What cholesterol level? < /sarcasm>
Posted on 07/04/2004 2:15:18 PM PDT by wagglebee
Michael Moore, whose blistering, awarding-winning attack on the Bush administration, "Fahrenheit 9/11," is setting box-office records for a "documentary" says his next project will be an expose of health care in the United States.
He told the London Guardian he hopes to embarrass health insurance companies and hospitals into continuing to care for patients with no coverage – highlighting holes in the American system.
This time, Moore says he will be part of the story, as he was in previous work – using a hand-held camera and attempting to embarrass health-care providers into treating indigent patients.
He said he believes the intrusion of a hand-held camera will be more effective than conventional protests against insurance groups and chain hospitals that "abuse and beat down" poorer patients.
Moore explained: "I thought, 'What if we constructed a film where we could see how many lives we could save in 90 minutes, moving as fast as we can, and our only weapon is the camera"?'
Moore said he had the idea when making his TV show, "The Awful Truth," shown in Britain on Channel 4.
"We had this guy who was going to die because his HMO (health maintenance organization) wouldn't pay for his transplant so we went with him and conducted a funeral rehearsal," said Moore. "The HMO was ashamed and paid for the transplant and he lives to this day."
Previously, Moore said he would target Tony Blair's government and the Disney Corp. next.
I'll just be satisfied if he dies.
This guy has a deathwish. If he makes a film that trashes doctors and hospitals, none of them will want to provide any services to him when he needs it.
What cholesterol level? < /sarcasm>
The creep can put his money where his mouth is, and set up "free to indigent" clinics funded by the proceeds of his propoganda flics.
I thought that picture was from a hot dog vendor asking fatboy how many he wanted.
If there's one thing Michael Moore knows, it's how to be healthy.
I'm sure he will show how many trial lawyers feed like parasites off malpractice suits and health care insurance companies. Oh wait, trial lawyers are some of the Dims largest contributors. Scratch that, it's just evil Bush, and his long standing relationship with HMO magnet Prince Band Aid.
Oh thats right he needs it all to spread reisenthal like movies.
-Eric
Someone needs to do a film about his life...his REAL life....and how he's living off the idiots. Anyone who'd pay money to see his crap is an idiot. But, actually, I think he's going to find out people are tired of his vitriol....wonder when this "healthcare" film is scheduled for release. Before or After the Election...BE, or AE.
sw
During one of his publicity appearances on tv, moore claimed he always pays more than he owes on his tax returns. He said this should serve as his defense if he ever gets audited. I cannot help but wonder if this is yet another one of his lies.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
As an RN and expat, I hope that he has the opportunity to visit a few hospitals in various countries with socialized medicine if he thinks the US is so bad.
In fact he's one of the reasons our premiums are going up!
Well, the health care system HAS failed Moore... just look at the guy.
Profess it as what it is, the best d@mn health care available, I presume?
Actually, now that Fear'n'hate 911 is fading, I think Moore's star is falling. I think he's been shown to be so odious personally, and too many people have seen his 'film' for the falsehood it is, that he's fading more than he may realize....
Oh yeah, as if my hospital and thousands of others across the country don't ALREADY take care of the uninsured/non-paying/Medicaid patients as part of their mission.
Focus on the a$$hole trial lawyers, you dimwit.
I would like one of these morons to give me one example (just one, I don't need any real compelling evidence) of a person in this country who has died or been permanantly disabled as the result of being turned away by a hospital. Socialized medicine doesn't work anywhere. What is their proposal, to pay doctors $100K a year or so? The result will be a huge shortage of doctors and a drop in services. Why do they think so many upper-middle class and wealthy Canadians buy American health insurance and get treated here. What will happen with socialized medicine in the US is a exodus of physicians to places like Mexico and the Caribbean who set-up private facilities, operate on an all-cash basis (the prices will be lower, but the patients will not have the same rights to sue). IMHO
All I did during my medical school education and residency is treat the indigent; this is one of the many functions of a teaching hospital. Something tells me Lumpy won't be showing this.
The only reason this idiot makes money is because of the sheepheaded socialists that are stupid enough to listen to him.
My father-in-law is a physician in Virginia. Over 20 years ago he started a "skid row" clinic. Since then he has worked there about 20 hours a month and has donated several hundred thousand dollars for its upkeep (and he has convinced a lot of other doctors to do the same). The bottom line is that almost all people in this country receive adequate medical care. Hospitals do not turn away the injured, terminal, etc. What is it that Moore thinks hospitals should do differently?
If such a thing ever happened it would be trumpetted by every liberal news outlet in the country. You'd never hear the end of it. I remember thinking that when I saw the movie "John Q", wherein a child was denied a life-saving transplant because he didn't have adequate insurance. Sorry, doesn't really happen.
Exactly, what the movie "John Q" failed to point out is that almost nobody in this country has enough insurance coverage for things like heart transplants, etc. The hospitals and doctors almost always take reduced fees for these procedures. As far as I know, organ transplants are performed based upon the recipient's compatability and need -- money is not even a consideration.
Whew! The depths to which the Mooreon will sink are surpassed only by the depths of his appetite.
Watch out Sen. PIG here comes Moore.
What about all of the starving children in third-world countries who could live for a year on the amount of junk food larda$$ consumes in a day?
Exactly; we turn away no one. Compare that to the countries with "national health care;" I met so many physicians places like Canada, Ireland, and the U.K who told me horror stories of people waiting months and months for surgeries we do the same day.
I expect there will be plenty of particular facets of health care that are subject to attack.
Yes, in individual cases, it can be horribly expensive. And it is not always attuned to the personal needs of a specific person. It is not available everywhere, because like everything else that is a commodity, health care tends to follow economic imperatives. For instance, where people are widely dispersed, the nearest facility may be miles away. Experience and training are not evenly distributed, but tend to concentrate in and around centers which already have a seeming excess of medical talent. Medical professionals leave their practice of medicine for numerous reasons, but mostly because of overwhelming work loads (no one else will come into their area to take up part of the burden) and underwhelming cash flow to their practice. The cash flow assists the professional in constantly upgrading both training and means of delivering health services, be it new techniques, medicines, procedures or screening devices. But most of all, people will not take care of themselves. The rules by which most people may enjoy a far greater state of good health are easily available to all who will take responsibility for learning and following them (don't smoke, limit alcohol intake, eat right, exercise, avoid unnecessary risks, drink plenty of water, and get enough sleep).
Some of these rules probably apply to Michael Moore, American Hatriot. If he put them into practice, he may considerably improve his own health.
I spent a few days in Canada on business a couple of years ago. From what I can tell, people go to the doctor for every malady that comes along (cuts, bruises, poison ivy, crap like that), and as a result people who actually need care have to wait for hours. As far as necessary surgeries go, forget it. I spoke to a guy who's father needed bypass surgery and was told the wait was at least three months (basically a death sentences), so he took out a mortgage on his home to come to the US and pay for the surgery. The left thinks that socialized medicine will help the poor, and it makes things worse. As far as the wealthy go (and by that I mean just about everyone who has the means to do so), in every nation with socialized medicine, they go to private facilities and pay cash.
Medical-Malpractice Battle Gets Personal: Some doctors refuse to treat attorneys
The last year I was in private practice, I wrote off an amount that was equal to 30 percent of my income...
Wonder if Moore did that?
However, I do hate HMO's...but if you hate HMO's, just look at the VA system, and imagine if the government took over all of medicine.
No, but fatboy probably spent about 30% of your income stuffing his face.
"award-winning?" Now THAT is misleading...
Winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival is probably a lot like being voted "best looking guy on the cell block", you're happy they like you, but not too sure what it means.
More power to Michael Moore -- finally attacking an institution that NEEDS to be attacked, rather than his last two targets (our President, and our right to keep and bear arms).
Our healthcare finance system is broken. It encourages overconsumption, discourages competition, and bankrupts those who try to be reponsible while leaving untouched the grossly irresponsible. By making it part of employment, and making small employers pay vastly more per employee, it greatly discourages entrepreneurship and makes it exceptionally difficult for small businesses to grow, all the while depriving insures and providers of incentives for programs which build up lifelong better health, since someone will likely have changed jobs (and insurers) before the benefits are shown.
Moore's answer (doubtless an ill-thought socialized medicine scheme) won't be right, but at least he'll be asking the questions loudly.
The real kicker is that if the company runs out of money in its self-insurance account, you as a patient aren't owed *anything.* You can run up a $600,000 bill, and guess what - you will pay it if the company no longer funds its self-insurance fund.
Usually this happens when a company goes bankrupt. Salaries and outstanding bills to creditors take priority; any medical expenses owed to employees goes by the wayside if there isn't any money anymore. We learned this personally from sad experience.
So yes, the American system really is broken, especially for people in their early fifties until Medicare kicks in.
Let him rock on...he ain't flying under the radar any longer; his ambush tactics might not work so well on his next little 'effort'.
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