Sunday, April 15, 200723
Michael Moore's Sicko
One stunt is detailed in the NY Post. Get ready for some single-payer love in his upcoming film:
Update:
Coverage for Sicko continues with here on Kevin, M.D. more discussion and debate:
Sicko: Real health care in Cuba
Health insurers are bracing for Michael Moore
Update 2:
More coverage from around the blogosphere.
Michelle Malkin:
"While we're on the subject of Cuba, Michael Moore, and far Left propaganda, Cuban bloggers are exposing the lies about the Castro regime's Communist health care system."
Captain's Quarters:
"This movie seems to be a paranoia-fest beyond Moore's previous accomplishments. Does he wants to prove that the American health-care system is somehow in cahoots with the Bush administration over the 9/11 attack, or does he just want to show that American health care is incompetent? Certainly, he's looking to boost the tired leftist propaganda that Cuba's free health-care system is a model for America to follow. One might think that Moore's argument here would have been undermined by Fidel Castro himself, who had to import Spanish physicians to treat him in his extremity earlier this year."
The Opinion Mill:
"After decades of paralysis brought on by conservatives screaming about socialized medicine, the country finally seems ready to talk about a rational health care system for America. If Sicko turns out to be more schmuckery along the lines of Bowling for Columbine, the movie will only help to muddle a long overdue debate."
Health Care BS:
"As it happens, one of my colleagues at the hospital is a Cuban-American whose father fled to the U.S. after Castro’s takeover. She has many relatives still there, and it is impossible to exaggerate the contempt she has for Americans who think Cuba’s health care system is superior to ours.
In her eyes, the only thing more despicable than Castro’s regime is the “progressive community” that continues to lie on its behalf."
Six Meat Buffet:
"Who knows, taking on Bush is popular. HMOs? Maybe not. The newness was exciting with “Roger and Me”. But this “man of the people” schitck probably won’t play well outside the college demographic."
Lerterland:
"It's one thing to make the case for a single-payer health care system. But when you consider the effects of arbitrary arrest and imprisonment on the health and welfare of an individual, it is perverse to laud Cuba for its social services.
Moore, as always, is catching hell from right-wingers. For this reason, he will feel vindicated. He shouldn't, because his apologetic stance toward Castro runs afoul not of conservative principles, but liberal ones."
The Spine:
"As it happens, Moore went to Cuba with sick Americans who can't -- because of not having health insurance or other reasons -- get treatment for their illnesses. Cuba, as you may recall, is a medical care paradise. Just like the old Soviet Union was, and -- of course -- China."
Fictions and musings, with a side of yuca:
"Whatever that film claims, the truth is that while Cuba may have the lowest infant mortality rate in the Americas, it also has the highest abortion rate (32 out of 100 pregnancies are aborted). And while healthcare is certainly free to everyone, Cuban hospitals lack simple drugs like aspirin for their patients."
Blog For Cuba:
"One of Fidel Castro's biggest propaganda successes has been the acceptance as fact his lie that Cuba has the best healthcare in the world. I could link story after story that proves Cuba does not provide good healthcare for its citizens, but the most telling proof of all is the fact that after his emergency surgery, Fidel Castro himself chose not to trust Cuban healthcare providers, but instead arranged to fly in a prominent Spanish physician along with the latest equipment to tend to his medical needs."
Update 5/20 -
The Toronto Star:
"We Canucks were taking issue with the large liberties Sicko takes with the facts, with its lavish praise for Canada's government-funded medicare system compared with America's for-profit alternative.
While justifiably demonstrating the evils of an American system where dollars are the major determinant of the quality of medicare care a person receives, and where restoring a severed finger could cost an American $60,000 compared to nothing at all for a Canadian, Sicko makes it seem as if Canada's socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo."
The Boston Herald:
"But possible Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson is already having some fun at Moore’s expense. The “Law & Order” actor and former Tennessee senator has Web-posted a video clip of himself sitting in a big leather chair, puffing a cigar and reminding Moore that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro once dealt with a documentary filmmaker by locking him up in a mental institution.
“Mental institution, Michael, might be something you ought to think about,” Thompson deadpans.
Somehow we think the ever-tedious Moore has finally found a worthy adversary - one who can put nonsense into perspective."
Update 5/22 -
Lynn Davidson:
"Moore started with a stunningly stupid statement that essentially told these socialized medicine ingrates to quit their whining about 18 month-long waits for gallbladder surgeries because it means they apparently live three years longer...somehow. Moore lashed out at these legitimate questions about his habit of propping up an unrealistic portrayal of a socialist utopia (or communist, in Cuba’s case) by minimizing the citizens’ hardships."
Rich Lowry:
"Cuban health care works only for the select few: if you are a high-ranking member of the party or the military and have access to top-notch clinics; or a health-care tourist who can pay in foreign currency at a special facility catering to foreigners; or a documentarian who can be relied upon to produce a lickspittle film whitewashing the system.
Ordinary Cubans experience the wasteland of the real system. Even aspirin and Pepto-Bismol can be rare, and there’s a black market for them. According to a report in the Canadian National Post: 'Hospitals are falling apart, surgeons lack basic supplies and must reuse latex gloves. Patients must buy their sutures on the black market and provide bed sheets and food for extended hospital stays.'"
Filmmaker Michael Moore's production company took ailing Ground Zero responders to Cuba in a stunt aimed at showing that the U.S. health-care system is inferior to Fidel Castro's socialized medicine, according to several sources with knowledge of the trip . . .(via a reader tip)
. . . But the sick sojourn, which some say uses ill 9/11 workers as pawns, has angered many in the responder community.
"He's using people that are in a bad situation and that's wrong, that's morally wrong," railed Jeff Endean, a former SWAT commander from Morris County, N.J., who spent a month at Ground Zero and suffers from respiratory problems.
Update:
Coverage for Sicko continues with here on Kevin, M.D. more discussion and debate:
Sicko: Real health care in Cuba
Health insurers are bracing for Michael Moore
Update 2:
More coverage from around the blogosphere.
Michelle Malkin:
"While we're on the subject of Cuba, Michael Moore, and far Left propaganda, Cuban bloggers are exposing the lies about the Castro regime's Communist health care system."
Captain's Quarters:
"This movie seems to be a paranoia-fest beyond Moore's previous accomplishments. Does he wants to prove that the American health-care system is somehow in cahoots with the Bush administration over the 9/11 attack, or does he just want to show that American health care is incompetent? Certainly, he's looking to boost the tired leftist propaganda that Cuba's free health-care system is a model for America to follow. One might think that Moore's argument here would have been undermined by Fidel Castro himself, who had to import Spanish physicians to treat him in his extremity earlier this year."
The Opinion Mill:
"After decades of paralysis brought on by conservatives screaming about socialized medicine, the country finally seems ready to talk about a rational health care system for America. If Sicko turns out to be more schmuckery along the lines of Bowling for Columbine, the movie will only help to muddle a long overdue debate."
Health Care BS:
"As it happens, one of my colleagues at the hospital is a Cuban-American whose father fled to the U.S. after Castro’s takeover. She has many relatives still there, and it is impossible to exaggerate the contempt she has for Americans who think Cuba’s health care system is superior to ours.
In her eyes, the only thing more despicable than Castro’s regime is the “progressive community” that continues to lie on its behalf."
Six Meat Buffet:
"Who knows, taking on Bush is popular. HMOs? Maybe not. The newness was exciting with “Roger and Me”. But this “man of the people” schitck probably won’t play well outside the college demographic."
Lerterland:
"It's one thing to make the case for a single-payer health care system. But when you consider the effects of arbitrary arrest and imprisonment on the health and welfare of an individual, it is perverse to laud Cuba for its social services.
Moore, as always, is catching hell from right-wingers. For this reason, he will feel vindicated. He shouldn't, because his apologetic stance toward Castro runs afoul not of conservative principles, but liberal ones."
The Spine:
"As it happens, Moore went to Cuba with sick Americans who can't -- because of not having health insurance or other reasons -- get treatment for their illnesses. Cuba, as you may recall, is a medical care paradise. Just like the old Soviet Union was, and -- of course -- China."
Fictions and musings, with a side of yuca:
"Whatever that film claims, the truth is that while Cuba may have the lowest infant mortality rate in the Americas, it also has the highest abortion rate (32 out of 100 pregnancies are aborted). And while healthcare is certainly free to everyone, Cuban hospitals lack simple drugs like aspirin for their patients."
Blog For Cuba:
"One of Fidel Castro's biggest propaganda successes has been the acceptance as fact his lie that Cuba has the best healthcare in the world. I could link story after story that proves Cuba does not provide good healthcare for its citizens, but the most telling proof of all is the fact that after his emergency surgery, Fidel Castro himself chose not to trust Cuban healthcare providers, but instead arranged to fly in a prominent Spanish physician along with the latest equipment to tend to his medical needs."
Update 5/20 -
The Toronto Star:
"We Canucks were taking issue with the large liberties Sicko takes with the facts, with its lavish praise for Canada's government-funded medicare system compared with America's for-profit alternative.
While justifiably demonstrating the evils of an American system where dollars are the major determinant of the quality of medicare care a person receives, and where restoring a severed finger could cost an American $60,000 compared to nothing at all for a Canadian, Sicko makes it seem as if Canada's socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo."
The Boston Herald:
"But possible Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson is already having some fun at Moore’s expense. The “Law & Order” actor and former Tennessee senator has Web-posted a video clip of himself sitting in a big leather chair, puffing a cigar and reminding Moore that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro once dealt with a documentary filmmaker by locking him up in a mental institution.
“Mental institution, Michael, might be something you ought to think about,” Thompson deadpans.
Somehow we think the ever-tedious Moore has finally found a worthy adversary - one who can put nonsense into perspective."
Update 5/22 -
Lynn Davidson:
"Moore started with a stunningly stupid statement that essentially told these socialized medicine ingrates to quit their whining about 18 month-long waits for gallbladder surgeries because it means they apparently live three years longer...somehow. Moore lashed out at these legitimate questions about his habit of propping up an unrealistic portrayal of a socialist utopia (or communist, in Cuba’s case) by minimizing the citizens’ hardships."
Rich Lowry:
"Cuban health care works only for the select few: if you are a high-ranking member of the party or the military and have access to top-notch clinics; or a health-care tourist who can pay in foreign currency at a special facility catering to foreigners; or a documentarian who can be relied upon to produce a lickspittle film whitewashing the system.
Ordinary Cubans experience the wasteland of the real system. Even aspirin and Pepto-Bismol can be rare, and there’s a black market for them. According to a report in the Canadian National Post: 'Hospitals are falling apart, surgeons lack basic supplies and must reuse latex gloves. Patients must buy their sutures on the black market and provide bed sheets and food for extended hospital stays.'"





Comments
9:50 PM
7:28 PM
2:25 PM
12:16 AM
5:13 PM
2:31 PM
3:36 PM
I had a close friend (a cuban) who's brother was schizophrenic. The whole community made sure that he was cared for - making sure he took his meds, getting him to the doctor, helping him integrate into society after he was hospitalized and stabilized on meds. When I told my friend how canada (and the US) treat the mentally ill: "If they're able to wipe their ass when they shit, use a fork and know how to tell time, we send them out to subsidized housing because there is no more room in our hospitals to care for the mentally ill" (which was told to me by a canadian doctor), he was in tears saying that even stray animals are treated better than that.
The US has a lot to learn from Cuba - the big one is compassion for the sick, and the importance of community and its power to heal others...
a cuban at heart from Montreal
5:26 PM
http://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/911.html
8:52 PM
Unfortunately, we always have to have the SFA (Smartass Fundamentalist American) who adds in the comments that other countries systems don't deliver, and if you don't like it here, go live in Iraq or Mexico(or some other country where the CIA and US Government have been running major interference for the past 50 years).
OK, So Michael Moore has gone to Cuba. Perfect place to study the impact of American foreign policy. And to get some real footage of what is happening in the health world in Cuba.
And if somebody could tell me of any American documentaries made about Cuba in the past 15 years (I am sorry: falling off my chair here laughing at the idea that America can any longer produce news reports.)
Oh dear. My aching sides.
I wasn't supposed to take any of this seriously was I?
11:34 PM
We made our film Love & Suicide in Cuba without permission from the U.S. or Cuban Governments. Moore had full support with “Sicko” from the Cuban government. That’s why one of the many reasons the content of Sicko documentary is grossly erroneous.
We made a narrative feature film based on true events. Moore made a documentary based on lies and half truths. (See the Cuba hospital photos of filthy conditions)
Cuban photos
Ironically our feature film has more truth about Cuba, than Moore’s documentary.
www.EverythingCuba.com
I do agree with Moore; that the embargo should be abolished. But his embellishing by saying Cuba has a better medical system than the United States is grossly inaccurate.
The fact is, what Moore says in Sicko is not the total truth. And his method of using documentaries to deliver a tainted message is embarrassing to any true filmmaker team.
Luis Moro, Filmmaker
11:06 PM
2:15 PM
More on Moore
http://www.newmediajournal.us/guest/m_westfall/04142007.htm
http://westfallmike.tripod.com/Page10.htm
http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/id104.html
6:44 AM
The problem is, people like my family and I live in the constant knowledge that we're getting screwed by America's health care system. It took me 6 months of calls to get my son's birth costs to be paid under my employers plan. Now (as I'm self employed), my second largest annual expense is healthcare for my family - and for that, I get almost no service whatsoever, just a prayer that if something goes really wrong, the provider won't deny me on some technicality.
The health care system and washington are letting hard working americans down. Youre welcome to blast Moore all you want, but he's on the right side of this issue by me.
2:23 PM
You have no dispute from me that our current health care system is in disarray.
However, Mr. Moore's solution (I haven't seen the film, but I think it's safe to say) - that of a government-run single-payer system - simply exchanges our problems for a whole new set of problems. Which may be even worse.
Thanks,
Kevin
2:28 PM
2:53 PM
Moore demanded the 9/11 responders be treated like regular Cubans, and it appears they were. Moore says the trip was not about making Cuba out to be "better" than the US, but ask why we can't make the same committment to health care as Cuba has - available for everyone?
While there are indeed several profit-making facilities aimed primarily at health tourists in Cuba, the profits are funneled back into the national health system, unlike in other countries where private firms take the money. Cuba makes about $40 million a year off Presidents (like Haiti's Preval) and sports stard (like Maradona), which helps offset the added costs related to the embargo.
Calling the Cuban national system a “wasteland” is beyond reproach. Every respected organization, from the WHO, UNICEF, Lancet, World Bank, Kaiser Foundation, the UK House of Commons Health Select Committee, etc. have give the Cuban system gold stars – one of the “world’s best public services” concludes the BBC. This is regardless of the fact that, indeed, some supplies are sometimes in short supply or missing – often as a direct result of the embargo. “Pepto-Bismol” and “Tylenol” are American products that are not allowed to be imported without a very complicated and bureaucratic licensing process that the Cubans normally choose to bypass because of the added costs and delays. The embargo “dramatically harmed the health and nutrition of large numbers of Cubans” says the American Association of World Health. Nonetheless, Cuba has learned to produce undisputable health results with a minimum of resources and today produces, on its own, much of its medicines and equipment.
These statistical manipulations are apparently based on data taken during the country’s “special period” when Cuba lost 85% of its trade (fertilizers, fuel, feed), which decimated food production and food imports dropped by ½. Today Cuba can report being fully recovered from what was like the "great depression" x2. Malnutrition rates (2%) have fallen to become the lowest in Latin America (WHO, 2006). Average caloric consumption is up above 2,600 a day, well in line with other Latin countries. As for as “development of electrical power,” Cuba ranks 3rd only to Chile and Uruguay in terms of access to electricity (97% - Earth Trends). In 1959, just 7% had access to electrical power. So this seems to be total crap.
The abortion rate is again, way off. I imagine the statistics were based on the high point of 209,000 abortions in 1996. In 2004, after a coordinated effort to combat the issue, Cuba recorded a drop to two-thirds – to 67,277 (a rate lower than the US). The infant mortality distortion is obvious, but it is worth pointing out that pre-1959 record keeping was not a priority of the Government. Many infant deaths went totally unreported. To say Cuba has lost ground to the likes of post WW II France and Belgium is disingenous. Again, Cuba ranks above the US in this crucial figure.
As for suicide, islands are well known to have higher suicide rates than not. Cuba's last known figure, recorded during the "special period" found Cuba with better rates thank Japan, most of the newly capitalist countries, Finland, Belguim, (and Alaska, Montana and Nevada).
7:41 PM
2:36 PM
You have to balance the "some come to America for treatment" with the commonly documented "some go to Canada so they can get treatment at all". Even a self-employed lawyer from AZ had written about his family's slide into poverty attempting to pay for his cancer treatments. This is fair?? Now try being poor.
If you think we have nothing to learn from other country's successes, then you have your head in the sand (and are fully covered).
6:56 PM
Imagine the Health care system 200yrs. ago when doctors would go from patient to patient dripping infectuos blood, performing the most advanced surgeries of the time. Now look at our medicine. Now imagine our government evolving in the same way. The point is not to replace one set of problems for another but to take the good things of other health care systems and disregard the rest. I would think as a man of science you would believe in the method.
P.S. I can see your smug face to.
8:59 PM
10:49 AM
10:26 AM
The crux of the "SICKO" documentary is the disconnect between our expectations and the reality of health care. We are expecting compassionate care from another human being, and instead we get a faceless corporation. The person behind the desk or window is an agent of a health care corporation, which is not a human being, whose primary goal is to increase corporate profit.
This is America, and corporate profit is good, the profit motive forming the basis America’s greatness. The basic problem is that a corporation is not a human being. Therein lies the fallacy of replacing a corporation with a government agency, neither of which is a human being, when what we really want is a human being to deliver compassionate health care, and assist in serious health care decisions.
Ultimately we must at some point ration health care to avoid national bancruptcy. We can't provide everything for everybody. Moore's film, SICKO replaces the corporate health company with the government agency as the agent of this care rationing.
My major point here, is that the larger issue which is ignored by the SICKO film, is the control of medical information, which then determines expenditure and rationing patterns. The control of medical information controls the money. This is explained fully at:
Review of "SICKO", by Jeffrey Dach MD
Jeffrey Dach MD
6:53 AM
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