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

[fronkey bean]

The data is collected by WHO which is about as nonpartisan as it gets. I think one difference between Cuba and the US from my (admittedly) cursory reading is their emphasis on putting primary care physicians and nurses in the neighborhoods. Cuba is a third/second world country so for them to achieve health outcome measures that are nearly as good as ours is a substantial accomplishment for a nation with limited resources. I also think that they have made policy decisions to invest their health care dollars into primary public health prevention strategies which are cheaper and do result in health cost savings. (I don't like their political system but I do think that we can always ask "what are they doing right?" for lessons to apply to our own country.)

We can agree to disagree about Fox. I personally think that the two best news outlets for indepth news coverage are NPR (radio) and CSPAN (television).

One of the things that I personally dislike about Fox is the implied smear or sensationalist news approach. I also dislike their criticism of dissidents. There has also been a pattern (see the Crooks and Liars website) of turning misbehaving republicans into democrats using onscreen graphics. That is dishonest and spinning the news. If you ever get a chance watch Robert Greenwalds "Outfoxed" for a very interesting discussion about media bias and Mr. Murdoch's corporate practices.

I won't disagree about Cuba b/c as I said I've never been there. And I would agree that the WHO is non biased but they use statistics supplied by gov'ts who may not be as honest.

I like NPR too but find CSPAN a little dry.

Please give an example of Fox deliberately changing a politicians party affiliation. That is a fact too easy to check. I've seen (w/ my own eyes) Britt Hume, Sheppard Smith, O'Rielly, and Alan Combs all take on Republican scandals w/ no more and no less criticism than for those of Democrats. So much of what gets reported about FOX on websites is deliberate smear that it is hard for me to take any of it too seriously (for that matter I don't look to the internet to keep me informed about what CNN is reporting either, I just watch it).

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

http://www.crooksandliars.com/category/fox-news/fox-news-graphics/

There are more than likely more of these types of graphics that are used. My own perswonal opinion is that whenever the press gets too close to the halls of government that we risk losing a counterweight to bad government. In other words the press should scrutinize government not become part of the "me too" brigade.To bring this back to the topic I think that all information needs to be evaluated for veracity and accuracy....

[fronkey bean]

http://www.crooksandliars.com/category/fox-news/fox-news-graphics/

There are more than likely more of these types of graphics that are used. My own perswonal opinion is that whenever the press gets too close to the halls of government that we risk losing a counterweight to bad government. In other words the press should scrutinize government not become part of the "me too" brigade.To bring this back to the topic I think that all information needs to be evaluated for veracity and accuracy....

I'll have to check these further but I doubt they are deliberate attempts to fool people. Arlan Specter doesn't always vote theway they want him to, but I can't think of anything he's done that would make fox or the Republicans try to disown him.

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

(I don't like their political system but I do think that we can always ask "what are they doing right?" for lessons to apply to our own country.)

I just saw the DVD Sicko by Micheal Moore. I agree, we can always learn from our enemies.

I did not care for the this film's biased portrayal of Cuba. If you look at this picture with any iota of scepticism you'll think it a little too sunny, a little too bright! This hospital in Havana, where the 911 heroes were brought, is for the communist elites; I honestly doubt that every citizen of Cuba has access to such a state of the art institution.

Ironically, a recent patient of mine was incarcerated for fifteen years in a Cuban prison. His daughter painted a grim picture. She said that if you are not a communist party member, you can forget about collecting goods and services! Two of her family members, an Uncle and an Aunt died from having been given the wrong medications.

She also stated that a lot of cubans were exciled to our country and are puppet propagandists personally sent by Castro, especially at our universities; where free reign to speek the communist agenda is allowed, rather encouraged. I saw this first hand at a community college in Northern California. Here we were, students wanting to learn the language of Spanish and we were barraged with how great and grand the Cuban way of life is (presented to us in English, no doubt!). Ironically, I had to learn all the Spanish strictly from the book. You might ask. Why didn't you complain to the head of the language department at the time. He was the head of the language department!

I do believe that universal healthcare for our citizens is the only just route. We can't afford to have our citizens denied healthcare insurance for reasons of weight, health status etal as I was reminded of in this film; we can't afford to have people not getting healthcare who if they did receive it on an ongoing basis would not be faced with a crisis and show up at our emergency rooms, a train wreck!

If you haven't seen this film, please see it! It is an eye opener with a nothing untoward said regards to universal health care propaganda twist...however a worthwhile see!

[Simplepleasures]

I hope that I am not taken as being predjudiced against Cubans here, but my ex- son in law is Cuban, came here on a raft with his father, I never heard a good word from him about the US or the US government and he was in the Navy! His father and all the older reletives in Florida still do not speak English.His father applied for SSDI at the same time I did, was the same age as me, but because he could not speak English, he was approved, Im still waiting, almost two years later. I was denied on the basis of education and age. Those who dont speak English are considered to be harder to retrain for some other type of work.

This was particularily difficult as I was also brought to this country as a 3 year old refugee from war ravaged Europe.My family thought they had landed in heaven.They learned English and assimilated into the culture while keeping their German heritage intact. I think that the sentment towards the large influx of illegal immigrants would not be so negative if they would make an effort to learn the language and assimilate, doesnt mean you lose who you are and your own unique heritage.

I am sorry for hijacking this thread but it just reminded me of the attitude of some who come to this country expecting everything and not even trying to learn the language. I have to end this by saying that my ex-son in law's brother came here and was settled in Ohio by the government, he was not surrounded by Spanish speakers and had to learn the language, he is a very hard worker, a good guy,appreciative of the country that took him in, guess my daughter should have married him instead!

[pickledpepperRN]

A nurse was on O'Reilly to talk about single payer healthcare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCQojqCpD8w&feature=related

[lamazeteacher]

A nurse was on O'Reilly to talk about single payer healthcare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCQojqCpD8w&feature=related

I remember watching that show, which came on soon after the release of "Sicko". Obviously its intention was to refute the movie, and allegations were made that Micharl Moore's stats were squewed (which he later proved they weren't, and the network had to make a public apology to him).

Moore knew the ilk of presentations such as that one, which is why he didn't appear on it, to be insulted without cause, and treated as the nurse was, by the presenter interupting and talking over her when he didn't like what she was saying, which was in support of "single-payer".

[MBANurse]

This is a film. Of course it doesn't cover everything. In the 3rd quarter of the 20th century I took speech. Did you? Or English?

Remember the "Persuasive speech" assignment?

Or a similar assignment to write a paper?

This review was written by a woman who did see the film:

Sicko Diagnoses a Cure for the Nation

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rose-a...-_b_48872.html

sorry had to chime with this... LOL

The huffington post...

as in Arianna Huffington?

[nurse_k]

Wow. I am in a complete state of shock. I knew our healthcare system was majorly flawed, but I did not realize the extent of it. I just finished watching Sicko, the documentary on the American healthcare system by Michael Moore. I am disgusted with what I saw. I am sure other people have viewed this already and if not you need to. What does everyone else think? What are we doing to our patients and ourselves?

I am ready to pack my bags and move to France. :icon_roll

[pickledpepperRN]

There is a long thread about this film:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f287/controversial-michael-moore-flick-sicko-will-compare-u-s-health-care-cuba-s-220623.html

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

merged with this for continuity

[nurse healer]

:redbeatheCanadian Nurse...I respect your post...and wish the USA could create such a system...wouln't it be great for all patients with the same disease to get the same treatment!

You should send an email to the presidential candidates about your experience with Canadian Health Care...