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Sicko Indeed

Michael Moore should be paid more and is exploited. I mean it. He has produced a number of misleadingly anti-capitalist documentaries that have become educational darlings. I cannot get my mind around that these are commonly used “educational” tools in high school much less college. But given that he is so popular and that so many “teachers” outsource their work to him I argue that we should all pay a Michael Moore tax here in college and send him the proceeds. Seriously.

This one is a particularly popular straw man documentary:

Documentary look at health care in the United States as provided by profit-oriented health maintenance organizations (HMOs) compared to free, universal care in Canada, the U.K., and France. Moore contrasts U.S. media reports on Canadian care with the experiences of Canadians in hospitals and clinics there. He interviews patients and doctors in the U.K. about cost, quality, and salaries. He examines why Nixon promoted HMOs in 1971, and why the Clintons’ reform effort failed in the 1990s. He talks to U.S. ex-pats in Paris about French services, and he takes three 9/11 clean-up volunteers, who developed respiratory problems, to Cuba for care. He asks of Americans, “Who are we?”

How do we think an identical documentary that resembles this would go over?

Documentary look at health care in the United States as provided by profit-oriented health maintenance organizations (HMOs) compared to “free”, universal care in Canada, the U.K., and France and demonstrates that it is no so free and not so universal, nor does it achieve the egalitarian claims its founders and supporters advocate for. Oroom contrasts U.S. media reports on the high quality of Canadian care with the actual experiences of Canadians in hospitals and clinics there, and especially those Canadians in hospitals and clinics and recovery rooms and intensive car units in America. He interviews patients and doctors in the U.K. about cost, quality, and salaries. He examines why Nixon promoted HMOs in 1971, and why the Clintons’ reform effort failed in the 1990s and also why corporations offer health insurance as part of our compensation packages today, why a mess of cartel-like provisions keep doctor pay high, why the high regulatory burden keeps drug costs high, why limits on selling insurance across states, how mandating minimum coverages, by community rating, by guaranteed issue and subsdizing expensive procedures have all reduced drive up expenditures in the US and why efforts to end the tax favored treatment of employer provided health insurance failed as well as why efforts to make the insurance and medical market more competitive have failed. He talks to U.S. ex-pats in Paris about French services, and he talks to some other U.S. ex-pats in Paris about unsatisfactory French services, and he takes three 9/11 clean-up volunteers, who developed respiratory problems, to Cuba for care. He takes three others to Cornell Health Center for care. He asks of Americans, “What is your favorite color of the rainbow?”

One Response to “Sicko Indeed”

  1. chuck martel says:

    This says all you need to know about the differences between US and Canadian health care: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6951330.stm

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