sicko" for the first time....

The problem is not with the US health care system; the problem is with the horrendously flawed methodology used to create the rankings.

You can't rank health care systems by using non-healthcare indicators and expect to have an accurate result.

Healthcare is already a right. So is gun ownership, religious freedom, and free speech. It doesn't mean that we should expect someone else (i.e. the gov't) to accomodate me and pay me to write an article about what ever I want, have the gov't build a church of my liking on my street so I don't have to drive 30 miles to get to one, or that I should expect someone to buy me a gun. It means that no one impedes my capacity to pursue those rights.

And just because the gov't oversees care, it doesn't suddenly mean they will pay for all digit and limb re-attachments...because THEY WON'T.

And the idea of implementing a UHC program because a few are underinsured will only lead to making us all underinsured.

Moore is a hypocrite, a poser, and a liar. We can't assign one inch of credibility to someone who is blatantly dishonest about so much of his material...and who profits to the tune of millions by lying.

Trust the government to use taxpayer money wisely and implement realistic, efficient programs, particularly after this most recent spending debacle?

No thanks.

I'm happier to work and pay for my own coverage than trust the government to dole out what they see fit that I should receive.

Best,

Southern

P.S. OP - please read some factual critiques about this movie. You're going to find much of what you saw was mostly for effect..

and boy, it works, doesn't it? Nothing is ever what it appears when someone is presenting a persuasive argument.

I don't like the thought of people being denied health services due to lack of insurance, however, I don't think the gov't should be running it, it does a lousy job already. What you don't hear is how in Europe, people do take out private insurance. My cousin living in Ireland, went to the public hospital, in severe pain, they kept her waiting for over half a day, and then they just sent her home. She was still in so much pain, she went to the private hospital(interesting to note: owned by American co.), she was seen right away and was admitted for pyleonephritis and pelvic inflamation. This is the difference between a public hospital and a private pay hospital, does it sound any different then what someone would experience here in the US? Our health system needs a major repair, I'm not sure what is the solution.

Can we at least go for a flat rate tax across the board that everyone has to pay? Please Please Please

Flat tax! I definitely applaud that!

Problem! You can't have one without the other.

We can dream can't we. LOL I would love a flat 10, even 15% across the board, everyone has to pay, no deductions, no write offs, everyone just bucks up and pays their part.

People in the USA rarely complain about their socialized police force, or socialized fire department, or socialized roads, or socialized garbage collection, or socialized water company, or socialized millitary, or...

dig
who's thanking gawd we didn't privatize social security a few years back.

why do you think that you have to pay more taxes, in the UK the tax rate is 23%, and a social security payment, much like your medicare payment that comes out of our wages, but then on top of that you pay health care benefits out of your wages, so if these payments honestly went into a health system and not into the health insurance companies profits then you would have a working health system for everyone, if you have a lot of money like your politicians then bills dont matter, if you have no money, then they done matter if you are old then its paid for, but if you are one of the many working people who pay health insurance, then try getting sick and see how many bills you get, even with good coverage, the system that is in america only works for the working person if you dont get sick and have to take time off work, try calling socialised medicine something else, oh I forgot you already do its called insurance companies who control it all.

Take the $525 - the sum of my payment for my private insurance and my employer's contribution to the same each pay period - multiply it by 26 (pay periods in a year). That adds up to $13,650 per year that goes to cover private health insurance for my family of 3. It astounds me that there are people who seriously think this ok.

That almost-14k...heck, even half that, or even a third, multiplied by every working American, would likely suffice to cover everybody's medical bills in the nation. So much for higher taxes...just quit paying the dang private insurers whose job it is to make a profit.