Michael Moore's Imperfect Diagnosis

The New Republic: "Sicko" Has Its Flaws, But Is Also A Compelling Indictment Of U.S. Health Care

(The New Republic) 
Moore wants to weave these tales into an indictment of the idea that for-profit companies can be counted upon to provide Americans with affordable medical care. But that's a complicated argument to make. Even an intellectually rigorous filmmaker would have to cut a few corners; Moore cuts many.

Sometimes, for example, there are good reasons to deny coverage of experimental treatments. In the 1990s, HMOs caught a lot of grief for denying bone-marrow transplants to breast cancer victims. Years later, studies showed the treatments — which are both expensive and painful — worked in only a tiny fraction of special cases. Would the bone-marrow transplant denied to Pierce have made a difference? It seems unlikely. Experts told me that the treatment never made it past the experimental phase because of ineffectiveness and harmful side-effects.

But, while not every HMO treatment denial bears second-guessing, many do: During the '90s, peer-reviewed studies showed that insurance companies were cutting costs in ways that routinely jeopardized patient care. Nor is there any doubt that insurers try desperately to avoid covering people with serious medical conditions: Following exposés by Lisa Girion in the Los Angeles Times, California officials investigated BlueCross for precisely the kind of practices Lee Einer describes, eventually fining the insurer $1 million because it was rescinding coverage without even asking policy-holders about supposed misrepresentations. Although Wellpoint, the parent company of Blue Cross, denied wrongdoing, it also promised to change its cancellation procedures.

Still, while it's easy to beat up on insurance companies that deny coverage — or drug companies that charge a lot of money, or employers that don't offer their workers benefits — the truth is that they're all acting rationally. They're businesses, after all, and businesses are designed to make profits — which, it turns out, isn't always in the best of interests of people who are sick. If you want a different outcome, you need to come up with a different system, one that starts by guaranteeing every single person health insurance and making sure that insurance includes generous benefits.

Moore spends the second half of his film concentrating on systems abroad that do precisely this. Over the years, opponents of universal health care have scared middle-class voters into thinking universal coverage means long lines and substandard care. Moore responds by reprising his familiar man-on-the-street role, taking his cameras for a lively jaunt through some of these countries.

He starts with Great Britain and Canada, focusing on what is undoubtedly their chief virtue: affordability. Inside a British hospital, Moore prowls the halls, looking for a place to pay bills. But, when he finally finds the cashier, he learns that this cashier is there not to take money but to give it away, in case people need money for transport home. (Apparently, that's covered under British national health insurance.)

Nobody in the United States seriously proposes recreating the British or Canadian systems here — in part because, as critics charge and Moore ignores, they really do have waiting lines. A closer model for the United States would be France, which doesn't have that problem and which — thankfully — also merits considerable screen time in Moore's movie. As Paul Dutton explains in a new book called "Differential Diagnoses," the French prize individual liberty, so they created an insurance system that, today, allows free choice of doctor and offers highly advanced medical care to those who need it. One of this system's most appealing features, which Moore showcases, is the availability of 24-hour house-call service via a company called SOS Médecins. (Moore travels along with one of the company's doctors as he rides around Paris one night, taking dispatch calls like a taxi driver and then administering at-home medical care to a young man with some kind of stomach problem.)

All of this does cost money, naturally, and Moore acknowledges what many assume is the French system's big drawback: its high taxes. But Moore also provides the same answer that any good policy wonk (including yours truly) would: They pay more in taxes but less in private insurance. In fact, the French system, like every other one in the rest of the developed world, costs less than ours overall.

The French like their system a lot — more than the citizens of any other country, including the United States, if you believe the opinion polls. The World Health Organization likes it a lot, too: It has ranked France's system tops in the world. But that isn't stopping critics from attacking it. In a pre-buttal of "Sicko" that appeared in the New York Post, the Cato Institute's Michael Tanner warned last week that Moore missed the real problem in France: its shortage of high-tech care.

This was news to me. I spent a lot of time researching France when I wrote my book, and I never heard anything about shortages of high-tech care. I asked Victor Rodwin of New York University, this country's leading expert on the French health care system, if he had ever heard of such shortages. He hadn't, either.

In the interest of fairness, I decided I would ask Tanner himself: What was his evidence? He said the French government was starting to tighten access to specialists. Well, sure — but it's still a far cry from what managed care has done in this country for years. He also said that France has fewer MRIs and CT scanners than the United States, which is very true and very irrelevant. Most experts think we have far more than we need here. If there were real shortages in France, there would be long queues to use them, and there's no evidence of this, either.

Tanner's op-ed was a good reminder of the proper context for considering "Sicko" — the fact that opponents of universal health care have been spewing half-truths and outright falsehoods for decades. If anything, the proponents of universal health care have probably been too honest, getting so caught up in nuance and policy accuracy that they undermine the very real moral power of their own argument. As another great health care debate begins, it's worth remembering that the fundamental challenge isn't technical. We have plenty of good ideas for achieving universal coverage. The challenge is political. Our side needs some passion and, yes, perhaps a little simplicity, too. That's what Moore has supplied. No wonder the health care industry is spooked.

[talkingham]

This stupid "review" is longer than the movie and more full of truth stretching than a Bush rationale for going to war.

To make the claim that Moore's 911 film may have helped get Bush elected is a total stretch - why not blame the completely dysfunctional democratic candidate who failed to stand up for himself when his war record was questioned and who could hardly utter an intelligible sentence throughout the campaign and who couldn't even best Bush in a debate - heck I don't even remember the loser's name other than th4e fact that he married a billionaire owner of a mustard I used to like until they started adding corn syrup to it!

Moore did more to rally the demo base than any demo candidate and that's why he will be assailed in the coming weeks for creating an excellent and entertaining documentary about the sickest health care system of any modern country. This article get's an "F" for its totally biased and jealous attitude and for being just a waste of any reader's time.

[fredgrad2000]

"...about the sickest health care system of any modern country. This article get's an "F" for its totally biased and jealous attitude and for being just a waste of any reader's time."
Posted by talkingham

WOW, you must be a MoveOn.org disciple, their most devoted, brainwashed acolyte, huh? The New Republic is a liberal magazine; no one has EVER disputed that; it pushing for universal healthcare here; the author says he agrees with Michael Moore; how much more liberal can you get? Biased? Not to the right, that's for sure!!

Another question - if we really do have such a poor healthcare system; why do VIPs and other rick people from all over the world come here to get treatment? Why do Canadians, with their "utopian" one-payer system, still come here south of their border to treatment and procedures?

There are always issues with any system, including any healthcare system...but have we not learned anything from history - the answer to any large problem is not to let the government run it!!!! It will take them longer, cost them more, and be more bureaucratic and backwards than if run by private industry everytime!! Now, are corrections needed to our current system; yes - first and foremost limits on malpractice suits so we can stop spending so much on services and insurance, but to have the government take over all HC is just insane; similar to taking advice on how to cure any issue from Michael Moore...

[marcodele]

"if we really do have such a poor healthcare system; why do VIPs and other rick people from all over the world come here to get treatment?"

Yes, the rich and powerful can come here and get good health care. That's all that matters to the neocons.

[terrapin78]

Michael Moore is GOD!

[Ed0719]

We in the USA end up spending far more for healthcare than do the people in other Western countries that have universal healthcare systems. Yet we have the highest infant mortality rate and the shortest lifespan of any of the Western nations. We also have nearly 50 million people who have no insurance and can't get insurance, so hospitals are forced to either absorb the cost of their care or limit the care they receive in some way. Do we really want a society where your ability to afford it determines whether or not you get adequate healthcare?

I see there are already the "myth merchants" trying to spread the BS about Canada and Great Britain systems. Sorry, those tired old lies just don't cut it anymore.

Is great healthcare available in the USA? Of course, but only IF you have the money to buy it. And that "golden" insurance policy you have is no guarantee, either. See how quick they drop you when you need them the most. Then try to obtain more insurance after you've been dropped. Want to complain about long waits to get medical care? Just have no insurance and be forced to sit in the ER waiting room of a county hospital for hours and hours, in pain, bleeding, or worse... Then tell us all how the USA healthcare system works so well.

[ianlou]

NeoConnie,
You give Christianity a bad name and alas, you are far from alone.

[pugster]

Unfortunately, the US health care system is less about proactive than reactive, like 'preventative care.' Socialized medicine like VA hospital system works but Bush don't want to implement it to the civilian population.

[ianlou]

Check out the article under the "Health" section of this site about LA's Martin Luther King-Harbor Hospital loosing it's license..."Shortly after the hospital opened in 1972, several problems occurred, earning the hospital the nickname "Killer King." Many failures have been publicized throughout the years and since 2003, King-Harbor has failed a dozen inspections for minimum federal patient care standards, the Times reported...."

How can we tolerate any hospital existing like this in America let alone within spitting distance of Hollywood and Beverly Hills!

[sjc_1]

There is just too much money at stake of anyone involved on the supply side to give up their Gravy Train. Every person and company in the whole supply chain vastly overcharges to pump up their profit margins, then they cost shift to the people least likely to be able to pay.

Hospitals used to be run by nuns for humanitarian reasons. Now they are run by mega international corporations to extract as much profit as possible.

The drug companies charge much more for the same drugs in the U.S. than in the rest of the world because they can. The rest of the world will not put up with it!

We we are in the grips of lobbyists that work for the Gravy Train riders and they control the situation that causes so many millions of people so many nightmares and so much anguish.

[brianbwb-2009]

Can anyone say the King Harbor incident, or numerous incidents in the past in which hospitals refused poor black kids for treatment, one of whom was shot in a drive by in front of a hospital as doctors on a smoke break watched, are examples of "the greatest health care system in the world?

Take a look at Singapore, to see how it is properly done, or even a developing majority Muslim country like Indonesia, where they treat you first, then charge according to the patient's ability to pay.

[brianbwb-2009]

to fredgrad2000,

We also see from current history that letting private businesses control an essential service results in corruption, and creation of a tiered system that ignores lower income people in need in favor of the rich. From insurance to the railways to telecommunications to air transport infrastructure, to computer operating systems, we accept mediocrity, even uselessness while the CEOs embezzle the big bucks.

Maybe less efficient, yes, but at least people aren't left to die on the hospital floor because they aren't rich.

[spiel1958]

Michael Moore provides a literal example of why Health Care systems, regardless the country, work ineffeciently - he's part of that exploding world population of unhealthy humans who'd rather clean up green house gases than get their own bodies back to an acceptable level of health. It's more than likely he doesn't eat well and if he isn't already diabetic, he's well on his way, and just another one of the millions of world citizens who can't bother to look after themselves. I'm for the old adage, walk the walk, don't talk the talk. When are we going to start looking at ourselves and what we put into our own bodies, or what we don't, as the main culprit of an ailing health care system? When Michael Moore and Al Gore start to look healthy, maybe I'll begin to take them more seriously.

[neoconnie]

Spiel is right. Michael Moore is fat, so whatever he says about health care cannot be accurate.

Every good Christian knows that all fates are deserved.

[cablegirl11]

Is that really the best arguement against this article you have, "Rich people from all over the world come here so it must be the best."?
Tell that to the family of the woman who died in the emergency room of King Harbor hospital. She definitely wasn't rich but she was definitely ill. A family member of mine is a traveling nurse working in an Arizona hospital where patient care is secondary to doctor ego and a golf game on Wednesday. The patients of this facility are mostly elderly. When every American gets the same level of QUALITY care whether rich or poor then we can be satisfied. We as citizens should not sit idly by while these injustices happen. The only thing worse than letting insurance and drug companies run the industry would be the government. the bottom line, let's work together to find a solution. Any ideas?????

[neoconnie]

The answer to our health care system crisis is Christian Science. By ignoring medicine altogether, we can reduce our taxes significantly and stop all these entitlement programs to liberal Democrats.

[sjc_1]

Ghandi was not healthy after all of his fasts, but that did not make him irrelevant on world hunger. I do not understand your supposed "reasoning".

Maybe they are so worried about the world situation that they eat too much of the wrong foods and do not get enough exercise, that does not make them irrelevant about health care.

You have very little capacity for reasoned thought, but you may have something relevant to say about philosophy. I try not to rule anything out.

[neoconnie]

"Only in love, abnormal psychology, and compassionate Christian republican conservatism does logic not apply."

By Sigmund Freud and NeoConnie

What I love most about being a compassionate conservative Christian Republican is that I don't have to really worry about anything. I know that our President consults with the Holy Ghost on important matters, and that helps me sleep very well.

I lived in Iceland for two year and is a modern welfare state, in the spirit of its Scandinavian neighbors and cousins. Everybody reaps the benifits of free health care, free education (from the preschool to the University level), guaranteed pension and high standards of living, while paying the price of a near 50% income tax. Illiteracy, poverty, prostitution and violent crime are virtually unknown, and the nation is one of the wealthiest in the world, with regard to its size.

[lorinkundert]

I trust that ultra-lib POS about half as much as I trust GW Bush and that is pretty low.

[daysing1]

I don't know when these gullible liberals are going to wake up and see that the Constitution does not gaurantee that anyone has health care. When you have found it, please let me know.

Also, health care is a commodity. It is purchased by individuals for their use. It is not an entitlement.

Furthermore, when will the left and CBS admit that Michael Moore lies. He makes up "facts" he twists scenes in his "documentaries" to say something else not the truth. He makes it up. Puts it on the screen. Walks around smugly and then hops in his limo and rides back to his fancy NYC apartment, counting the money he made off slandering those who disagree with him.

Lastly, something else I have noticed whenever the left beats its chest to defend Moore. The anti-christian invectives come spewing out. I thought the left was "tolerant" and "open-minded". They just cannot help themselves. Their hatred and intolerance for christians and religious people knows no bounds. I guess Moore just draws that type of fan base.

[neoconnie]

The idea that we should provide health care for everyone in our country is apalling. I think poor people deserve to be sicker because they refused to work, and because all fates are deserved.

When are the liberal democrats going to realize that a filthy goal like universal health care for everyone is just sick, sick, sick.

Its about the spirit of competition, and who can get the most. Its not about helping poor people.
That's not what Jesus would want.

[xzavierbrown]

liberals just love whinning about anything..ASK THEM TO PAY OR SHED A FEW SWEAT for 'anything'..its a different story..the story of this liberal california governor..who was that guy again who was removed out of office because he RAISED AUTOMOBILE TAXES for this predominantly liberal state to pay for those predominatly liberal services that were implemented by a predominatly liberal groups..

best way to hit a liberal is through thier pocketbooks..LET THEM PAY FOR IT.

[msvenezia2]

Michael Moore ought to move to Cuba. He's got situational ethics. He *** about our country yet, even with all the hatred he spews about the United States, he sure seems to profiteer from it! In the past he lied about his stock portfolio claiming he owned no U.S. stocks while he did. He's a communist. If Cuba is such a great place, it's only 90 miles away. Try pulling your garbage there and you'll end up in a gulag with the rest of the writers and artists that have been imprisoned without trial by Castro.

To top it off, half our country is so poorly educated about history, economics, dictatorships, etc. that they actually listen to this insane maniac!

[neoconnie]

I agree with Xavier that liberals should have to pay for everything, including the Iraq war.

If Clinton hadn't hadn't done the nasty in the oval office, none of this would have happened.

Rush is right.

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by liberalameri at 04:22 PM : Jun 22, 2007
+ report abuse

****

so does this mean you want to care and pay for these "sick homeless people"? give me you address and I tell them to bill you.

[xzavierbrown]

I am worried about Moore's intentions..he has so many misguided crusades about anything and everything that did nothing but generate money and notariety to himself AND never ever have I seen any improvement in any of the issues he was bringing forward.

is his intention is about helping people or his intention is helping himself to other people's money?

[ksjeff-2009]

As is usually the case; everybody loves the US Health Care model until they become a victim of it, then they can't say enough bad things about it. Wouldn't it be great to actually meet a conservative who can empathize with somebody else besides big business?

[j4401]

Thanks God for Mr. Moore, I would listen to him anyday over the idiots who blame everything on Dem or Repub, Left or Right etc...etc...etc..
I prefer a hopeful message for the future of our children.

[xzavierbrown]

Thanks God for Mr. Moore, I would listen to him anyday over the idiots who blame everything on Dem or Repub, Left or Right etc...etc...etc..
I prefer a hopeful message for the future of our children.
Posted by j4401 at 04:44 PM : Jun 22, 2007
+ report abuse

*************

moore would sell you that hopeful message for the price of a movie ticket. He is hoping that in the future your children would watch his movies to motivate him to sell your those hopefull messages.

DONT BE NAIVE. I dont think Moore is worried about the future of your children..he is more worried about the future of his bank account

[redhoffer]

Moore's movies have generally been thoughtful, and he backs up most everything he shows in his films with hard evidence and in an entertaining (to many) way. These are documentaries and are unscripted. No twists in the footage, all of these poeple rally said what they did and had the experiences they did. He has made big money doing this, no more than the televangelists and much less than the most powerful neocons have by benefiting from the war.

Moore is even generally kind to those he "goes after". As appalling as Charton Heston's views were shown to be in "Bowling for Columbine", Moore still was very decent in his portrayal (but Moore was generally attacked for his footage).
Attack the messenger as usual, most repubs don't like facts.

It is sad that more powerful christians won't stand up to this current administration, as they could have the power to do what is right for america. This is not "hate against christians", but just disappointment.

Fighting so hard to keep a status quo that is so awful is not what Jesus would do. He was poor and would give healing (aka health care) to anyone and everyone. Why can't we follow these teachings? It's fundamental to who Jesus was, but many christians fight against those teachings. Who has the hate?

[j4401]

To: xzavierbrown

You might want to get that big chip off your shoulder, you'll live longer.

[kommoncents-2009]

To redhoffer: What the he** are you talking about? Does anyone understand a word he said? As with most religous fanatics, it's Jesus said this, God said that, and none of it makes any sense, just alot of dribble.

[ianlou]

NeoConnie
You're either brain damaged or having a lot of fun stirring the pot! If it's the former, get help, if it's the latter, have fun.

[neoconnie]

Why Ianueiuilie! I have never touched pot, let alone stirred it.

I just think its very important for compassionate conservative Christian Republicans to stick together during times like these when people are trying to ruin our society with things like health care and flag burning.

Its not fair that my husband has had to work all these years just to get health care, but these Hollyweird people like Michael Moore and Rosie ODonnell think we should provide it to everyone.
Liberal Democrats are going to ruin this country with these expensive ideas.

The next thing you know, people charged with crimes will be given FREE legal help.

Things like this just shouldn't happen in conservative Christian Republican countries.

[j4401]

To: redhoffer

I understood your message clearly. I appreciate the common sense wording. Thanks for you hopeful insight.

[redhoffer]

kommoncents - Sorry you have a hard time understanding stuff. You honestly missed everything I wrote I guess. To spell it out:

-Jesus was poor.
-Jesus gave healing to anyone who wanted it, poor, old, whatever. Jesus offered "universal healing" to anybody who was sick.
-Healing is pretty much like health care.
-Christians in general are against "universal healthcare", or don't promote it very much.
-Jesus would have supported "universal healthcare", we know this based upon the basic description of what he allegedly did or who he was as Jesus offered healing (aka health care) to everyone.
-Christians who are not strongly in favor of universal healthcare are abandoning a basic part of Jesus' teachings and way. They are failing in their faith, or just denying a basic part of who Jesus was because it is not convenient for them, which is pathetic, almost evil I would say.

[neoconnie]

Our president makes all his important decisions by consulting with the holy ghost. He has never had divine guidance to initiate universal health care for people outside of Iraq. I trust his judgment and my faith.

[hypnotoad72]

redhoffer - people who claim to be Christian yet support anti-Christian activities have a lot to answer for.

xzavierbrown - true, Moore only cares about his bank account. That's why I avoid anything political that costs money to read or join up. I know better. Most people blindly follow a silver tongued hypocrite and rag on anyone who dares say "Excuse me, but this tidbit over here suggests your hero is false".

Either way, whomever wins is the person we're going to have to answer to, in America at any rate. Let's hope that candidate thinks Americans are more than disposable trash can fodder (e.g. the job crisis...)

[talkingham]

dill hole, you don't work for health care you work for money- that's one fo the things wrong with this god-for-saken country besides so-called, self-described christian conservatives.

[talkingham]

dill hole, you don't work for health care you work for money- that's one fo the things wrong with this god-for-saken country besides so-called, self-described christian conservatives.

[pugster]

If I needed an operation and I don't have health insurance, I might as well commit a crime because apparantly prison inmates don't have to pay for their healthcare.

[talkingham]

AND I'm totally SICKO of the liars who will never see the movie yet claim it is full of lies. Go lie to your lying selves! Moore's 911 movie was far mroe truthful than the lies Bush spouted and contrived to get us in that war that is lining the pockets of chicken hawks who cry the loudest to send you sons and daughters to a fake, lying war.

I was Vietnam era US Army and I've seen this all before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[monkfellow]

Say,France is a great model.."free" healthcare,but 14% unemployment,a meritocracy that hearkens back to Louis XIV and businesses headed for the evil empire, aka The US of A!
Maybe health care is supposedly better there because there are fewer people,but I wonder what their immigrant underground would have to say.
About the last thing is the mindset that runs our imaginative and ambitious public schools, the VA,King-Drew Hospital in Los Angeles(where you can get stepped on and over in the ED for no additional charge).
I love the Cuban connection. I imagine Moore went to the prisons where the hundreds of Castro's "dissidents" in the worker's paradise are availed all the "free" health care they can handle while they rot for 20-30 years.
Michael Moore is a stupid clown.

[lestb35]

If I needed an operation and I don't have health insurance, I might as well commit a crime because apparantly prison inmates don't have to pay for their healthcare.
Posted by pug_ster at 05:59 PM : Jun 22, 2007


Why don't you just but health insurance like the rest of us? Then you don't have to make a martyr out of yourself by robbing a bank.

[lestb35]

Under a universal health care system does Moore have to pay higher taxes because he's fat? Are people going to be limited to 2 kids or will they give those of us who don't reproduce a tax credit?
What about extreme athletes do they pay more taxes becaue they have more broken bones and if we don't use the system at all can we not pay any taxes? I don't think I should have to pay for a fat person who won't stop eating at McDonalds and is going to have diabetes, and heart attack.

[ubrew12]

Every private industry that exploits a market niche (like health care) needs a government agency to agressively 'police' it, or it eventually makes excess profits on the hardship of its customers. The health industry has proven itself unwilling or unable to be properly policed, so I believe it will be nationalized. I prefer the single-payer system that other countries do so well with. Kudos to Moore for shining a light on this.

[xzavierbrown]

I agree with Xavier that liberals should have to pay for everything, including the Iraq war.

If Clinton hadn't hadn't done the nasty in the oval office, none of this would have happened.

Rush is right.
Posted by NeoConnie at 04:33 PM : Jun 22, 2007
+ report abuse

***************

the paying part is not the problem..it is WHEN IT COMES TO PAYING for thier own agenda..then tend to back out..remember the infamous california governor recall??the liberal Democrat governor was replaced because he was taxing the predominatly liberal state of california. taxes that is needed to pay as a result of thier own crusades. Now for the Iraq war..let us not fool ourselves..we are there for the oil..you think you are against the war in iraq because you care about the iraqi people..BULL CR AP!! you dont, you dont care about the people in middle east to that matter or else you would be so nauseated with yourself everytime you pump your gas. I bet you dont even get that flash of guilt when you fill up that SUV.

The clinton thing is in the past..yes it would had been great if he unglued his arse out of that fu ck bed and got osama when he was offered by sudan on a silver platter.BUT that is in the past, so if we are going to be bogged down with dealing with terrorists over 'the what if and he/she should had', then we are fu cked immaculately.

[ianlou]

Spiel is right. Michael Moore is fat, so whatever he says about health care cannot be accurate.
Every good Christian knows that all fates are deserved.
Posted by NeoConnie at 02:59 PM : Jun 22, 2007

NeoConnie, You crack me up!
Stir the pot, Stir The Pot, STIR THE POT!!

[ianlou]

When are we going to start looking at ourselves and what we put into our own bodies, or what we don't, as the main culprit of an ailing health care system? When Michael Moore and Al Gore start to look healthy, maybe I'll begin to take them more seriously.
Posted by spiel1958 at 02:56 PM : Jun 22, 2007

spiel1958, Pull your head out of your Gym Bag!

[cozzicon]

"The next thing you know, people charged with crimes will be given FREE legal help.

Things like this just shouldn't happen in conservative Christian Republican countries." --Posted by NeoConnie


I hope that was a joke. I'm not really sure.

If it wasn't a joke, please stay out of my neighborhood.