Posted on 05/20/2007 4:57:39 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
CANNES, France (Reuters) - Director Michael Moore says the U.S. health care system is driven by greed in his new documentary "SiCKO", and asks of Americans in general, "Where is our soul?"
He also said he could go to jail for taking a group of volunteers suffering ill health after helping in the September 11, 2001 rescue efforts on an unauthorized trip to Cuba, where they received exemplary treatment at virtually no cost.
The controversial film maker is back in Cannes, where he won the film festival's highest honor in 2004 with his anti-Bush polemic "Fahrenheit 9/11".
In "SiCKO" he turns his attention to health, asking why 50 million Americans, 9 million of them children, live without cover, while those that are insured are often driven to poverty by spiraling costs or wrongly refused treatment at all.
But the movie, which has taken Cannes by storm, goes further by portraying a country where the government is more interested in personal profit and protecting big business than caring for its citizens, many of whom cannot afford health insurance.
"I'm trying to explore bigger ideas and bigger issues, and in this case the bigger issue in this film is who are we as a people?" Moore told reporters after a press screening.
"Why do we behave the way we behave? What has become of us? Where is our soul?"
"SiCKO" uses humor and tragic personal stories to get the point across, and had a packed audience variously laughing and in tears. There was loud applause at the end of the two-hour documentary, which is out of the main Cannes competition.
Moore was asked by journalists why he painted such a rosy picture of other countries' health systems, including Britain, France, Canada and Cuba, and the implied criticism is likely to be raised again. But he defended his methods.
"I recognize that there are flaws in your system but that's not for me to correct, that's for you to correct," he told a Canadian reporter.
RANGE OF EMOTIONS
One section of the film explains how a U.S. man severed the tip of two fingers in an accident and was told he would have to pay $12,000 to re-attach the end of his ring finger, and $60,000 to re-attach that of his index finger.
"Being a hopeless romantic, Rick chose his ring finger," Moore quipped in a typically sardonic voiceover.
It also follows a woman whose young daughter falls seriously ill but who said she was refused admission to a general hospital and instructed to go to a private one instead. By the time she got to the second hospital, it was too late to save the girl.
One of the most controversial passages of the film, due to be released in the United States on June 29, compares health care in the United States to that which Islamic militant suspects receive at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
"I think when Americans see this they are not going to focus on Cuba or Fidel Castro," Moore said, referring to the controversy surrounding his trip to Cuba, which has prompted a U.S. government investigation.
"They are going to say to themselves, 'You're telling me that the al Qaeda detainees are receiving better health care, the people that helped participate in the attacks of 9/11 are receiving better health care from us than those who went down to rescue those who suffered and died on 9/11?"
Moore added that he was taking the investigation seriously.
"I'm the one who's personally being investigated and I'm the one who's personally liable for potential fines or jail, so I don't take it lightly."
(Please visit our Cannes site, including a link to our blogs, on http://uk.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/cannesFestival)
He really needs to leave this Country and take his socialist views with him.
Actually all Moore really needs to do is to get sick in either Britain or Canada and then be put on an 18 month waiting list for specialty care or state of the art kidney treatment.
He may not make it long enough to be a problem any more.
“exemplary care at no cost” according to Moore.
yeah, right. Healthcare workers work for virtually no pay in Cuba, maybe? That’s gonna go over real big with healthcare workers in the USA when the realization hits.
Quote should read “exemplary treatment at virtually no cost”. Excuse moi!
I’m currently working with a guy who spent several years in Canada. Just last week he was telling me how bad their health care is (mostly just rationing stories, but if you’re sick, you surely don’t want to wait for care).
I wonder if this movie will ever be shown in Cuba. I bet a lot of the Cubans will wonder why they are not getting “exemplary” healt care..
Now the publicity gin up is clear. Moore desperately needs press to put his film in the news surrounding Cannes et al. Hence the chellenge to the state departemtn and trying to get anyone to pay attention (Thompson etc.). Nothing from him for months but then he pops his head out of the hole when he need moola and ticket sales.
Of course the MSM obliges their favorite mound of lies.
Can’t we get Chuckie Schumer to run for the same media camera as Moore someday. Of course the resulting tsunami is not something I would wish on anyone.
Isn’t amazing how people are still taking this clown seriously? Then again, these are the same people who think “An Inconvenient Truth” is real science......
No waiting, great service and, because of our insurance, out out of pocket charges were under $2,000 each time. Hospitals were real nice about a payment plan each time.
No complaints from me.
However, when "El Glorious Presidente" got sick recently, they had to import a doctor from Spain.
Yeah, just like when Elian Gonzalez was returned to Cuba, he was shown attending "exemplary" schools, having "exemplary" birthday parties, living in "exemplary" housing with "exemplary" caretakers. Castro made sure it was all filmed and disseminated far and wide. What a guy.
Since the libbie media is characterizing Moore as a person who is able to determine the quality of healthcare procedures, I’d like to know where Moore got his M.D. degree....in Cuba??
He can’t fool me: he was in Cuba buying “fat credits”, again.....
Why yes, Micheal...you SHOULD go to jail for taking those people to Cuba. If you were just interested in getting them help with socialized medicine, then there were many other countries in the world with socialized medicine you could have taken them to. But you CHOSE Cuba because of the embargo so that you could poke your finger in the eye of the government.
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