"Sicko"

[aidan80 9]

My experiences with the US healthcare system have been very good to be honest. The thing that’s different is paying when you leave? Showing your insurance card and making that all important co-pay. Back home your done and you walk out the door! Honestly this system is great as long as you have insurance.. it’s a different system if you don’t! A simple visit to the doctor can run easily into the 100's!!

I hope the US does as another poster said.. maybe scale back on the (in my opinion) bloated military by just by a few billion ya know.. enough so the poor can actually afford to go to the doctor if they get sick. As for everyone else, if you have insurance and can afford “better” then go for it by all means. I as a tax payer don’t mind at all if taxes go up and I don’t mind paying extra so others don’t have to worry about being hounded to death by collection agencies if they commit the crime of being sick.

That just reminds me on another thing that doesn’t appear to be available here (in Florida at least?) is maternity leave. I was very shocked to discover that people here having babies are treated like they are sick by their employers. They get to use up their “sick time” and holiday time or risk going unpaid or worse! It’s no wonder so many schedule to be induced and mark the calendar or go and have it removed. I’ve never heard of such insanity before!!

[aidan80 9]

I would say that Michael Moore is a SICKO, holding up Cuba as a model of anything when the whole country is utterly devastated due to socialism is beyond comprehension. But that will be the end result of Universal Health Care system.

Naive people that think they can get something for nothing will buy into it. To the detriment of us all.

What the US needs is a good socialist boot up the ####### in order to wake itself up from the extreme right wing that has ate at it's soul for the past 8 years.. Nothing wrong with socialism next to capitalisms greed and hunger for more by the minority at the expense of the majority!

[greeneyedgirlfl 0]

I would say that Michael Moore is a SICKO, holding up Cuba as a model of anything when the whole country is utterly devastated due to socialism is beyond comprehension. But that will be the end result of Universal Health Care system.

Naive people that think they can get something for nothing will buy into it. To the detriment of us all.

What the US needs is a good socialist boot up the ####### in order to wake itself up from the extreme right wing that has ate at it's soul for the past 8 years.. Nothing wrong with socialism next to capitalisms greed and hunger for more by the minority at the expense of the majority!

AMEN to that!!!

[Flames9_RN 358]

MRSA is not only over in England, its over here in North America as well!!

[TracyTN 237]

Any film which pitches the UK system as somehow ideal is a load of #######.

Sort of like Michael Moore.

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

Any film which pitches the UK system as somehow ideal is a load of #######.

Sort of like Michael Moore.

Even if 50% of the film is a load of #######, it's still horrendous and terrifying!

[DakotaK1 1]

We do need a big change when it comes to insurance - too many people in this country are working and uninsured.

Thats what I said

[jundp 191]

That just reminds me on another thing that doesn’t appear to be available here (in Florida at least?) is maternity leave. I was very shocked to discover that people here having babies are treated like they are sick by their employers. They get to use up their “sick time” and holiday time or risk going unpaid or worse! It’s no wonder so many schedule to be induced and mark the calendar or go and have it removed. I’ve never heard of such insanity before!!

I don't agree with most of what Michael Moore says in his movies. They aren't documentaries, they are propaganda...but, there is MUCH truth to Sicko, imo.

I have worked my entire adult life and paid health insurance, but there have been times when just paying for health insurance was a financial drain for me. For the past 7 years I have been with an employer that pays for me, and I pay for my kids, but it still costs me close to $600 a month. And that's just the premium. My dear friend and colleague has the same health insurance and when his daughter was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, it took two years of appeals for the insurance company to pay for treatment, because they considered it "elective." He still has over a million dollars in medical bills to pay for "elective" treatment that wasn't covered. His daughter died in September. Thankfully we have Children's Hospital in Seattle which is private, but which will take any child, regardless of ability to pay or insurance. They are fighting on behalf of Doug with the insurance companies.

Now, as for maternity leave, as a teacher in a private school, I get 10 days, plus however many sick days I have saved up. My fiance is appalled that it isn't mandatory in America for women to quit work a month before the baby is due, and that we don't get up to 2 years off from our jobs....with support.

[Mags 112]

England has a National Health System which a lot of countries are envious of .... we may not get bills after treatment, but we are heavily taxed to have this system. Prescriptions are not free, unless you're unemployed etc.

I have lived between both countries for many years ..... and I wouldn't be without my health insurance in England too, as the NHS doctors are generally rubbish (especially where I am) .... and the waiting lists for treatment are diabolical at times.

And let's not forget that most hospitals in England have an issue with MRSA due to being generally filthy ... I have a cousin who caught it twice, while in hospital in England, and now has metals poles in her spine and legs etc!!!

I also personally witnessed one yound man who badly smashed his leg in 4 places 2 years ago, and when in the NHS hospital, they didn't want to do surgery, so, they put him in a cast and told him they'll see how it was going in 6 months or so!!!

I haven't seen the movie you're talking about, but I'm sure they could do a nightmare one on my local NHS hospital in England

My local NHS hospital is affectionately labelled 'The Risk'

Please note, that some parts of the UK have better NHS doctors (i.e. Bristol) ..... I happen to live in Cornwall, which is absolutely exquisite, scenery and lifestyle wise, but the doctors can be quite awful most of the time.

I actually take umbrage with some of your post here. In some areas there are major problems with MRSA and poor waiting times. However, there are just as many hospitals that DON"T have those issues in the UK. To put them all into one pot and label them appalling is a little OTT, imo.

There is JUST as much MRSA and just as many bad doctors in the USA as there are in the UK.

And the NHS is actually cheap, tax wise. NI contributions are taken depending on how much you earn. If you're a low earner (or average) it is actually much cheaper than even the cheapest health insurance over here in the USA. To be honest even a higher earner probably wouldn't pay as much NI as they would health insurance over here. If you don't get health insurance through your employer in the USA you are looking at over $300 per month, per person.

I haven't seen "Sicko" but I gifted office space to Michael Moore and we chat often when he slinks in the backdoor of my building, and have come to know him quite well. He's definitely got an opinion, and his work is intended to garner attention. Seems it did just that, eh?

Oh wow, DM.

Edited February 26, 2008 by Mags

[diadromous mermaid 36]

Oh wow, DM.

And believe me, his forté is not in putting his wardrobe together. He's as dumpy in real life as on the screen :lol: but he doesn't give a hoot!

[desert_fox 32]

I will happily go to my private doctor.....do whatever in a timely manner and pay cash and show my insurance card, before I would spend hours in some free govt operated clinic waiting for something that would only take minutes and have to deal with govt employees with an attitude.

[Mags 112]

Oh wow, DM.

And believe me, his forté is not in putting his wardrobe together. He's as dumpy in real life as on the screen :lol: but he doesn't give a hoot!

I can imagine him being a right scruff bag, but who cares if he doesn't.

He always struck me as rather dour though, does he have a good sense of humour?

[diadromous mermaid 36]

Oh wow, DM.

And believe me, his forté is not in putting his wardrobe together. He's as dumpy in real life as on the screen :lol: but he doesn't give a hoot!

I can imagine him being a right scruff bag, but who cares if he doesn't.

He always struck me as rather dour though, does he have a good sense of humour?

We don't always see eye to eye on many things, and he can come across, occasionally, as being a little forceful with his ideals, but he's got a good sense of humour, and one of the more likeable traits is that he is not filled with himself over being well-known. Case in point, his wife drives a very nice car, but he drives teal coloured mini-van clunker.

[Mags 112]

Oh wow, DM.

And believe me, his forté is not in putting his wardrobe together. He's as dumpy in real life as on the screen :lol: but he doesn't give a hoot!

I can imagine him being a right scruff bag, but who cares if he doesn't.

He always struck me as rather dour though, does he have a good sense of humour?

We don't always see eye to eye on many things, and he can come across, occasionally, as being a little forceful with his ideals, but he's got a good sense of humour, and one of the more likeable traits is that he is not filled with himself over being well-known. Case in point, his wife drives a very nice car, but he drives teal coloured mini-van clunker.

Hehe, got to admire someone who doesn't become over inflated ego wise just cause he's on TV/film.

I'd love to listen in on a DM/Michael Moore convo, I reckon it would be good listening (and probably very educational!).

[mox 298]

I will happily go to my private doctor.....do whatever in a timely manner and pay cash and show my insurance card, before I would spend hours in some free govt operated clinic waiting for something that would only take minutes and have to deal with govt employees with an attitude.

Nice that you have that option. Many people don't even have the insurance card, let alone the cash for a private doctor.

The thing about national health care is that you would still be able to go to your private doctor and spend your money. But those less fortunate would have access to health care too.