Michael Moore joined Jay Leno to discuss ” Sicko!”
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It’s sad to see the segment about the girl who had to pay for her ambulance ride when she was unconscious and couldn’t get it pre-approved….Nope…there’s no problem with HMO’s as far as I can see…It’s not surprising to see the Washington Post review it and knock him around…
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we can agree on two things: The American health-care system is busted and Michael Moore is not the guy to fix it. His “Sicko,” an investigation and indictment of a system choking on paperwork, greed, bad policy and countervailing goals, turns out to be a fuzzy, toothless collection of anecdotes, a few stunts and a bromide-rich conclusion…
Moore is trying to raise the conscious awareness of the health care problem in America—not offer up the solution Mr. Hunter. (h/t Clay) With all the talk recently about journalist donating to the left, Mr. Hunter once gave 250.00 bucks to the NRCC… Although he says he was drunk at the time…
One Trackback To “Michael Moore with Jay Leno and a dash of the Washington Post“
While I haven’t seen the movie yet, I highly doubt that it ends with a formal proposal or suggested legislature of how to solve the problem. Perhaps you get handed a binder as you enter the theatre.
Perhaps Mr. Hunter was unaware that most documentaries are documenting an issue or event, not providing a solution. One would think that this would be known to a “reviewer.”
Say what you want about Moore’s style but he calls attention to things other try hard to ignore.
I had back surgery on monday morning.
On tues morning at 10am the insurance told the hospital that I would no longer be covered for hospitilization. I had not seen my doctor, had foley, IV and pain pump(morphine drip) in place and had not even been out of bed.
Ahhhh, glad to see the librul media (Tm) in action!
Just minutes ago, I was reading reviews of Sicko on Yahoo Movies and noticed a surge of name-calling/smear reviews giving the film an “F” rating. It’s obviously an organized campaign, but there’s no indication of who’s coordinating it.
See .
Time to fight back.
The guy is trying to earn some wingnut cred by claiming Moore offered solutions. He’ll likely be covering Rosie O’Donnel any day now as these guys tend to have a “in for a penny, in for a pound” mentality.
Diane @ 3:
So what happened? Did you have to pay out of pocket or did they boot you out all together? Which insurance carrier? Type of plan?
One more reason to renounce citizenship.
Your health care would be free.
Dave @ 5:
I was reading that as well. Glad to see the anti-American reich-wingers choose big business over the best interest of Americans. How typical.
Notice that JAY LENO’s audience is cheering and screaming (at least 3 minutes in…watching now). This isn’t a stacked deck like say Bill Maher’s, but probably a late middle aged upper middle class, and probably not overpoweringly leftist
Dave @ 5:
No need to fight back. The more they try to slam it, the more appealing it is to the public. The neo-cons haven’t figured this out yet. Their name-calling and smear campaigns that usually never dispute or discuss the issue, only make it seem more interesting.
Think about it, if you saw a child in the candy aisle kicking, screaming and throwing a hissy fit, you kind of want to know what caused all of the commotion. The same applies with Moore’s films. I think it was what made his last film the highest grossing documentary of all time.
How dare Mr. Moore say something good about Cuba, I mean they may look us bad. And that can’t be! We are the best, number 1, America!!!!!
I still remember the Olympics a few years ago, when the Cuban team was kicking the living daylights out of the American baseball team, and NBC switched to some “human interest story” about a gymnastics coach rowing on a lake or some bullshit.
For being such a great super duper democratic country, we surely can’t stomach other peoples with different opinions/systems/culture/approaches.
Maybe he was hungover and kept using the SnuzNLuz Alarm clock. It’s a clock that automatically donates a small amount of money to the charity you hate everytime you hit the snooze button. I like how in the picture it shows “$11 pending to GOP”. :lol: :lol:
SnuzNLuz clock: http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff.....ml?cpg=50T
Obviously this WaPo reviewer is a Reich Wingnut and his corporate fascist viewpoint keeps him from watching this movie without bias. His review is worthless.
Perhaps Michael Moore cannot fix all that’s wrong with the US health care system.
But I would certainly vote for him to cauterize all of Mr. Hunter’s hemorrhoids.
ashton @ 1:
Perhaps Mr. Hunter was unaware that most documentaries are documenting an issue or event, not providing a solution. One would think that this would be known to a “reviewer.”Seriously. When was the last time you saw a nature documentary where the camera crew prevented the injured baby kangaroo from being eaten by a dingo? They don’t interfere with what goes on to “solve the problem”… they just document it.
Here’s the reality….and instructions if you’re unsure what to do now that the movie Sicko is out and its getting ‘bad reviews’ (btw - when it was released in Cannes…Fox News gave it a good review)
If you have a brain and it works…go see the movie and make you’re own judgements
If you listen to movie critics before going to see a movie…then you’re probably the same type of person that always answers “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” to every poll and you flip a coin when you vote…see it or don’t see it
If you’re republican…since you’re not going to see it anyway…Michael Savage needs his diaper changed and Coulter needs a prostate exam…drive him there
The Reich Wingnuts are rupturing a nad over this movie, so it must be good!!
Stupid Repukes support crooked corporations, not people.
Most Americans think HMO is a premium cable channel.
As a (healthy) self-employed person… paying Blue Cross $600.00 per month to cover my (healthy) family ONCE we hit the $2000.00 PER individual out-of pocket and then ONLY if everything is pre-approved AND there are no pre-conditions AND we go ONLY to their providers, THEN, as stated, they will pay ONLY for cost of services that are not higher than their ‘blue book’ of fees (you pick up the difference)… I can’t wait for healthcare reform.
I guess we have a free press..cause tit-heads like that one can write what ever the hell they want…connected or not to logic.
please, go to rotten tomatoes, where the only negative reviews come from murdoch controlled papers
sure, moore is a propogandist, but at least hes a propogandist on the side of the people
Documentarians must fix the problems our “leaders” can’t!
Sure, Michael Moore can be an incendiary figure, and his style is a bit heavy-handed, but he hit the nail on the head with this film. I never cared for Michael Moore before, but if he’s willing to do the job that the “real” journalists won’t, then I can overlook his overly in-your-face attitude… GOOD JOB MR. MOORE!
But…but…but…Moore is fat!
i need to add this….although towards the end of the movie, moore advocates for universal health care….its not because of the uninsured….its because of the insured and under insured who get screwed by the system on a daily basis
a change needs to happen….but i dont think i will see it in my lifetime
there is too much money and greed built in firmly into the system
Dear Mr. Hunter:
There is an old saying…….When you have failed at everything else, become a consultant……..a critic…..a pundit…….take your pick, you qualify.
I read a couple of the movie reviews at yahoo about Sicko. The ones that hated it are attacking the film with their usual lies about the canadian health care system. Saying you have to wait 9 months for heart surgery. Absolute bull shit. If it’s an emergency, you get in right away. I was listening to Thom Hartmann and he was interviewing a doctor that’s worked in both the US and Canada. The doctor said the canadian system is far superior. He’s never had to justify putting a patient in the hospital there. What a crazy system, letting the doctors determine care, not some penny-pinching HMO bureaucrat. God forbid we let that happen in America. When my grandma had bypass surgery, her insurance company wanted her out the next day. The doctor had to say she had an infection (which she didn’t) to keep her in the hospital. Watch for more attacks on the film and more lies about the Canadian healthcare system.
Stephen Hunter seems to be moonlighting for the insurance/HMO industry. I wonder if WP knows about his side activities. But as he is a bad publicist, the HMO’s will probably fire him before the Wimp Post does.
Don’t forget — the wonderful US of A ranks 37th in the world in terms of healthcare — two whole steps above Cuba!
There’s absolutely NO REASON that the “richest” country in the world doesn’t have the pre-eminent healthcare system!
i saw Sicko last weekend (special preview in philly) and i thought it was simply awesome. it was informative, entertaining, enraging, funny, sad, hopeful, depressing, etc. every emotion–kind of like fahrenheit 911.
and this WashPost review is friggin dumB. as everyone already mentioned, and i repeat again, this is a documentary–not a policy dissertation. moore comes at the subject with a certain POV, namely that for a country that espouses the “family values and world leader” hubbub we sure have a funny way of expressing those values in a health system based on profit and reduction of services for the populace.
people need to start thinking long and hard about what we as a nation value, and what we are willing to do to ensure that all americans don’t have to be at the mercy of a health care system that chews people up, spits them out and then sends them a bill.
Why is Michael Moore being attacked for advocating a government run, single payer health care system? Who knows, but it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with double digit increases in insurance premiums and 50% annual profit increases for ever to the insurance industry.
I’m sure most people here have an insurance/hmo horror story to tell. Here’s mine:
Last year my daughter had an emergency C-section that almost killed her. The hospital sent her home after 2 days - in spite of the fact that her stitches had broken. Of course, she developed an infection a week or two later and ended up back in the hospital and eventually needed long-term outpatient care which must have cost many times more that what it would have to keep her in the hospital a couple of extra days in the first place.
If I ever learn the name of the pencil pusher who caused her all this pain and suffering I’ll give her/him an episiotomy they’ll never forget.
The documentary is very anecdotal, I would have liked to have seen more statistics and data charts, cause I love stats and charts.
Michael Moore is a great spokesman on this issue. I wish that American politicians were equally committed to this vital cause. But I guess our politicians are too busy debating evolution and gay marriage to worry about something as trivial as health care.
Barrett D @ 35:
Most documentaries are anecdotal though. While a few stats and charts are helpful, most film makers probably understand that the average viewer will quickly become bored. Anecdotes usually hit home much more than statistics do.
Michael moores the kind of guy who gets a person thinking ,its to bad he doesnt do a documentary exposeing the falacy that is 911, talk about explosive !
Yellow Elephant Safari
I hope your daughter fully recovered, but before you take insert that surgical knife to that idiot’s groin area… [tear]… please fill out this form.
OT: Hmm Whitehouse scandals brewing, Cheney being exposed for the criminal he is, failed immigration bill, the bloodbath in Iraq gets worse, hmmm how to distract the people??? 2 car bombs found in London! See it works like a charm.
tyree @ 38:
Or how about an exposé of corporate christianity?
“.. turns out to be a fuzzy, toothless collection of anecdotes, ..”
Sounds like it has teeth and is already nibbling on a few lobbyist nerves even as we speak.
I got me a dose of corporate christianity last weekend. HURL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gort @ 39:
Mother and baby are fine, thank you.
And who said anything about a surgical knife? I’d use my bare hands.
I hope Michael Moore’s movie covers the fact that people without insurance pay astronomical prices to subsidize the insurance companies who work with Big Pharma for reduced prices on the formularies (list of approved-for-payment drugs) dispensed by hospitals and pharmacies. Those reduced prices are passed along to those people who are covered by the insurance companies.
Someone on the BBC web site had a supersmug attitude because he said it’s his hard work and can-do attitude that gained him excellent insurance and affordable prescription prices. He should think again. He’s being subsidized by the poor and buttressed by the arm-twisting of Big Pharma and Big Insurance. That’s not too much to be proud of.
Even our very right wing newspaper (Richmond Times Dispatch) gave it a decent review. Michael Moore is a true patriot, a guy who genuinely stands up for the average American and takes a hell-of-a-lot of grief for it. That takes courage. To the idiot in Wapo, he never claimed he had a solution. He’s trying to raise awareness. What I’ve heard him say is that all national health care systems have their pros and cons, and that we should examine them all, then come up with a plan that’s suitable to America. Anyway, not only do we need to fight for a national healthcare system, we need to support Michael Moore. The righties are already out in force trying to trash him. Push back hard folks. Let’s not let these bullies get the upper hand.
I have been fortunate enough to avoid any hospital horror stories but I did have a good friend at Edwards AFB who passed out in the heat while on guard duty. He was scooped up in an ambulance and spent a couple of days recovering and getting rehydrated. No permanent damage was done but Tri Care billed him for the ambulance ride saying that he had not asked permission from his primary health care manager first. Now, Tri Care’s own rules clearly state that an uncleared ambulance ride is authorized under three conditions: Loss of life, limb or eyesite. He was definitely in danger of losing his life, not to mention the fact that he was unconcious. He fought the beauracrats for a while but once his first sergeant and commander got involved things got straightened out. Still, it pisses me off that Tri Care can’t even play by their own damned rules.
By the way if our government believes in free trade why can’t Americans purchase the same high priced prescription drugs we have here at lower costs from other countries? So much for free trade. I guess it’s only free when the big corporations can make huge profits.
Can anyoneexplain to me why it’s okay for members of Congress to have what they call “socialized medicine”, but it’s anathema for the rest of us???
Fuck those fucking fucks. Yeah, it’s Friday afternoon and I’m still at work…and I’m pissed!
How about those 4 congress people who helped hammer out the Pharma deal which favors Big Pharma, they all quit congress soon afterwards and got high paying jobs with the Pharma companies. Hmmm nothing fishy there.
Anecdotes are a great way to add punch to statistics. The entire movie is Anecdotes and he doesn’t back them up with enough facts.
Do you really think there aren’t going to be appalling stories from England/Canada that could be used to create another movie about how terrible socialized health care is? HMOs are nothing short of hellspawn and can say I wish cancer upon the families of every CEO of an HMO, but the movie is light on facts and strong on human interest. Give me facts punctuated by anecdotes and then you’ve got a winner for a movie in my eyes.
Straight Shooter @ 45:
Not necessarily - it depends on the policy. Usually a patients co-pay amount is derived from the full retail price and only the insurance