anyone catch Frontline tonight - 3.31.09?

[d!gger]

Fresh from the SiCKo threads...

Tonight, Frontline aired "Sick around America".

They came to many of the same fundamental conclusions.

You can watch the whole 1 hour show and read extended interviews, etc here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundamerica/

There's a GREAT interview with the head of the Kaiser Foundation and

how they were forced to get a new policy for their employees.

The Henry J Kaiser Foundation!

They were built on the very thing they now can't afford!

If I couldn't laugh at irony, I'd cry a lot more.

I went into medicine to change some of these appalling oversights.

And I'm not disillusioned yet.

Just angrier. And as anyone in psyche will tell you

"Anger is good. We can work with anger. We can't work with apathy."

What do y'all think of Frontline's take on healthcare in America?

dig

[WildcatFanRN, BSN, RN]

I missed the episode. I'll have to watch the link and come back with an opinion.

[WildcatFanRN, BSN, RN]

Ok, I haven't been able to actually watch the video as I'm not at a high speed connection. But what I've read from the interviews this is a very interesting topic. Very timely too. I'm still afraid that at the end of the day though, nothing will get done because though people want change, no one actually wants to pay for it.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

something is rotten at pbs

by russell mokhiber

last year, former washington post reporter t.r. reid made a great documentary for the pbs show frontline titled sick around the world.

reid traveled to five countries that deliver health care for all - uk, japan, switzerland, germany, taiwan - to learn about how they do it.

reid found that the one thing these five countries had in common - none allowed for-profit health insurance companies to sell basic medical coverage.

frontline then said to reid - okay, we want you to go around the united states and make a companion documentary titled sick around america.

so, reid traveled around america, interviewing patients, doctors, and health insurance executives.

the documentary that resulted - sick around america - aired monday night on pbs.

but even though reid did the reporting for the film, he was cut out of the film when it aired this week.

and the film didn't present reid's bottom line for health care reform - don't let health insurance companies profit from selling basic health insurance....

...and the film had a deceptive segment that totally got wrong the lesson of reid's previous documentary - sick around the world.

during that segment, about halfway through sick around america, the moderator introduces karen ignagni, president of america's health insurance plans, the lead health insurance lobby in the united states....

you have to open the link to read what she said - http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/03-7

[GCTMT]

Very interesting video. I have thought for a long time that the way to go in regards to covering everyone is HR 676. http://www.healthcare-now.org/index.php?s=HR+676

This legislation would ensure that everyone is covered.

[GCTMT]

something is rotten at pbs

by russell mokhiber

last year, former washington post reporter t.r. reid made a great documentary for the pbs show frontline titled sick around the world.

reid traveled to five countries that deliver health care for all - uk, japan, switzerland, germany, taiwan - to learn about how they do it.

reid found that the one thing these five countries had in common - none allowed for-profit health insurance companies to sell basic medical coverage.

frontline then said to reid - okay, we want you to go around the united states and make a companion documentary titled sick around america.

so, reid traveled around america, interviewing patients, doctors, and health insurance executives.

the documentary that resulted - sick around america - aired monday night on pbs.

but even though reid did the reporting for the film, he was cut out of the film when it aired this week.

and the film didn't present reid's bottom line for health care reform - don't let health insurance companies profit from selling basic health insurance....

...and the film had a deceptive segment that totally got wrong the lesson of reid's previous documentary - sick around the world.

during that segment, about halfway through sick around america, the moderator introduces karen ignagni, president of america's health insurance plans, the lead health insurance lobby in the united states....

you have to open the link to read what she said - http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/03-7

thanks for posting this. i read the article and agree that the video was misleading. karen ignani did not portray an accurate account of health care in the rest of the developed world. at the least it was misleading, at worst it was a bold face lie.

i think that it would be very difficult to convince most americans to support a national insurance plan funded by tax dollars, because of our history. americans are weary of any plan with the word "socialism" in it.