Sicko question?

Question

I saw the movie Sicko recently and LOVED it. I am a big Micheal Moore fan, I think he's an amazing person giving America what it needs.

However, Sicko rants and raves about Cuba's health care system, and in the movie it does seem excellent. Why then, in the The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems (that list he zooms down on, the one where the US is just above Slovinea) is Cuba BELOW the USA?


Check the trailer, you can see it, or click here.
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

Answer 1

Mike misses the point.

Although Cuba offers health to everyone, the calbier of health care is where they fall down

Answer 2

Cuban health care is quite good for a third world country with limited funds and a never ending embargo in place by the US. It is universal and most everybody is treated the same.

I haven't viewed Sicko yet but hope to soon.

Answer 3

Hi, I'm Italian..I went to see the film yesterday...here we all know how American system works, but we thought it worked pretty good...my girlfriend was in tears for that man, Tracy, or for the little baby who died because she was in the wrong hospital...
Do you guys know people having trouble with this system? Why don't you start a revolution against those powerful lobbies? Why do you try to find things that don't work in the movie, rather than trying to solve existing problems? I'm lost for words...

Answer 4

Michale Moore is a master at misrepresenting the truth about everything he films. How anyone can be a fan of this man is beyond me.

America has one of the best health care systems in the entire world. The real problems with it are the result of Government meddling and mandates. Everyone is so upset about HMO's for example. Do you know where the HMO's came from? They were created by Democrats led by Ted Kennedy as the first installment of universal coverage.

The big departure from what was standard in America before the HMO's were created by law was "hospitalization insurance". It covered only hospital stays and resulting tests fees and medicine. Everyone paid for their own doctor visits and medications. That meant that either doctors and drug companies kept their rates affordable or no one would purchase their services or products.

HMO's were intended to provide free preventive care to lower hospitalization costs. A classic example of "good intentions" having a negative effect. For some reason, any program or regulation created by Democrats never, ever gets revisited to see if it is having the desired effect or not.

Once HMO's provided the deep pockets and were slow to pay, the doctors all raised their fees. Since people were no longer paying full price for their prescriptions they didn't care how many prescriptions their doctors wrote them nor whether there were cheaper alternates.

By meddling with the market (again always done with the best of intentions) they have created another monster that they once again believe can only be slayed with more and more meddling.

The government has tried to make a college education more affordable by grants and student loans. The result? Astronomical increases in tuition many, many times the rate of inflation. Why? Plenty of deep pockets.

The government started interferring in public school education. The result? Huge amounts of money being spent that never reaches the classroom. They started a free lunch program to provide better nutrition to kids. The result? Tons of food thrown away every day because the kids didn't like it. How poor does someone have to be to not be able to provide their own kid with a sandwich for lunch? In my opinion, if you cannot afford to provide your child with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich you are unfit to be a parent.

The Federal Government destroys everything it meddles with. Yet people are convinced that it is helpful. Believe me, send the government a dollar and you will get back about ten cents in value. Spend the dollar yourself and you get a dollars worth.

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Answer 5

Socialized or Singler payer systems are nothing more than a large government HMO. The only way to control costs is through managing access. This management of access is accomplished by delaying medically necessary services. Please see my review of the movie SICKO below:

Thank You Michael Moore

While Michael Moore does do one thing well with his recent box office release of SICKO - he brings attention to the American healthcare system.

However, he simply falls down with regards to how well the system works for the majority of Americans.

He also fails to mention the other side of socialized "single payer" medicine; in 2006 Britain's Department of Health reported that at any given time, nearly 900,000 Britons are waiting for admission to National Health Service hospitals, and shortages force the cancellation of more than 50,000 operations each year.

In Sweden, the wait for heart surgery can be as long as 25 weeks, and the average wait for hip replacement surgery is more than a year.

Canada is not immune to the issues either - in a March 2006 interview with Dr Brian Day, President of the Canadian Medical Association, he states "the Supreme Court stated that Canadians are suffering and dying on wait lists and that governments across the country have shown inertia in dealing with the plight of patients...... ....and they struck down the segments of the Quebec health law that outlawed private insurance for medically necessary services" so even Canada is looking toward private insurance as a solution to their issues.

There is a real problem with the uninsured in America, and as a Health Insurance Broker, I discuss with my clients how they as employers, myself as a broker and the health insurance carriers have a responsibility to get these people insured through innovative group and individual products.

We have a large pool of healthy Americans who are not insured, we need them to step up and become part of the solution.

In addition, we Americans need to take responsibility for our own health. A significant portion of medical claims are directly related to the American lifestyle (we as Americans have the resources to become fat and lazy). I feel that through employer sponsored wellness, consumerism and disease management programs we can continue down the road of a "healthy America". Result: a reduction of the large claims that have our healthcare spending spiraling out of control.

Bottom line; Thank you Michael Moore for focusing Americans attention on a real problem - HealthCare, maybe your next film should be on the "American Lifestyle Crisis" - perhaps called "Glutton for Punishment".

Rick Knox - Vice President of Knox Associates, LLC - a Las Vegas based employee benefits brokerage.