Posted on 07/17/2007 9:27:15 PM PDT by gpapa
Michael Moore loves government.
OK, he doesn't love a government headed by George W. Bush, but he believes that once the Democrats are in charge, government will do a better job providing health care.
In his new movie, "Sicko," he praises government-controlled health care systems in Canada and Europe. He suggests that Americans pay more for health care but have a shorter life expectancy than people in other countries because our health care is driven "by profit."
He is wrong in so many ways.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Liberals would kill the goose that layed the golden eggs..
Michael Moore was TOTALLY backa**ward wrong by the first trimester.
This quote was laughable: “Moore laughed at me, saying, ‘You are, like, so Thirteenth Century,’”
I guess that Mikey does not know that feudalism was the system of the 13th century and that he proposes a new form of feudalism wherein we are the government’s serfs.
“Where Michael Moore is Wrong”
Is this a location description of the planet Earth?
John should have asked Mickey Moore why Fidel brought in a doctor from Spain for his own treatment if his Marxist health care monopoly is so great.
When a child dies at the age of two this greatly impacts the statistic of “life expectancy” (On a far end of the bell curve). Children have a much higher mortality rate than adults (drowning, electrocution, cars, bicycles, falling from trees/ladder, ingestion of chemicals/poisoning....etc). Nearly all of Europe has a much lower birthrate and this affects the life expectancy statistic. A nation like Germany with only 1.38 children per woman is going to have fewer children than the US where the average woman has 2.1 children per woman. But who cares about minor details like this?
Where is Michael Moore RIGHT???
He’s got a worse track record than a stopped clock.
Fidel was just be generous. He didn’t want to cut in front of any Cubans who were waiting to be seen by State healthcare providers. < /S >
For example, maybe our life expectancy is lower because we have more obese people? Maybe it’s lower because less people are physically active, because of certain dietary factors, maybe even genetic, or maybe it’s environmental or even related to more crime, more deaths in wars..... He focuses in on one aspect, since it’s the crux of his new work of fiction.
Michael, maybe there just isn’t as many super-sized slobs like you over there and that’s why their life expectancy is higher?
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/mar2005/nia-16.htm
In fact Michael, a fat shmuck like you is significantly reducing their life expectancy with their weight.
Just for fun, you should visit this site and add in your weight: http://www.deathclock.com
The statistic is accurate I’m sure that we do indeed have a slightly lower life expectancy than “some” European nations by a small margin. The problem is determining what the real cause is. In all reality if one were to really do some analysis of correlation it will most likely boil down to the fact that we have more fat people like you Michael, and more children, which tend to die more frequently and these things push the statistic down.
How can that lard ass say anything about health care? Take care of yourself first stupid! Maybe a lot of people wouldn’t need so much health care if they’d stay away from fast food and get some exercise...right, bongo butt?
How can that lard ass say anything about health care? Take care of yourself first stupid! Maybe a lot of people wouldn’t need so much health care if they’d stay away from fast food and get some exercise...right, bongo butt?
How can that lard ass say anything about health care? Take care of yourself first stupid! Maybe a lot of people wouldn’t need so much health care if they’d stay away from fast food and get some exercise...right, bongo butt?
''Bongo butt?'' OK, I **know** I'm passing on that one.
We probably don’t want to find out the “real” reasons behind a lower life expectancy. How much is the average lowered by homicides by gangbangers in the inner city? It’s very politically incorrect, but “lily white” countries like Sweden have pretty high life expectancies. Plus, one of the places in the US that people live the longest is Loma Linda california. Why? A large population of seventh day adventists who don’t smoke, drink, take stimulants, and eat a low fat diet. People like Michael Moore ARE a huge problem when it comes to lower life expectancy and health care costs.
For me, the most effective arguments against socialized medicine are the same arguments used against...socialism.
I believe in Free Market Capitalism.
Nothing motivates people like money. Money can buy a roof over your head, food for the table, clothes for your back and a vacation in Tahiti if you have enough of it.
Consequently, the desire for more money can drive a lot of positive behavior in systems that effectively supress the negative behavior that is often manifested by greed.
I have worked in the Health Care Industry since 1985, and I use the term “Health Care Industry” deliberately. When it is frankly referred to by that phrase, people are often offended or horrified. But there is no need to be.
Competition drives costs down, and while there is not competition for health care the same way there is competition for your money that is spent on food, clothes and computers, there is competition at the hospital level.
Hospitals have to cut costs by streamlining processes to make them more efficient, providing better pre and post-operative care in order to minimize length-of-stay. Hospitals have to shop for the best deals on pharmaceuticals, contrast agents and other materials such as catheters, needles and other consumable items.
Most importantly, hospitals are forced to stay competitive with salaries in order to attract and keep qualified, motivated top of the line personnel. Hospitals, like many other entities in a capitalistic environment, have found that the worst thing you can do is to allow your pay scales to drop below the market norms. It is a cut-throat business, hospitals stealing employees from each other, jacking up salaries to attract those employees. If you don’t pay...your competitor will. Your best people will leave and go to the hospital that is paying well. Their morale and performance at that institution will go up, yours will go down.
The end result is: patient care will suffer. If you have not managed your health care business appropriately, your patients will receive worse care than your healthy competitor.
Your patients will be subjected to rude, stressed, overworked employees.
Your patients will wait longer for a nurse to visit them in their bed.
Your physicians, nurses and technical staff will work longer, more stressful hours for less pay than their competitors, and will be more prone to making a mistake.
Your Information Systems will atrophy and not be upgraded. You will not be able to afford a new digital radiology system and will still work from traditional film. Your competitor WILL put in a new digital radiology system, as well as speech recognition software for dictation AND digital mammography units, and will trumpet that advantage in the advertisements they will pepper the media with in your locale.
Your institution will have a higher post-op mortality rate, there will be more critical mistakes, and the state and federal regulating agencies will notice, and come to inspect your hospital. Articles will appear in the daily newspaper, and you will see your hospital logo on the evening news referring to the poor patient care.
Nursing unions will go on strike, good physicians will leave for greener pastures, and sometimes, the hospital, often a community icon, goes broke. Those people in that community have to now drive 20 miles to a different hospital. Trauma patients have fewer places to be taken to, and stories appear about needless deaths due to ER’s being shut down or on diverson.
THAT is what happens to hospitals that do not run their institutions like a BUSINESS. What makes it a business is money.
But just because you have to run it like a business does NOT mean you have to treat people like widgets on an assembly line. If you do a good job running the business end, pay well, provide a stable, modern environment, people are more efficient and happier, deliver better care, and patients are the beneficiaries.
Sure. Our medical care in America is expensive. And it is not perfect. Just as there are a lot of horror stories about socialized medicine, there are many about horrible mistakes in American medicine. But we do deliver the best care in the world for the most people. Nobody is ever denied care because they cannot pay in this country. That is a myth. You walk into an ER, you get care. You make an appointment to see a doctor and you are uninsured, you get a session with a financial counselor. You may sign a paper in a non-emergent situation stating that you are responsible for paying for treatment, but you still get the care, and in nearly all cases, the quality of care is blind to the amount of money you can pay.
If you take money out of the situation, all the benefits of competition disappear. Everyone gets lousy care. Or, sometimes you don’t get that care.
Capitalism works. It is the engine that has driven more prosperity and good for mankind than nearly any other movement. It works in industry. And it works in Health Care.
He's wrong no matter where he is.
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