Controversial Michael Moore Flick 'Sicko' Will Compare U.S. Health Care with Cuba's

[HM2VikingRN]

Health care advances in Cuba

According to the Associated Press as cited in the Post article, "Cuba has made recent advancements in biotechnology and exports its treatments to 40 countries around the world, raking in an estimated $100 million a year. ... In 2004, the U.S. government granted an exception to its economic embargo against Cuba and allowed a California drug company to test three cancer vaccines developed in Havana."

http://alternet.org/envirohealth/50911/?page=1

[pickledpepperRN]

Clayton and Susan Redfield were in danger of losing their home after receiving a $66,000 bill from their insurance company. After many unheard complaints, Clayton uploaded their story to the SiCKO YouTube group page and got results. Watch their story now!

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

[Levin]

This country is

[insert sizable dollar amount here]

in debt.

Funny how that's never a problem when it's something your(as in the US) current administration actually wants to do.

Levin

[Brian, ASN, RN]

I have added a few Sicko Video Clips in the following thread:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f287/sicko-youtube-video-clips-233464.html

[Jolie, BSN]

an interesting tidbit from a yahoo article on "sicko".

but one aspect missing from the film is the defense. do not expect to hear anyone speak well of the care they received in the u.s. on the other hand, patients and doctors from canada, britain, france and cuba marvel at their health care.

at one point, moore notes where the u.s. ranks in terms of health care around the world.

"the united states slipped to no. 37 in health care around the world, just slightly ahead of slovenia," he said.

that ranking is based on a 2000 report from the world health organization that some health analysts viewed as misleading.

moore does not say that one of the countries he highlighted, cuba, is ranked 39th, below the u.s.

full text of the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070701/ap_on_he_me/sicko_us_fact_check;_ylt=audyodtzqmsbhekpqfj8hxmr.3qa

[kenny b]

Funny how that's never a problem when it's something your(as in the US) current administration actually wants to do.

Levin

I'm sorry. I must have missed something Levin. I think it's a huge problem and so do a lot of other people. I'm not sure where you get that impression.

I think that failing to balance the budget through responsible spending should be a hanging offense (okay, life in prison).

Could you please clarify what you mean exactly?

Thanks in advance.

[kenny b]

I have been thinkng about this a lot. Is universal health care possible in this country? It seems that the country has more of an individualistic ideology rather than a collectivist ideology i.e." as long as I'm all right, I'm all right". Is it because we are a nation of immigrants?

As for me I am more of a collectivist than an individualist -probably one of the reason's I went into nursing in the first place. I would love to work on building a society that promotes the common good, rather than further fattening the wallets of the corporations. I would love to leave society better than I found it. I just don't know if my fellow countrymen are up to the job.

I respectfully disagree. The people of this country are some of the most generous in the world. I'm sure there are those who have the "I'm alright" attitude you mentioned, but I hardly think it characterizes the nation as a whole. There are also many who pay lip service to wanting a better society and are unwilling to contribute. But there are quite a few who do take charity seriously.

Those people raise legitimate questions like: If we change the system so that we aren't fattening the wallets of corporate America, then will we perhaps be fattening the wallets of beaureaucrats and high-level elements of the new system instead? Where would the accountability be?

Your statement about wanting to leave society better and wondering about your fellow countrymens' commitment comes across as a little, I don't know, too proud perhaps with perhaps too many assumptions?

How much did you give to the United Way last year?

There is strong evidence that private charities use dollars far more efficiently than beauracracies. That's why I liked Tweety's post about his not-for-profit hospital.

[fronkey bean]

Kenny, I think there are actual surveys out that show that Americans are some of the most generous people, outgiving most other nations. I can't quote the exact survey, I heard it quoted on The O'Rielly Factor

[pickledpepperRN]

You are right. Most Americans are kind and generous.

I think WE THE PEOPLE need to scrutinize our elected representatives, get rid of obscene corporate donations, and enforce current laws.

Then we need to elect people who don't take big money from for profit corporations.

When we have single payer healthcare we need to scrutinize it and prevent Halliburton type outsourcing.

Sorry but I don't trust the United Way. I donate to the Union Rescue Mission and the Los Angeles Free Clinic. I give my time at these too so see the good our money does.

The Red Cross gets my blood and my time NOT my money.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Today's United Way Scandal

Charity Navigator used to evaluate the Washington, DC United Way. We removed their rating in 2003 because, after a financial accounting scandal, we were unsure of the data and didn't want to reward them for their financial improprieties.

Now we learn that their new CFO, brought in to help clean up the books, has resigned, charging that the scandal-ridden organization is exaggerating the amount of money it has raised. I guess we won't be putting them back up on our site again anytime soon.

http://www.trentstampstake.org/2006/05/todays-united-way-scandal.html

Area United Way's Ex-Chief Admits $500,000 Fraud

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A31702-2004Mar4&notFound=true

[kenny b]

Sorry but I don't trust the United Way. I donate to the Union Rescue Mission and the Los Angeles Free Clinic. I give my time at these too so see the good our money does.

The Red Cross gets my blood and my time NOT my money.

But you've just made my point more eloquently than I ever could have! See, these non-profit efforts to improve things for folks here in the US have to answer to their contributors every day! If you don't like or trust them, you simply change your contributions! - IMMEDIATELY! This forces them to spend the money the way the contributors want. It forces them to demonstrate results. So you donate to the Union Rescue Mission and the LA Free Clinic. God Bless you for that. Clearly you think the are somehow better at providing help to the masses than the government is.

What could be better? The equivalent would be voting for government officials at will, and that's impractical.

My aunt and I have have had this discussion many times. She too says we should just vote wise leaders into office, but that won't work as well as you'd like - for a variety of reasons. Besides, how do you know who the honest candidates are? Once they're in, they're in.

When the size of goverment has gone up, charitable contributions have gone down, and vica-versa. I ask you now, where is the money better spent and where will more of it get to the people who need it?

And if there are ever any shinanigans with the money? Well, the free press of the US is all over that (for government AND private agencies). The only difference is that we can react quickly to the reports about misuse by private agencies, and they'll feel the pain in reduced donations. However the donations will go somewhere else and so the beneficiaries will still benefit.

[kenny b]

You are right. Most Americans are kind and generous.

I think WE THE PEOPLE need to scrutinize our elected representatives, get rid of obscene corporate donations, and enforce current laws.

Then we need to elect people who don't take big money from for profit corporations.

And how do you propose that WE THE PEOPLE do so? It's just not as easy as it sounds.

See, this is what scares me about Universal Health Care. Your Haliburton point is very insightful and apt. They've proven time and time again that they can't keep their hands out of the cookie jar. So voting to provide them with more money and more power just rewards them for this behavior. Hell! It's all borrowed anyway, but it's owed to real people and real countries and we're paying real interest. Universal Health Care would just give them more cookies to mismanage. If they'd just lick the crumbs off after they've passed them out, I'd be somewhat okay with it (not really), but they actually eat most of the cookies and then pass out the crumbs.

[kenny b]

Funny how that's never a problem when it's something your(as in the US) current administration actually wants to do.

Levin

I'm not upset. I'm genuinely inerested in understanding what you mean.

Not a problem for or with whom?

What specific example might you have been thinking of?

I think part of the problem is that we (the people of the US) haven't felt the pain of the spending yet because they're just borrowing money in the names of our children right now. If they actually had to take out individual loans in the names of our children, I think people would get more involved in making them work for us.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

moore does not say that one of the countries he highlighted, cuba, is ranked 39th, below the u.s.

he doesn't say it in the movie, but he has repeatedly addressed it in recent interviews- including larry king live friday night.

fact of the matter is, cuba is not one of the top industrialized nations, and is a tiny island, yet they are closely ranked with us in health care quality.