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10 Facts You Never Knew from "Sicko"

noedb.org — While most movie-goers see faults within the film, the truth is that Moore simply reflects reality. Nothing in his film is new, exciting, or even shocking if the viewer has read local, regional, or international newspapers or if the viewer has kept up with problems incurred within the health insurance and medical industry over the past few years. T

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 25, 2007

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  • ilkeryoldas, on 10/10/2007, -15/+48LEAVE MICHAEL MOORE ALONE!!!!
  • inactive, on 10/20/2007, -4/+35I agree that U.S doesn't have a very good health care, but we as citizens need to take precaution also...

    like:

    Stop eating F***ing hamburgers and driving to a store that is less than 100 yards away.
  • offspring06, on 10/10/2007, -20/+47The health care should not be a for profit industry. When money gets involved we all know who loses out.
  • darkfate, on 10/10/2007, -9/+36That has nothing to do with the healthcare system! The healthcare companies are screwing us over because they care about their profits more then their patients. It has nothing to do with suing people, that's a story in and of itself.
  • ZenMojo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+23That's nice, but it doesn't contest the facts and it only covers about 15 minutes of the total movie.
  • zeitgueist, on 10/10/2007, -7/+26Jesus *****, what is wrong with you people. We pay more than anyone for healthcare, and don't get even into the top 10 in pretty much any useful statistic, like life expectancy and infant mortality. Every other modern country has UHC. 18000 people die every year because they have no insurance. Government run hospital systems like the VA are very highly rated.
    What is your motivation behind trashing the concept?
  • ghank, on 10/10/2007, -2/+19"However, patients in the U.S. had shorter wait times than every country except Germany when it came to getting an appointment with a specialist for nonemergency elective surgery, such as hip replacements, cataract surgery, or knee repair."

    well of course the wait time isn't very long. When few people can afford the surgery, the line tends to be smaller.
  • rubyeyes, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17People travel from the US to India because it's cheaper travel costs included (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism). People go to Canada for cheaper prescriptions - what does your point prove?
  • lastdeadmouse, on 10/10/2007, -2/+18And Moore also posted a very widely accepted reply.
  • kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16In fact it does. It works every single day. You know that police force, Fire brigade, teachers, roads, parks ,librarys there all a form of socialism. The point is where you let free markets rule. many countries spend less on healthcare and have a better service from a model like the UK rather than the US. that should tell you something.
  • TypeEE, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15depends on what is your definition of "work". For economy wise, free market will work for sure. However, if you want to minimize death for poor people, you need a bit of socialism.
  • kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15Its not a real fact though. Yes some Brits do go to India. But in almost every case its for plastic surgery. For some reason the NHS spends its money on curing the sick NOT giving girls tighter breasts
  • arcooke, on 10/10/2007, -6/+21Almost every fact in Sicko is entirely accurate... Is it biased? Yes. They don't hear the other side of the story from insurance companies (whatever that story may be). But there's no reason for you to be attacking the accuracy of the facts in Sicko.
  • DavidJay, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Health care is for filthy liberal communist scum. Real patriots don't get sick.
  • ZenMojo, on 10/10/2007, -6/+19I love how the article gives us a very selective reality. By placing the United States only with developed countries, it fails to account for those THIRD WORLD countries with higher life expectancies than us (Costa Rica, por ejemplo). In reality, the US is 40th in life expectancy in the world.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12 I trust CNN about as far as I can fling an elephant.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -6/+18 And you know this,how?
    Do you live in the UK?
    I doubt it.
    have you ever used UHC?
    I doubt it.
  • rubyeyes, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Hey here's a thought if insurance is gouging us ... you think they might be gouging doctors too? So they make money on both ends - good to be in insurance.
  • offspring06, on 10/10/2007, -7/+18Yeah because everything is black or white in your fantasy world. If we take the profit out of health care than that money goes back into the system and not into the hands of the insurance industry.
  • idconvict, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Not to disagree with your point, but even with our abundant food supply, people are still starving on the streets. We haven't been the top in technology for awhile, and foreign cars are arguably better than domestic cars at this point
  • offspring06, on 10/10/2007, -6/+16Here we go again. Did you actually research the facts yourself or do you listen to everything Ann Coulter says.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -22/+32Maybe if Americans didn't feel like suing over everything...
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12Methinks all the Sicko haters work FOR the insurance industry.

  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9It does indeed.
    offspring06 is correct. These companies only reason to exist is to maximize their profits for themselves,their shareholders and their CEO...Anytime they can deny you coverage,they will do it in a heart beat.
  • theblooms, on 10/10/2007, -7/+16Pharmaceutical companies in the US are for-profit. The vast majority of all pharmaceutical technologies are developed in the US. See the correlation? Profit breeds motivation which breeds innovation. Because of basic ingrained human nature, like it or not, the quest for profit will ALWAYS trump the quest for the 'greater good'.

    Of course there /are/ people who get into healthcare and pharma out of the goodness of their hearts, with a general will to want to help their fellow man, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
  • offspring06, on 10/10/2007, -7/+16Canada has junk food too and free health care. Canada rocks.
  • kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8er..... U mean the farming industry that is supported by billions of Government subsidy?
  • offspring06, on 10/10/2007, -19/+27If your a Republican your just going to put your hands over your eyes and sing "Jesus loves me".
  • Hermitwise, on 10/10/2007, -8/+15"Sicko" is actually his most factual documentary so far. Where are all these inaccuracies you hint at?
  • GeauxLSU, on 10/10/2007, -9/+16One of the main reasons the US has more expensive healthcare and shorter life expectancies should be evident by looking at Moore himself….Obesity. The US also happens to have the highest rate of obesity in the world. Addition to junk food and fast food is a HUGE causality that was grossly underrated by Moore’s movie. Irony!
  • lastdeadmouse, on 10/10/2007, -9/+16Again, essential services, such as healthcare, should not be left to "free" market corporations. Give it back to the people.
  • KevenM, on 10/10/2007, -4/+11Glenn Beck, is that you?
  • KevenM, on 10/10/2007, -5/+12No kidding. The tort system has become the new lottery system.
  • swordedge, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7just don't get anything seriously wrong with you
  • CptofMySoul, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Are you seriously using 'abundant food supply' as an example of a free market in action? Wikipedia 'Farm Bill' sometime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_bill
  • thecatcantalk, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Only three industrialized nations lack Universal Health Care: the U.S., red China, and South Africa. Weird, but true. And U.S. health care costs TWICE as much as in ANY other country, so STFU about "expensive" socialized medicene, people.
  • echinda, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9Rather than just spouting off, how about offering up a link to someone that refutes what the article says - Sicko is based on facts. You think it isn't? OK - say why ...
  • nezroy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6By everyone that knows medicine (i.e. the New England Journal of Medicine, for starters, among many others). The quality of care provided by VHA hospitals is routinely top ranked and outperforms non-VHA hospital ratings on a regular basis. And, it does all this at a lower average cost.
  • AmusedToDeath, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6LOL yourself. Documentaries with no point of view are called "new reports". Obviously you don't quite understand what the function of a documentary is.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6So when you need healthcare, who's going to pay for it?

    That's how insurance works, it spreads the cost among the participants. If young healthy people will not buy insurance when they're healthy, the cost of insurance goes up; so when you have to buy it, it is very expensive.
  • inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Philadelphia Neurosurgeons Malpractice Insurance: $150,000-200,000/year
  • FreakyD, on 10/10/2007, -6/+11No chance. easy money.
  • kazamx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Who is talking about Pharmaceutical companies? the UK has two of the largest in the world floated on our stock market. We also have the NHS and private healthcare.
  • KevenM, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7best comment so far!
  • palustris, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6The VA? The last place I'd want to go for healthcare. All we heard several months ago is how run down and awful they all were - did you miss that controversy? Government run anything is usually not very good - the government is terrible where anything requiring motivation is key. Maybe reducing the complication of healthcare and increasing liability for MANAGEMENT (not focusing on just the doctors/nurses) would allow our system to function at a lower cost while still pushing the best and brightest into the field.

  • div2n, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5The problem with health care is more to do with connecting a patient with a doctor and not the medicines prescribed. Pharmaceutical companies are selling a product. Health insurance companies are selling the illusion of coverage. They don't make money if they pay every single claim. The more they deny, the less people go to the doctor. Drug companies don't make money if they don't produce good quality drugs that are effective. Health insurance companies are not bound by the same parameters so your analogy using them is a bad one.
  • raintheory, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Yeah thats funny... The first thing that article says: "The odds of a nine-fingered man actually playing a guitar are slim to none." ... Jerry Garcia had nine fingers. He played guitar quite well I might add.
  • axxxul, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6How can you be against universal health care? It's not civilized to let someone DIE because he is poor!
  • wendelgee2, on 10/10/2007, -5/+10All of that progress also bred horrible work and living conditions for people, which were mollified by safety nets provided by either the government (disability, unemployment, equal opportunity, 40 hour work week, no child labor), or unions.
  • sansoncarrasco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Preventive medicine.
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