Posted on 03/26/2006 11:44:59 AM PST by Nachum
LONDON: "Send me your health-care horror stories," reads the appeal. The stark request heads a letter published on his website this month from Michael Moore, the controversial filmmaker, asking for examples of people's bad experiences of hospitals, insurance companies and drug manufacturers.
Moore, who is best known for his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, in which he took on the Bush Administration over the war in Iraq, is now targeting the health-care industry.
Work on the film, Sicko, has been in progress since 2004 and it is expected to be premiered later this year. Already speculation about its content has put the industry on the offensive.
If executives at health-care companies worry they might come off badly in the film, Moore's letter leaves little doubt: "Have you ever found yourself getting ready to file for bankruptcy because you can't pay your kid's hospital bill, and then you say to yourself: 'Boy, I sure would like to be in Michael Moore's health-care movie!'?"
Moore says he will read every letter: "If you have been abused in any way by this sick, greedy, grubby system and it has caused you or your loved ones great sorrow and pain, let me know."
Executives in the US admit the film is a cause for concern but most are resigned to the fact that Moore is unlikely to take a balanced approach.
"For every horror story Michael Moore produces, we can produce 1000 success stories, but he's not interested in them," said Ken Johnson, the senior vice-president of the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Nevertheless, it is not just Moore who is on the attack. Other films such as The Constant Gardener, based on the novel by John Le Carre about corruption in the industry in Africa, and the book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman, by a former Pfizer employee, have added to the industry's woes.
But Mr Johnson said the industry has become more aggressive in responding to criticism and its efforts are beginning to pay off. He said that in the past six months the industry had improved its "favourability" rating from 45 per cent to 54 per cent.
Michael Moore admitted to hospital for emergency open heart surgery and he is given a couple of aspirins and told to go to Canada.
If Mooreon wants health-care horror stories he should visit some of the UK's hospitals. Oh, wait-that's his favorite Socialist paradise, after Canaduh.
I hear the working title is "Hey, Doc, Where's My Winky?"
Don't expect people from nations with socialized medicine to be polled for this movie.
Does MM explore the greedy grubby lawyers who are mostly to blame for such high health care costs?
I predict Moore will retain the nickname Sicko from his own movie. You wait and see.
I had to post this gem.
...except as "success" stories. That's the underlying agenda here. Moore wants to replace the "greedy grubby" private health care industry with a "greedy grubby" government-run health care industry.
I have my gripes with the health care industry too but I see my mother on Medicare/Medicaid and realize that forcing her "treatment" on everyone would be a disaster.
I'd like to see somebody come out with a movie how trial lawyers drove up somebody's medical costs exponentially because of frivoulous lawsuits and skyrocketing liability insurance rates. Wouldn't it be a great movie line: "I'm sorry miss but we no longer have an OB/GYN doctor in the state because they've all been sued out of existence. You'll just have to bleed in the waiting room awhile longer. Now, please stop crying. It upsets the other patients."
Hey Moore....yeah Socialized Medicine:
"With all the compassion of the IRS and all the effeciency of the Postal Service !"
Wish we could get more personal stuff on Moore with his healthcare like we did with his investments and money making.
I agree. We have our faults, but they run both directions. And socialized medicine hasn't been the answer anywhere it's been tried.
I'm not talking the Socilize Now! crowd, but *some* libs.
Yes that would be good. Also, take one look at the guy. I think he's terrified of what he knows is coming, with regard to his own health. (mental and otherwise)
Maybe he'll interview John Edwards on that angle.
Worse Than Cuba?
NBC Sports anchors Ahmad Rashad and Bob Costas dove into the realm of health reform when they hosted the "Health Care Olympics" for Michael Moore's TV Nation on August 8. The sports team traced the progress of patients with injured legs through hospitals in Cuba, Canada, and the U.S. The three systems were rated on access, delivery, and cost.
After the patients were admitted, Rashad hailed Canada: "Long waits are typically more characteristic of Canada with rationing of services due to limited resources but...the patient... practically sailed through the check-in process." Rashad critiqued the U.S., where the wait was one hour less: "The U.S. really struggled with access to medical care but that's one area Americans always have been in trouble because of the 39 million citizens who are uninsured." The Cuban was admitted directly to surgery.
NBC claimed Cuba cost the patient nothing, in Canada just $15, and in America $450.70, as if such costs were not incurred elsewhere. Canada took the gold for "over twenty years of universal access." Rashad awarded Cuba the silver: "Cuba had some pretty great moments and wins points for such a comprehensive medical system...until they find a way out of economic isolation, it's going to be hard to sustain the quality of the system." And the bronze? "Unfortunately, it may take a while for the United States to make its way through the insurance obstacle course and who knows what could happen with reform...it came in third," announced Rashad. But if free health care in Cuba is so superior, why aren't Americans rafting their way?
http://secure.mediaresearch.org/news/mediawatch/1994/mw19940901nbites.html
Understatement of the year.
Of the century.
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