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

[piscesguy]

(On purpose ).

steph

Why? I don't get it? I feel like you're gloating about being dismissive just because you disagree. Okay. Did you see the movie?

[piscesguy]

I dont care if socialized medicine is discussed here. However there is another thread about that.

I dont need to watch moores film to understand that there are problems, I allready know that. I also know that socialism is and always has been a failure to freedom of the masses and a success to those that use it in guise of helping but in actuality enslaving mankind.

Moore may make great points but he will not change the eternal principles. My rights are from God as part of an eternal plan not from a group of men or politicians as part of a political plan at the whims of men.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

You start off sentences with "I don't care.... and I don't need to watch.... and I allready [sic] know that socialism is...". You aren't coming accross as open to discussion, new knowledge or sharing ideas. Maybe you don't see it, take a look.

Also, WAKE UP, your rights are part of politics and often ARE at the whims of others is you refuse to participate.

God bless you.

[piscesguy]

My experience in Vietnam was wonderful - the people loved us and were proud that their President had been to America recently - they boasted that he met with George Bush. They also talked about the Bush Administration putting pressure on the Vietnam government to open up more to capitalism and to stop persecuting Christians.

I was proud to be from America.

steph

I'm glad you had a wonderful experience on a trip. That is always priceless.

People from cooperative cultures like in Asia would place a much higher emphasis on being polite and finding common ground than being direct and brutally honest about George W. I think you should factor that into your anecdotal account of how proud the Vietnamese people were.

[piscesguy]

My experience in Vietnam was wonderful - the people loved us and were proud that their President had been to America recently - they boasted that he met with George Bush. They also talked about the Bush Administration putting pressure on the Vietnam government to open up more to capitalism and to stop persecuting Christians.

I was proud to be from America.

steph

I think citizens writing, calling, and e-mailing legislators, demonstrating, and encouraging their colleagues, friends, and family members to do so for safe staffing is NOT the same as millions of dollars spent by paid lobbiests who use the money WE pay for healthcare to lobby for laws to increase profits instead of providing the healthcare WE PAID FOR.

Thank you for posting that so succinctly. The short posts to the point and not pretentious are so delightful to read.

[piscesguy]

Going to the doctor for sniffles should not be an issue. Time during this visit may contribute to better communication between doctor and patient, patient education, an assesment of lifestyle and maybe making some changes. It's not abusing the system to visit the doctor for sniffles if you are truly worried and want to talk. Big deal.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

Because, it's 'for the children' is disingenuous. It's a lie. A smug lie, at that.

~faith,

Timothy.

Thanks for clarifying. Just so I get this correctly, are you saying that you're not necessarily against expanding health care for children then, as long as it truly covers children?

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Going to the doctor for sniffles should not be an issue. Time during this visit may contribute to better communication between doctor and patient, patient education, an assesment of lifestyle and maybe making some changes. It's not abusing the system to visit the doctor for sniffles if you are truly worried and want to talk. Big deal.

If the person with the sniffles pays for it himself, then I agree with you.

steph

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

thanks for clarifying. just so i get this correctly, are you saying that you're not necessarily against expanding health care for children then, as long as it truly covers children?

• • when their parents are insured, children gain better access to health care and improve their use of preventive health services. even among children who are covered by medicaid or schip, enrolling their parents produces gains. insured children whose parents also are insured are more likely to receive health care services they need, such as preventive health care, than insured children whose parents lack coverage.

  • expanding coverage for parents strengthens insurance coverage and health care access for the parents themselves. more than one-third of all low-income parents — 36 percent —have no health insurance. as would be expected, the research shows that expanding eligibility for health insurance programs to cover more low-income parents reduces the percentage of low-income parents who are uninsured. increased medicaid coverage for low-income parents also has been found to boost their use of preventive health care such as pap smears and breast exams, and to lower the extent to which low-income parents postpone or skip necessary health care due to cost.

http://www.cbpp.org/10-20-06health.htm

i think that there is a strong argument from a family systems approach for some use of schip for parental coverage of families on the fringe....

plus it is cheaper:

[fronkey bean]

3. Your model did not take into account the positive benefits of a change towards making the system truly free market: first party payors vs. third party payors. The result of such a system would bring prices down, WAY down. The price of healthcare is so high largely because those that pay for it don't care what it cost. When cost is brought into play, much more rational decisions are made. That brings down costs. Your doctor can charge 200 bucks for an office visit because insurance pays for it. But, there is a growing field of docs that take cash only for visits, and their visits are much more like 50 dollars. It's like any new tech gadget, the more people that begin to use it, the less the price becomes, because of competition and sufficient demand. As more people begin to discriminate what things costs, the costs will come down.

~faith,

Timothy.

Tim, I don't want to sound greedy but, as the sole income for my family, it is an important detail. What happens to nurses salaries here? It seems like we are the ones that get our incomes or benefits cut whenever the profits are low so what keeps our profession from having our wages frozen or even cut?

[fronkey bean]

I'm glad you had a wonderful experience on a trip. That is always priceless.

People from cooperative cultures like in Asia would place a much higher emphasis on being polite and finding common ground than being direct and brutally honest about George W. I think you should factor that into your anecdotal account of how proud the Vietnamese people were.

I have experienced the same kind of attitudes in Bangledesh, Honduras, and Thailand. There are some who protest (often quite vocally) not unlike our country, but for the most part people are either unconcerned about the US or fairly pos.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2007/august/more_than_a_prayer_f.php

Here is a very good interview with the founders of PNHP (Physicians for a National Health Plan) regarding their views on a single payor health plan. Sorry- it's way too long to post.

[marvelous_truth]

You start off sentences with "I don't care.... and I don't need to watch.... and I allready [sic] know that socialism is...". You aren't coming accross as open to discussion, new knowledge or sharing ideas. Maybe you don't see it, take a look.

Also, WAKE UP, your rights are part of politics and often ARE at the whims of others is you refuse to participate.

God bless you.

No need to revisit proven paths of failure.

btw, you have confused rights with Tyranny. My god is not your politician or you gang! If you and you gang agree and force me against my God given rights you have promoted not rights but rather tyranny. There is no nobility in accepting or promoting Tyranny and Democracies (political gangs or majority rules) do not protect freedom either.