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

Simplepleasures · Jul 16, 2007

Blame the lawyers! The lawyers are driving our policies, the way we chart, the tests performed, and most of our healthcare practices. Those that don't pay are the ones that litigate. We now over-kill on diagnostic procedures so we cover our liabilty bases. Healthcare is struggling because lawyers are driving practice changes and causing all to be bogged down with legal aspects and distract us from providing excellent patient care. MM just wants to sell tickets. Any of us can find stories to make any case we want. He does not care about healthcare. There is not a compassionate cell or DNA in his body. What a joke! Thank a lawyer- they work with the PPO's and HMO's. They litigate and frustrate our healthcare and make money doing it. The real bottom line is this- our senators and representatives, both Republican and Democrats, are all lawyers. They are all in it for themselves. I think MM forgot to mention that. He is just an idiot cashing in on your emotions- as worthless as a lawyer in my opinion.

Dont blame the lawyers , they are doing the bidding of the owners of the health care faclities.Unless they own stock in the facilities, they couldnt care less about how we do things.They are NOT driving anything, but expensive cars.If healthcare were so great in America, most people would not be suing.The health insurance industry is to blame for shoddy or non existant healthcare so they can rip off more people to make themselves another million.

reesern63, RN · Jul 17, 2007

Taking the kids?
Back on topic . . . . . propaganda is a very good definition of what MM does. I'm still interested in whether this is a hit piece on nurses and docs too. Guess I'll go google it for awhile . .now that I have a day off.
steph

No, it is decidedly not a hit piece on nurses and doctors.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jul 17, 2007

I had a very brief interaction with National Health Insurance when in Scotland in 2005. I developed laryngitis and that set off my asthma. As my asthma is usually not a problem, I hadn't thought to bring an inhaler with me and I really needed one. So I went to a nearby hospital under my own speed on a late Saturday afternoon. It took less than an hour to see a doctor. He checked my throat, my lungs and wrote me two prescriptions. It almost took longer to get the prescriptions filled than to see the doctor. The medicine cost somewhere around $10 or $15 total and the doctor didn't cost me anything. Even though I was just a tourist, and even though I certainly could have afforded to pay something.

From Laurie DT Mann (Dead People Server keeper) at http://216.92.255.170/blog/blogger.html

pickledpepperRN · Jul 17, 2007

I am glad CNN admitted Mr. Moore was right.

Wish the nit picking were finished.

CNN's response to Michael Moore
GUPTA: (On the lone expert shown in the original piece, Paul Keckley). "His only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University. We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions."
"The Truth" (from Michael Moore's Web site):
Keckley left Vanderbilt in October 2006 to become the executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. The chyron on CNN even notes his new position ("Vandy administrator to head Deloitte research center," Nashville Business Journal. November 1, 2006).
The independent chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions is Tommy Thompson, who was George W. Bush's Health and Human Services Secretary from 2001 to 2005 and is currently running for president as a Republican ("Meet Tommy G. Thompson," Deloitte Center for Health Solutions).
Keckley has made large contributions to Republican candidates and organizations. He gave $1,000 to GOP Senator Bob Corker in 2006, $1,000 to the Tennessee GOP in 2002, along with $1,500 to two GOP congressional candidates and $1,000 to the Tennessee GOP in 2000 (http://www.fecinfo.com).
Keckley was also the CEO and Founder of EBM Solutions Inc., of Nashville, Tennessee, which counted among its customers Blue Cross of Tennessee, the drug company Aventis and others.
Considering Keckley makes his living in the for-profit health care world -- a world "Sicko" argues should be abolished -- viewers should have been told exactly where Keckley was coming from.
CNN RESPONSE:
Moore is correct. Paul Keckley left Vanderbilt in late 2006. That is the affiliation Gupta referenced on "Larry King Live." In addition, CNN obtained the following details about Paul Keckley from his current employer, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/15/moore.gupta/index.html

My conversation with Michael Moore, Dr Gupta:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/2007/07/my-conversation-with-michael-moore.html

Bizara7 · Jul 19, 2007

Does anyone know of a nursing organization that is working towards health care reform in the United States? I couldn't find anything on the internet so perhaps I'll start one right now. Would anyone like to join me? I have had some unique experiences regarding this subject matter and I have to admit that I whole heartedly agree with Michael Moore. Over the last 10 years I have lived in Australia, Holland, and France. I was treated medically in both France and Australia and it truly was a pleasure. As for nursing I have spent the last few months in one of the busiest EDs in MA and the things I've seen.... especially in the elderly population, I feel ashamed! My entire philosophy regarding my profession and my art as a nurse is that health care is a right and never EVER should it be a privalige. We as providers are obligated to change a system that is failing. Isn't that our job, to advocate for our patients???

pickledpepperRN · Jul 19, 2007

Does anyone know of a nursing organization that is working towards health care reform in the United States? I couldn't find anything on the internet so perhaps I'll start one right now. Would anyone like to join me? I have had some unique experiences regarding this subject matter and I have to admit that I whole heartedly agree with Michael Moore. Over the last 10 years I have lived in Australia, Holland, and France. I was treated medically in both France and Australia and it truly was a pleasure. As for nursing I have spent the last few months in one of the busiest EDs in MA and the things I've seen.... especially in the elderly population, I feel ashamed! My entire philosophy regarding my profession and my art as a nurse is that health care is a right and never EVER should it be a privalige. We as providers are obligated to change a system that is failing. Isn't that our job, to advocate for our patients???

http://www.calnurse.org/

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/

canadianRN24 · Jul 19, 2007

There have been a few posters who are wondering what the point of view of a Canadian nurse would be.

Our system is rooted in a true Canadian value of helping your fellow citizen. And i'm not blowing smoke, we are so so so proud of this. In fact, the man who developed our system, Tommy Douglas was recently named "The Greatest Canadian" in history, alive or dead. (Sidenote, he is Keifer Sutherland's grandfather!)

I have never paid for any medical service ever provided to me, my sister just had an MRI for back pain and it took her one month from her diagnosis to scan. The more serious your injuries/illness the sooner you can likely be seen. I have never had to ask a patient to show me their insurance, never had to refuse care, never worried about how they would pay for the services I provide. I value this so much more than making money (although I started as a new grad at 27 dollars an hour)

I see so much hatred in the pages of posts I have read on this site, so much bitterness, division and venom. Some of the scariest comments revolve around the ideas of "patriotism" and being "unpatriotic". I don't see anything patriotic about leaving millions of your fellow citizens in financial, emotional and physical ruin because they went and got cancer. I can tell you from deep experience that UHC works and anyone who tells you different is either lying or trying to make you feel better.

nurse healer · Jul 19, 2007

michael moore's sicko....has moved me to become an activist to promote free guaranteed health care to everyone in america, regardless of their ability to pay. this documentary aired june 29th and i've seen it twice already. next time i will take notes.

as an rn for 26 years now, i have witnessed the atrocious discrepencies in healthcare within the united states. it's unfair that some have the best, others have mediocracy, and still others never have a medical examination, dental care, paps, mamograms, psa's or mental health!

i want to challenge all rn's to see sicko and respond to the call to support this endeavor- it is a nonpartison appeal.

the california nurse's association is appealing to registered nurses to host the viewing of this film: or call 1-800-578-8225 to receive an rn action kit or info about how you can work with rn's in the us to bring nurse-to-nurse patient ratios to your facilities. :lol2:

i am here to discuss this further, if you wish.

thanks,

nurse healer

nurse healer · Jul 19, 2007

How Un-American of you to hold up France, of all places as an example to us. Don't you know we are in a war against the terrorists? I bet you don't even have a ribbon magnet on your SUV! You probably are aiding and abetting illegal aliens too! You are the reason Taco Bell had to pay an extra penny per bushel to those illegal aliens and forego giving their CEO an extra million dollars last year!
Shame on you!

"We live in a world of problems which can no longer be solved by te level of thinking which created them."

Albert Einstein

You would do good to see SiCKO for yourself and then comment based on your own intelligence! Thinking like yours is straight from propaganda.

My travels to France were wonderfully respectful of me, an American. I think France has a grip...they listen to the people....see SiCKO!

bigreddog1934 · Jul 19, 2007

here's my review -

Sicko, an LMV review

Michael Moore has returned to the home front after Fahrenheit 9/11 to deal with what is quickly becoming the most important topic in the American political landscape. The movie shows us, in no uncertain terms, the strongest examples of a for – profit health care system run to its logical conclusion. Human care has now been placed firmly within the oversight of corporate America, and Wall Street is making as little distinction between extracting money on patient care as it would extracting the oil of an occupied mideast country. The result, as shown in Sicko, is both enraging and endlessly catastrophic.

By the time the movie ends, viewers, except for the most stubborn of free-marketers, can plainly see that the American health care system is in a free fall of money and corporate interests. Its as equally plain to see that the HMOs, pharmaceutical companies and private hospitals themselves are more willing to bleed the system dry than to give up even the minimum of patient care over the long term. The conclusions for U.S. heath care are no different in Sicko as they were for the Flint auto industry of “Roger And Me”.

As we leave the movie theater the inevitable questions of 21st century America set in. Without a doubt Michael Moore has torn the Band – Aid ® off of this topic in a way that leaves us wondering, “What can be done?” To this end we see politicians doing a lot of talking, unions aligning themselves in various ways, and, of course, we hear the endless counter-arguments and threats of the health care industry. The debate is just beginning.

Republicans and Democrats alike are both aligning with the health care industry in one way or another to keep profit’s grip on health care strong. In the end, however, health care in the U.S. will remain as cold as the pages of the NASDAQ until all profits are taken out of it. This would be contrary to everything America’s wealthy hold dear. Billions of dollars are at stake and no CEO wants to find him or herself on the loosing end of that deal. This is the reason that American health care is so entrenched, and why the solutions are so tough to imagine.

Sicko, as a documentary, accomplishes everything it sets out to do. It exposes the endless greed and cruelty of a system whose final vision is profit. At the same time it raises the question, one that now needs an answer, of how to get profit removed from our health care system. And to this end the next documentary now begins…the American Free Health Care Movement.

Cliff Willmeng

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jul 19, 2007

I have to admit, though, I do feel kinda bad taking it all out on Wolf Blitzer. It's not like he's the official representative of the mainstream media. I mean, he's from Buffalo, for crying out loud! He said to me at the end of the show last week to please come back on "anytime you want." I will take him up on that offer and appear again with him tomorrow (Wednesday). I'm not expecting a dozen roses or make-up sex -- I only want a promise that there will be no more distorted distractions so we can have a decent discussion about the REAL issues like why 18,000 Americans die every year because they don't have a health insurance card. More than 300 of them died this week. As Ehrlichman said to Nixon in "Sicko": "The less care they give 'em, the more money they (the insurance companies) make."
THAT'S the only thing we should be talking about. How profit and greed are killing our fellow Americans. How profit and private insurance have to be removed from our health care system. CNN should join me in asking why our 9/11 rescue workers aren't receiving medical care. Somebody should send a crew to Canada to find out why they live longer than we do, and why no Canadian has ever gone bankrupt because of medical bills. And all of the media should start saying how much it costs to go to a doctor in these other top industrialized countries: Nothing. Zip. It's FREE. Don't patronize Americans by saying, "Well, it's not free -- they pay for it with taxes!" Yes, we know that. Just like we know that we drive down a city street for FREE -- even though we paid for that street with our taxes. The street is FREE, the book at the library is FREE, if your house catches on fire, the fire department will come and put it out for FREE, and if someone snatches your purse, the police officer will chase down the culprit and bring your purse back to you -- AND HE WON'T CHARGE YOU A DIME FROM THAT PURSE!
These are all free services, collectively socialized and paid for with our tax dollars. To argue that health care -- a life and death issue for many -- should not be considered in the same league is ludicrous and archaic. And trust me, once you add up what you pay for out-of-pocket in premiums, deductibles, co-pays, overpriced medicines, and treatments that aren't covered (not to mention all the other things we pay for like college education, day care and other services that many countries provide for at little or no cost), we, as Americans, are paying far more than the Canadians or Brits or French are paying in taxes. We just don't call these things taxes, but that's exactly what they are

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=217

A tax by any other name is still a tax. Mr. Moores point equating copays etc with taxation is dead on accurate.

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Jul 19, 2007

MM will be on the Colbert Report tonight (Comedy Central).