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

lamazeteacher · Feb 29, 2008

I do believe that universal healthcare for our citizens is the only just route. 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!

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 our citizens denied healthcare insurance for reasons of weight, health status etal as I was reminded of in this film; I do believe that universal healthcare for our citizens is the only just route.

(with apologies to teleRN for taking just a bit of her excellent comments)

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The biggest problem that I see, about introducing the "universal/single payer" program here in the USA, is that many people don't care to share their tax money with the indigent, jobless, homeless, unfortunates, "illegal aliens" (masses) here. (It's enough to turn the statue of liberty's face red.)

What they are not seeing, is that illness not prevented or caught early, costs more of our tax dollars to treat - and treat it we must! When anyone turns up with an acute situation, in the emergency room at a "general", federally funded hospital, they have to receive care, according to our laws - or lose that funding.

Americans travelling abroad receive care in whatever country they find themselves (unless that place is at war with us, or otherwise prejudiced or unsupplied). It's in our best interest to share our medical resources with others; and not require hospital personnel turn them in to the INS. Israel cares for Arabs/Palestinians there, no matter what their views are, including their goal for immediate destruction of that country.

When the car I rented in New Zealand overturned twice (I put my foor on the brake on a "metal" surfaced road in the rain, when a sign instructed me to decrease my speed), which resulted in my 11 year old son and I hanging by seat belts from the ceiling, no one at the hospital where we were taken, asked what our insurance coverage was........ or presented a bill. The hospital was very much like a Canadian one, in that money went toward medical necessities, not expensively decorated lobbies and offices.

Somehow being generous to others isn't a tenet in the lives of many here, unless they personally pick a charity and choose how much to give. Have we forgotten the biblical advice, "Cast ye bread upon the waters and it will return manyfold" (or something like that)? Another way of saying that, is "what goes around, comes around".

We need to let others know the greater expense caused by untreated diseases, and let them know they're already paying for that in larger amounts than a "single payer" system of healthcare would ever cost them!

Let's advocate wellness for our "sick" healthcare coverage!!

twister431 · Mar 31, 2008

I saw Sicko Michael Moores documentary and I have to say I am ashamed of our goverment for letting this occur to our health system. I know with every documentary that certain things arestretched to get his over all premesis across ,but even if 10% of this documentary is true we are truly in need of an american revolution. This is not just about healthcare but about how our goverment is beholden to corporations. If there are any nurses from countries outside the Usa I'd like your opinion of your healthcare systems and how they compare to the united states. Also what do the people of your countries think about your healthcare systems. Canada especially is a country I would like input from as the media from our country portrays it as backdated and long lines what is the truth?

lamazeteacher · Apr 1, 2008

I saw Sicko Michael Moores documentary and I have to say I am ashamed of our goverment for letting this occur to our health system. I know with every documentary that certain things arestretched to get his over all premesis across ,but even if 10% of this documentary is true we are truly in need of an american revolution. This is not just about healthcare but about how our goverment is beholden to corporations. If there are any nurses from countries outside the Usa I'd like your opinion of your healthcare systems and how they compare to the united states. Also what do the people of your countries think about your healthcare systems. Canada especially is a country I would like input from as the media from our country portrays it as backdated and long lines what is the truth?

As a R.N. from Canada who was in Windsor, Ont. where the first single payer healthcare system originated in 1962, I have seen it evolve over the years (through my family's experiences as healthcare providers and patients), into the supremely adequate, community oriented system it is today. Doctors make good money, albeit far from the inflated incomes of those in the USA (my neice is one), and fought for receiving payment over that designated by the government advisers - therefore supplemental private insurance is now purchased at nominal rates.

I moved to the USA in 1963, and have watched with horror over the years as money became the chief objective of physicians, whose Hippocratic oaths lie in the dust, as they adhere to an "insurance" system that strips consumers of healthcare of their material possessions, dignity, and appropriate procedures. Not advocates for the people who turn to them, doctors I've seen resented filing appeals for services refused by greedy insurance executives, and watch as medications that would heal/benefit their patients are held as ransom for governmental intervention.

In Canada, negotiations yielded affordable medications, preventive education and care ,ade medical conditions less serious or avoided, and more people have been able to continue their lives uninterrupted by illness.

In the USA, it is we voters who must look at our willingness to ingnore issues before elections, go along with persuasive friends and relatives whose bottom line is the maintainance of their financial positions.

Iactually heard a woman at a restaurant tonight, state "Thank God for that blue dress!" (referring to a long ago misdeed of the most health reform able candidate's husband). Shame, to that woman who was lauded for that by the men at her table.

When we hear that a "good" voter turnout at elections is 40% of those eligible to vote, is that a statistic we really should point to with pride? The fault lies not only with politicians who are in their positions at the will of those who fear they might have to share some of their more than adequate incomes with others. The very American premise that democracy means never having to share with others, is at the root of this evil.

How can we look in the mirror each day knowing that we have contributed to this quagmire producing squalor to all whose misfortune it is to become ill! I was sick for over 2 years from gastric hemorrhaging after taking prescribed enteric coated ibuprophen, and almost lost everything I had.

No one cared what would happen to me, and the homeowners' association put my property up for auction for the $5,000 of dues I owed! Guess who the bidders were - the members of the Board of Directors of it, who refused my offers to pay back what I owed!:uhoh21:

I grew up in Canada caring about my fellow human beings, and believe that allowing myself to remain in this place of plenty puts me in the position of deserving what I reaped. Some stubborn Pollyanna streak convinces me that I can motivate others to change, and wherever I work, whoever I meet, I share my philosophy of caring about others and contributing to their wellbeing.:heartbeat Writing these posts and articles for local newspapers plants seeds, I hope, for others to look at where they are - needing only to see what brought them there. Next time an election is held, please VOTE in an informed way!!

Ludlow · Apr 1, 2008

I have a good friend who has dual English and American citizenship. She told me recently that she that even though work is scarce for her right now and she has rotten health insurance that hardly covers anything, she still has the option to go to England if she comes down with something serious. About 47 million Americans don't have that option.

Single-payer universal health care is out there almost within our reach. There are already bills proposed by politicians: HR 676 in Congress and in California, Sheila Kuehl's bill SB840.

We just have to let our representatives know that we must have this kind of universal health care. For sure we do not want the bogus kind that includes the private health insurers like Blue Cross and Cigna and Health Net and Humana and Aetna, etc. who have robbed us blind in premiums and paid for less and less care over the past 30-40 years.

Ludlow · Apr 1, 2008

I made up a little ditty for universal health care:

WE WANT GUARANTEED HEALTH CARE

Health care is a human right, we want Guaranteed Health Care.

Come with us and join the fight for Guaranteed Health Care.

See your doctor when you need.

Get your pills, its guaranteed.

We're tired of private insurance greed.

We want Guaranteed Health Care.

No more Blue Cross' double crosses with Guaranteed Health Care.

Goodbye Humana and Aetna bosses. We want Guaranteed Health Care.

To see our doctors when we need.

Get our pills, its guaranteed.

We're tired private insurance greed.

We want Guaranteed Health Care.

In California SB 840 is Guaranteed Health Care.

John Conyer's bill 676 in America is Guaranteed Health Care.

See your doctor when you need.

Get your pills, its guaranteed.

We're tired of private insurance greed.

We want Guaranteed Health Care.

lamazeteacher · Apr 1, 2008

I have a good friend who has dual English and American citizenship. She told me recently that she that even though work is scarce for her right now and she has rotten health insurance that hardly covers anything, she still has the option to go to England if she comes down with something serious. About 47 million Americans don't have that option.
Single-payer universal health care is out there almost within our reach. There are already bills proposed by politicians: HR 676 in Congress and in California, Sheila Kuehl's bill SB840.
We just have to let our representatives know that we must have this kind of universal health care. For sure we do not want the bogus kind that includes the private health insurers like Blue Cross and Cigna and Health Net and Humana and Aetna, etc. who have robbed us blind in premiums and paid for less and less care over the past 30-40 years.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

In Canada, a returning citizen must live there for 3 months, upon their return before being eligible for the healthcare coverage there.

RN4MERCY · Apr 1, 2008

I have a good friend who has dual English and American citizenship. She told me recently that she that even though work is scarce for her right now and she has rotten health insurance that hardly covers anything, she still has the option to go to England if she comes down with something serious. About 47 million Americans don't have that option.
Single-payer universal health care is out there almost within our reach. There are already bills proposed by politicians: HR 676 in Congress and in California, Sheila Kuehl's bill SB840.
We just have to let our representatives know that we must have this kind of universal health care. For sure we do not want the bogus kind that includes the private health insurers like Blue Cross and Cigna and Health Net and Humana and Aetna, etc. who have robbed us blind in premiums and paid for less and less care over the past 30-40 years.

:typing You are so right, and I'm glad that more and more people who've moved here from the UK and Canada are refuting the myths about their single payer systems. So many of us are sick of what we have, but as they say, "it's the devil that we know." The industry knows their ability to make a profit hinges on their ability to control the system. :banghead:

They use fear, and the corporate media dominated fog machine to keep those myths out there. They'd have us believe that what Canadians, Brits, Aussies, and the rest of the industrialized world enjoys in terms of a single-payer system is somehow worse than the bureaucratic SiCKO nightmare of an "system" we have here. Hey, the fact is they live longer; and, like Michael Moore has said, "I wanna be in THAT line." Our infant mortality rate is 37th among industrialized nations, and our shameful system denies care to kids like Nataline Sarkysian and Nick Colombo. :scrying:

http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/in-the-news/2008/march/he-s-not-heavy-he-s-our-brother-nick-columbo-and-why-we-need-california-health-care-reform.html

I just met a nurse who lived and worked in Canada, and she had an illness that left her in a coma for three days, and required an extended hospitalization. In Canada she paid no bills, no co-pays, no deductibles. In this country, she says, "we would have lost everything!" Her husband worries about what would become of them should the unspeakable happen again. The story of Larry and Donna Smith as portrayed in SiCKO supports the fact that his fears are reasonable. Rather than being paralyzed by the fear, they're working to help us change the system!:redpinkhe

Our political leaders take risks going up against the big industries. It's up to us to hold their feet to the fire. RNs have public support and trust, so it's important that we step up to the plate and move the agenda for a MediCare for All healthcare system in the interests of justice and fairness. We're in a position to recognize the human rights violations inherent in our country, perpetrated on the most vulnerable among us: patients who are sick and injured. :nurse:

I couldn't be more proud to pay my dues to my union, CNA/NNOC. It's a righteous fight, and people have to be mobilized to advocate for what they need; we've decided what's right and we're out there fighting for it. It shouldn't have to be this way, but many of our politicians surrender in advance and suck up to the insurance companies and their money; they've proposed mandates that will enrich insurers at the expense of the rest of us. In an election year, we have an opportunity to say, "We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more!":madface:

AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN · Aug 25, 2008

I just watched this for a class in grad school (Budgeting, of all things) and I am still flabbergasted. I never was a fan of Michael Moore, per se, but I have a whole new respect for him after seeing this film.

You start off thinking it's a movie about the uninsured in America. It isn't. It's about the insured and what a nightmare it is to try to receive healthcare even with coverage. One poor guy sawed off the tips of his ring and middle fingers and was told at the hospital that he could have the middle finger reattached for $60,000, of the ring finger for $12,000.

Beats anything I have ever seen in my life! Mr. Moore went to France, Canada, England, even CUBA! They all have free healthcare. All of 'em.

Then you come back to America and hear from a lady whose surgery bill was retroactively denied because she neglected to tell the insurance company that she had had a yeast infection years before! Another's child died due to lack of treatment because Kaiser Permanante refused to pay for tx at the hospital the child was ambulanced to. The mother was told to take her to a Kaiser-approved facility by CAR. When the mother insisted on tx, the ER staff forcibly removed her from the ER.

This just blows me away. Anyone who has seen this, I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts.

All my life my parents have preached the evils of socialized medicine and how you have to wait years for chemo and surgery. People who live in areas with socialized medicine, I want to know, is it true?

Sorry for the rant, it's late, my scope is in 7 hours and I can't sleep. Thanks for listening.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Aug 25, 2008

It's over exaggerated and pretty inaccurate. An ER can't forcefully remove someone- EMTLA. I seriously wonder where Moore came up with these stories.

AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN · Aug 25, 2008

I wondered if it was at all true. Seemed pretty fantastic. That's why I asked. It's 1 in the morning, all my synapses may not be firing. Thanks.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Aug 25, 2008

I'm not saying it's all lies or anything. There's no doubt issues with our system. However, Michael Moore gets high ratings with shock effect, and as I result, it's highly-exaggerated.

AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN · Aug 25, 2008

You're right on the shock value. My jaw was on the floor the better part of it. If even half that is true....wow is all I can say.