Sicko

[cabal74]

Yes things are as bad as they seem. It is time to overhaul the system.

 

[frankfrank]

^ Yup, as soon as you got to the part about "only put down the serious things," I saw that coming. If they find out that you had a bloody nose in 1992, there are probably companies that will try to deny your claim because of an undisclosed pre-existing condition.

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

i found a link to the entire movie

it's ok you can watch it michael moore dosen't mind. in fact he wants people to watch it online.......

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6547358554002021486

the link is gone already

i'm uploading it to stage6 again

when it's done i'll post it here

 

[metta]

the link is gone already

i'm uploading it to stage6 again

when it's done i'll post it here

hey pretty...got link?

 

[metta]

http://pol.moveon.org/sickoflierweek/

MoveOn members are calling on the presidential candidates -- Republicans and Democrats -- not to take campaign money from the HMOs, big health insurers, and drug companies. They get a fair amount of money, but not so much that they couldn’t give it up if forced to.
MoveOn members are going to more than 7,000 screenings with hundreds of thousands of fliers asking people to call presidential candidates with a toll-free number we set up. You just call and connect to the candidate of your choice.
Go see this movie -- and bring along some fliers.

 

[metta]

I thought that the documentary was excellent and entertaining. I would encourage every one living in the US to watch it.

California has a bill that they are trying to get approved for Universal Health Care. I will start a new thread to encourage people from California to support it.

http://www.justusboys.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167459&highlight=californians

 

[metta]

Michael Moore slams CNN, Wolf Blitzer on live TV
He is very passionate and agressive about the things he says but that does not mean that what he is saying is not true.

The following video is from CNN's The Situation Room, broadcast on July 9.




Michael Moore slams CNN, Wolf Blitzer on live TV
07/09/2007 @ 7:06 pm
Filed by David Edwards and Josh Catone

And if you want to know what YOU CAN DO about our broken healthcare system go to: <a http://www.myspace.com/onecarenoworg Before a live interview with documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, CNN aired a segment entitled "Sicko Reality Check" in which Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the network's chief medical correspondent, aimed to keep Moore "honest" and fact check his new film, Sicko. The 4-minute piece concluded that Moore "did fudge the facts," and implied that Sicko was misleading in portraying health care systems in other countries, such as France, the UK, and Canada, as better than the one in the US. When given a chance to speak, Moore immediately put host Wolf Blitzer on the defensive. "That report was so biased, I can't imagine what pharmaceutical company's ads are coming up right after our break here," said Moore. "Why don't you tell the truth to the American people? I wish that CNN and the other mainstream media would just for once tell the truth about what's going on in this country." Moore argued that CNN has such a lousy track record of reporting the truth about the war in Iraq and asking tough questions, that Americans should be skeptical of their reporting on health care. "You're the ones who are fudging the facts," said Moore. "You've fudged the facts to the American people now for I don't know how long about this issue, about the war, and I'm just curious, when are you going to just stand there and apologize to the American people for not bringing the truth to them that isn't sponsored by some major corporation?" Blizter grew defensive and backed up his fellow CNN employee, saying that he would stand behind correspondent Sanjay Gupta's record on medical issues. Moore, in response, vowed to post a rebuttal to his website, MichaelMoore.com, showing that Gupta's facts weren't accurate. "I'm going to put the real facts up there on my website," said Moore, "so that people can see what he just said was absolutely wrong." Turning to the war in Iraq, Moore accused Gupta, who spent time embedded with US troops in Iraq, and the mainstream media at large of refusing "to ask our leaders the hard questions, and demand the honest answers." Moore laid the blame for the continued US involvement in the war in Iraq at the feet of the media, arguing that they failed to do their jobs and question the Bush war policy. Blitzer refused to argue with Moore about Iraq, and instead steered the conversation back to the topic of health care. Moore was asked which of the US presidential candidates he thought would best fix America's health care system. Moore did not name a specific candidate, but said that the Democratic candidates as a whole need to be more specific about how they plan to achieve their goal of universal health care. "Our own government admits that because of the 47 million who aren't insured, we now have about 18,000 people a year that die in this country, simply because they don't have health insurance. That's six 9/11s every single year," concluded Moore. We need "universal health care that's free for everyone who lives in this country, it'll cost us less than what we're spending now lining the pockets of these private health insurance companies, or these pharmaceutical companies." After the interview, Blitzer found sympathy from fellow CNN hosts Lou Dobbs and Jack Cafferty. "After watching that Michael Moore interview," said Cafferty, "I've decided whatever CNN's paying it ain't enough."

http://michaelmoore.com/

 

[theblackajah]

For those who want the perspective of a Canadian on Canadian Health Care, let me just say a few things: First off, yes, we get all necessary health care paid for (I'm not sure about ambulance rides though...).

Is it perfect? Hell no. There are flaws and problems, depending on the province (As each province runs its system a bit differently). I live in BC, and our system has a few kinks such as (supposedly) long wait times for SOME specialized treatments like hip replacements. This is understandable due to the concept of supply and demand- The sudden increase in demand for specialized health care has suddenly boomed with an aging population, but it takes YEARS (half a decade) to train doctors! Go figure.

Overall though, I must say, I love our health care system over here in the north. If I have a medical need, all I have to do is go to the nearest walk-in clinic, wait about 30 minutes, and a doctor will see me about my cold, etc. If it's my regular doctor, I don't even have to fill out any paperwork- just go in, get checked, walk out the door. All free.

<3 Canada.

 

[Rali_hates_Mondays]

Oh my god I didn't realise that health costs would be so expensive. I'm so thankful that we have a free nationalised health service in Britain. I don't mind the long waiting lists and I would much rather pay more tax than pay huge health bills.

 

[frankfrank]

Yeah, I worry that, being a sole employee of my company and having insurance through an association, anything chronic could wipe me out. The last time I had a problem (2003) I had to pay about one-half of the $26,000 of bills. What if something became $200,000 or $300,000? I understand they can even get away with dropping you midstream, leaving you to fend for yourself. Very, very scary - as well as UTTERLY UNCIVILIZED AND BARBARIC - stuff. There is absolutely no excuse that the United States should have such a shabby system.

 

[metta]

CNN Admits All Sicko Facts Are True to Their Source

The saga finally ends........ What took them so long? See letter from Michael Moore below.


CNN Throws in Towel, Admits to Two Errors, and States That All 'Sicko' Facts Are True to Their Source (or something like that)... Moore Realizes All This is Huge Distraction and Then Spends More Precious Time Thanking Paris Hilton for Seeing 'Sicko'... Meanwhile, More than 300 Americans Die Because They Had No Health Insurance During the 8-Day Gupta-Moore War...

July 17th, 2007


Friends,


The mighty CNN, in a lengthy and sad online defense of their woe-begotten 'Sicko' story of last Monday, has admitted that they did indeed fudge at least two of the facts in their coverage of my film and have apologized for it:


1. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN: "To be clear, I got a number wrong in my original report, substituting the number 25, instead of 251." -- My Conversation with Michael Moore, July 11th, 2007; and


2. CNN: "Moore is correct. Paul Keckley left Vanderbilt in late 2006." -- CNN's Response to Michael Moore, July 15th, 2007.


Furthermore, CNN confirmed that all of our statistics in "Sicko" are the correct numbers from the sources we cited. Although CNN still prefers to use older World Health Organization statistics, we will stick to using this year's Bush administration stats and more recent U.N. data. (In "Sicko," we consistently use only U.N. Human Development Statistics unless it's for studies they don't do or have recent numbers for.) CNN did apologize for these two factual errors, but no apology seems to be coming for the rest of their errors. These days, to get the mainstream media to admit they were wrong is rare; to get them to admit it twice, as they have with "Sicko," I guess should be considered a whopping victory. Will they eventually apologize for the rest, or for their reporting on the war? Will the Cubs win the World Series this year?


So the truce has been signed, the peace pipe has been smoked. And the public is left with a much more cautious and wary eye when it comes to CNN. To be fair, this is what happens when you have to grind out "news" 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a staff you have shrunk through layoffs over the years (like all the broadcast networks have done). You end up rushed and having interns do your research. You have robots replace live camera operators. And, if you're CNN, you are constantly dodging the accusation that you are "too liberal." So when you do a piece on someone like me, you have to make sure you add superfluous and standard ad hominems attacking me simply to prove that you are NOT too liberal. I get it.


Until the last month or so, I have not appeared on a single national TV show for nearly 2 and 1/2 years. After the attacks I had to endure three years ago, from a media intent on questioning my patriotism because I dared to speak out against the war when none in the media would, I decided I had had enough and would simply concentrate on making my next film. I had no desire to participate in networks that were complicit in the war because of their refusal the challenge the commander in chief.


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.


See you all when I'm back on CNN tomorrow -- where the discussion will be not be about whose statistics are right, but rather about the guy without insurance who died while I was writing this letter.


Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

 

[metta]

a free weekend to the universal health care country of your choice!

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!

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
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

 

[Shepherd 2]

Yes, the American medical system has problems. But it is still a great system. Many us have and want to exercise choices that are available to us daily and would not be in most of the world.

My daughter-in-law is a Physician's Assistant, and her work in medicine is very interesting,. We have some wonderfully gifted workers. Sadly though, some people fall through the cracks of the care and especially insurance coverage for a number of reasons. We do have a lot of hard work to do. Hopefully we will do it.

 

[gsdx]

Sadly though, some people fall through the cracks of the care and especially insurance coverage for a number of reasons.

I don't think people are 'falling through the cracks' as much as the insurance agencies are opening chasms beneath them. I've heard insurance horror stories and read some of them here. I can't imagine paying into an insurance policy for years, suffering a tragedy, only to have the claim denied and the policy cancelled.

 

[metta]

Yes, the American medical system has problems. But it is still a great system. Many us have and want to exercise choices that are available to us daily and would not be in most of the world.

My daughter-in-law is a Physician's Assistant, and her work in medicine is very interesting,. We have some wonderfully gifted workers. Sadly though, some people fall through the cracks of the care and especially insurance coverage for a number of reasons. We do have a lot of hard work to do. Hopefully we will do it.

Please go see the movie. The whole American system is designed wrong. It needs to be changed NOW. dkonfrost has only been a student nurse for a few weeks and he has already seen the pain and suffering people go through because of the private insurance system. People should not have to fight for basic care. Please go see the movie.

 

[ComNavFdgPk]

This has been a very interesting and civil forum, thus far. Hopefully, my addition won't change that!

There is one facet of this debate that I haven't seen mentioned here, yet. By law, the HMOs are required to show a profit. While it would be nice if all the medical procedures deemed necessary by MDs were automatically covered, I think that would pretty much throw profit out the window. We need a system where private industry is not involved and the goal is proper care, NOT profit!

 

[metta]

This has been a very interesting and civil forum, thus far. Hopefully, my addition won't change that!

There is one facet of this debate that I haven't seen mentioned here, yet. By law, the HMOs are required to show a profit. While it would be nice if all the medical procedures deemed necessary by MDs were automatically covered, I think that would pretty much throw profit out the window. We need a system where private industry is not involved and the goal is proper care, NOT profit!

I totally agree with you. That is one of the critical parts of the issue. The profit must be taken out of the equation. It is unethical for it to be there.

 

[gsdx]

There is one facet of this debate that I haven't seen mentioned here, yet. By law, the HMOs are required to show a profit.

I've not heard this before. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, who made up that law?

 

[metta]

I've not heard this before. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, who made up that law?

I was not aware of that law either. That explains why I was not able to find any non-profit health care companies when I was looking for them a few weeks ago. I bet ya it is the HMO lobby groups that pushed for that...just a guess. But who else would want such a stupid law.

 

[ComNavFdgPk]

I've not heard this before. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, who made up that law?

I'm not exactly certain where I got that information. It has something to do with some federal law about health insurance companies that accept Medicare as partial payment for services. I'll scrounge around and see if I can find the exact citation.