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

Nurses Activism

Published

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

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

True that. I just got this in an email.

"Sicko" in Top 5 Grossing Docs of All Time -- This Weekend it's "'Sicko' Night in America!"... from Michael Moore

Thursday, July 19th, 2007

Friends,

Good news! "Sicko," after less than three weeks in national release, has become one of the top five grossing documentaries of all time! So, this coming weekend, the distributor is expanding the movie by opening it in nearly 500 new theaters in small cities all over the country (for a total of nearly 1,200 screens nationwide)! From Rapid City to Carson City, from Gettysburg to Pearl Harbor, from Juneau to Battle Creek -- they're all getting "Sicko" tomorrow (Friday). Scores of cities that never have a documentary come to their local theater will now be able to see this one. It's happening all thanks to you who live in the larger cities and have supported "Sicko" so strongly. It's led the studio to say, "Let's make more prints and ship them to Oshkosh (and Beaverton and Brattleboro and Sault Ste. Marie and...)." The entire country goes "Sicko" in less than 48 hours! (Check here for the complete list of theaters showing "Sicko" in North America.)

So, friends, this is it. This is the weekend to go see "Sicko" if you haven't seen it. I get a lot of letters from people saying they plan to "get around" to seeing it "soon." Well, soon is here! Trying to get theaters to give us screens when we are up against huge summer blockbusters is an almost impossible task. "Sicko" won't be around forever. And if you're waiting for the DVD, ask anyone who's seen "Sicko" -- this is a movie you want to see with a crowd of people in a theater.

So let's pack the movie houses this weekend! Send an email to everyone you know, call your friends and tell them, "It's 'Sicko' Night in America!"

And, to show my thanks to all of you who'll go see "Sicko" this weekend, I'm going to send one of you and a guest on a free weekend to the universal health care country of your choice! That's right. You'll get to pick one of the three industrialized countries featured in the movie where, if you get sick, you get help for free, no matter who you are. All you have to do is send us your ticket stub (make sure it says "Sicko" on it and has the name of the theater and this weekend's date on it -- Friday, Saturday or Sunday - July 20th, 21st, 22nd). Attach the stub to a piece of paper with your name, address, phone number and email and send it to: 'Sicko' Night in America, 888c 8th Avenue, Suite 443, New York, NY 10019. (Yes, you have to use that old 18th century device called the U.S. Postal Service, and it has to be postmarked on or by Tuesday, July 24th). First prize is a weekend in the city of your choice: Paris, London or Toronto. This includes airfare, hotel, meals and, most exciting, a representative from their fine universal health care system who will give you a personal tour so you can see how they treat their fellow citizens. You'll meet people who pay nothing for college and citizens who are in the fourth week of their six-week paid vacation. Oh, and you'll have time to see the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben or whatever they have in Toronto that is old and tall. (If you don't have a passport, we'll pay for that, too!)

Canadians who are reading this -- you're probably thinking, "Hey, what about us? Where do we get to go?" Quit complaining! You're already there! But just to make it up to you -- and to prove we don't hold it against you for smugly walking out of a hospital with the same amount of money in your wallet that you went in with -- we'll let you participate in the drawing, too.

Thanks again to everyone who has gone to see "Sicko." Take a friend or two this weekend and celebrate "'Sicko' Night in America."

Yours,

Michael Moore

[email protected]

www.michaelmoore.com

P.S. I'll be on "The Colbert Report" tonight (Thursday) on Comedy Central. On a sadder note, my appearance on CNN with Wolf Blitzer has been moved to a later date. Wolf just called to say he had a death in his family and that we would have to re-schedule. Our condolences to him and his family.

Your information is great! Let's keep beating the bushes as a collective group of nurses!

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
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???

Hallelujah halleluja Hallelujah

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???

I would be happy to join you. Count me in!! PM me.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Specializes in burn, geriatric, rehab, wound care, ER.
Does anyone know of a nursing organization that is working towards health care reform in the United States?

There's an organization in your state -I don't know anything about them but here's the website. I tend to think that getting involved at the state level will be more effective than at the federal level for the meantime, with all that bipartisan bickering that goes on in Washington

http://www.masscare.org/about/

and here's a link to a state by state guide for universal healthcare

http://65.61.27.230/files/states/statelinks.html

Specializes in ER.

the national nurses organizing committee, the national group of the union that got the nurse to patient laws is working very hard on national health care. they have been doing drives to get nurses to see the movie and to get involved with the general movement. rn power!

here's their website:

http://www.calnurses.org/nnoc/

Specializes in ER/Geriatrics.

Our union organization in Canada bought tickets and distributed to our membership...encouraging nurses to see the movie....Michael Moore found out and reimbursed the organization and then offered free admission to all nurses for one week.......http:http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2007/07/13/sicko-nurses-free.html

The movie confirmed much of what I have heard from nurses who have done some travel nursing in the states......

I am so inspired by those of you who are banding together and are willing to do the hard thing....and make a difference.....it is so true that if everyone united so much could be accomplished.......well done!

L

I agree that the so-called health care "system" in this country is broken and in desperate need of overhaul.

However, I don't believe Michael Moore is the right messenger for this particular crusade. His politics are problematic, for one thing; he's so far to the left of mainstream America that his credibility is questionable at best. And as a Hollywood type, he lacks the gravitas to make the case for universal health care.

In my mind, what's needed to take this fight to the level of attention it deserves is "spokespeople" who are neither celebrities nor political extremists. I doubt MM has a clue about what it's like to have to choose between paying the electric bill and taking a sick child to the doctor, or to file for bankruptcy because your wages are being garnished to pay medical bills incurred in the past.:madface: Give me someone who's 'been there, done that'.........and has an idea about how to fix it, rather than just complaining.

Just my two cents' worth.;)

Complaining is one thing and making a documentary to inform other people is quite another.

He's only a "Hollywood type" due to his success is documentaries, not because his face is on the silver screen.

How do you know he hasn't "been there, done that" He if anyone is a regular guy. His opinions, which by the way have back up, are worth just as much as yours. At least he has the ba#$s to get off his rear-end and do something about it instead of...complaining?

I agree....the California Nurses Association is asking RN to help educate moviegoers about Guaranteed Healtcare in America. Call 1.800.578.8225 or email www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/sicko to receive an RN Action Kit.

I will join your effort also! I am soooo ready to return to bedside nursing but not until the greed is gone.

Specializes in Cardiac Care, ICU.
I agree....the California Nurses Association is asking RN to help educate moviegoers about Guaranteed Healtcare in America. Call 1.800.578.8225 or email www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/sicko to receive an RN Action Kit.

I will join your effort also! I am soooo ready to return to bedside nursing but not until the greed is gone.

I know somebody addressed this earlier in the thread but I can't find it. Why are pvt insurers banned? It seems to me that if someone didn't want to use the hr676 system why not give them that choice?

Perhaps they would stay in business for cosmetic dentistry, botox, or such that the regular policy wouldn't cover?

Maybe their employees could do something useful?

...Health Care Services Covered!

This program will cover all medically-necessary services, including primary care, inpatient care, outpatient care, emergency care, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, long term care, mental health services, dentistry, eye care, chiropractic, and substance abuse treatment. Patients have their choice of physicians, providers, hospitals, clinics, and practices.

Medicare will be improved and everybody will get it.

Conversion to A Non-Profit Health Care System!

Private health insurers shall be prohibited under this act from selling coverage that duplicates the benefits of the Medicare for All program....

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/legislation/hr-676-conyers/united-states-national-health-insurance-act

Specializes in Cardiac Care, ICU.

I just don't understand why pvt. insurers would be prohibited except for non-necessary proceedures. I mean, they may not be needed but I don't see why they should be prohibited.

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