Michael Moore's latest documentary, Sicko, will have its Lehigh Valley premier on July 1, 7:30 PM, at Allentown's beautiful 19th Street Theatre. It will run there for three weeks.
I don't think any of us, on the left or right, will dispute our health care system is broken. For that reason, this is probably the least controversial of Moore's films. But Congress has stumbled at solutions, whether it's single payer health care or easing regulations to qualify for group insurance.
One quote from that movie should spur Congress. "If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people."
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007
19 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
Another issue is that the people are broken too. Obesity is running rampant and this lack of self-control hurts the system too. We continue to abuse ourselves and put enormous strains on all parts of our bodies and expect 1) medicine to fix it and 2) someone else to foot the bill.
ReplyDeleteYes, many people cannot help their obesity but with some prudence and restraint (AKA healthy eating, exercise) I think this would put less of a strain on the system. Ditching the entitlement attitude would help too.
Another problem is the lawyers. A company will develop a new drug that may do wonders but if one person out of million who took it has some adverse side effects or worse, the lawyers and the press attack that company to no end with 10 figure lawsuits and constant FUD.
I agree the system needs repair but I also believe that we need to treat ourselves better. If we don't care for ourselves first, we should we expect anyone else to care for us?
For every member of Congress there are 4 health care lobbyists. At least I think that's what the number is.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping this documentary gives us some unbias and true insight into the health care world. I hope it is not a partisan film. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed his last documentary on 9-11, but the right had a field day with it.
You mean the Obesity that stems from a lack of Phys ed in many schools. A workplace that forces employees to have little time for a break and often work and eat at the same time causing many to not get proper excersize for what they consume. (And often if you have little time to get quality food that it will be fast food or from the frozen microwave ilk. Those even the ones claiming to be a haelthy choice are loaded with unnatural fillers and preservative that could probaly take the paint off the house.)
ReplyDeleteMost places also charge more for spring water than for soda (again filled with chemical substances, Coke can damage paint on some cars)
Let alone the unnatural way we raise food in this country like commericial egg farms which are overcrowded disease filled, and has hens shitting on top of each other.)
Let alone the unnatural toxic chemicals corporate farms use to kill bugs. (Ever wonder why the cancer rate is rising?)
Or the excessive amount of hormones used in cattle to speed up the aging process which stays in the red meat and has leaked into milk to the point 15, 15 year olds often look more like 18 or 20!!!!
So if you want to blame folks for bad eating habits and spew the same tired brainless RUSH LIMBAUGH bullshit talking points of "individual reasponsiblity" (From a man whom illegall bought prescription painkillersd like OC, and illegal viagra talk about NO REASPONSIBLITY!)
Well knock your self out just don't bitch when the tumors hurt!
We've all had a recent opportunity to examine our government's performance in delivering quality health care from its single-payer model. That opportunity was the scandalous operation of the VA Hospital at Walter Reed. I can't wait for our government to work its same magic on all of our health care.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me that anyone would be willing to put their health care in the hands of the same gang that gave us the Hurricane Katrina response, Amtrak, and the US Postal Service.
And now, having demonstrated their awe-inspiring proficiency in so many key areas, let's put them in charge of dialysis, transplants, and brain surgery. I'm becoming ill just thinking about it.
Dr. Rock,
ReplyDeleteWhy blame lack of mandatory exercise on obesity?
Who controls the hand that one uses to shovel food in thy mouth?
In my youth, phys ed was not the primary source of exercise, the time from after school to dinner and after dinner until dark was as well as a nice 3 month summer vacation.
As an adult, one must make personal decisions, not this "I am a victim I blame Coke and McDonald's because I am fat." Since when is self-control and self-responsibility right-wing BS?
1940s: "eat healthy, take resposibility for your actions" == ok, good advice
2000's: "eat healthy, take resposibility for your actions" == mean conservative hate speech and you are entitled to sue because you can't read the nutritional information that is required by law to be provided
Additionally, if you don't like the way food is processed in this country, then leave, or better yet, copy the process from some of the world's shining examples of socialism. I am sure the Cubans or Chinese are much better at food processing than we are.
oops!
ReplyDeleteS/B
Why blame obesity on lack of mandatory exercise?
Luckily, I am not responsible for my mistakes. I am sure I can sue someone for the error I made.
Brian, Anon, Dr. Rock & Frenchie,
ReplyDeleteYour comments just totally blew me away. I appreciate the fine debate over the relative merits of single payer health care. When I see the movie, I'll chime in with my thoughts, for what they're worth.
Wow! What bile. Lawyers are part of the problem so are insurance and drug company's. You know who pays for most testing for new drugs? We do, taxpayers as in the National Health Institute who gives their findings to drug company to help develop drugs. Why do you think a CVS, Eckerts, etc. crop up on every corner. Its not on the lipstick profits. Insurance companies trained to deny benefits how the hell else will they make money. Christ we are at the bottom of not only the industrailized world on health care. Captialism is great I'm all for it if you are successful and can own a ferrari or two, ahuge house and ponies great. I'm all for it and I don't believe the governement owes me a corvette or a pony. But health care is different. Do you know what the #1 cause of bankruptcy is in the US today? Health care bills. Pull your heads out of your ass and realize we need to do something. The poor get help, seniors get help. Working people get screwed. What good are helipads and palatial hospitals with state of the art equipment if you can't afford the care. Bernie, Moore's piece will probably be good but it will be parisan because he is. He admits it. Unlike O'Riley and gang. Moore uses hyperbole to make a point.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it will be partisan, but I'm equally sure it will be the least partisan of his fims because both conservatives and liberals agree we have a big problem.
ReplyDeleteOh dear,
ReplyDeleteWell, first off, Walter Reed Hospital is part of the Army. We all know about all of the outsourcing that has been going on.
If you want to moan about the woes of a single-payer healthsystem - then let's look at the best operated, highest quality health system in the nation.
The VA Hospitals.
According to a 2004 Rand study, the VA outperforms all other sectors of American health care in 294 measures of quality. As a study out of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government observed in 2006, "While the costs of health care continue to soar for most Americans, the VA is reducing costs, reducing errors and becoming the model for what modern health-care management and delivery should look like."
If we want crappy health care, let the private sector handle it.
... and,to reiterate, the VA does NOT run Walter Reed, Alexis. Walter Reed is an ARMY facility.
ReplyDeleteDitto the above two posts. The V.A. does a better job of handling mental illness than the private sector (which, alas, is not saying much).
ReplyDeleteAlso, Alexis, although it has some oversight, the U.S. government does NOT run the postal service--which, if you ask me--is a model of efficiency. Where else in the world could you send a letter 3,000 miles in a few days for 39 cents? Try mailing anything, in, say, Italy, and see how long it takes to get to its destination.
A few points on health care:
1. It should not be the responsibility of businesses to foot the bill for their employees' insurance--this practice may have made sense when there was a labor shortage and companies were trying to lure employees, but it has outlived its usefulness. I can't understand how conservatives don't see how this is undermining American businesses' ability to compete.
2. Massive amounts of money should be shifted from "illness care" to "wellness care." Prevention will save much more money than negotiating drug prices and other band-aid measures will ever do. Better to pay for nutritional counseling and a home treadmill than a triple bypass.
3. The extent to which companies are sued because of faulty products or malpractice has been and always will be overstated by those whose goal is to maximize profits at the expense of patients. The truth is that many more people should be suing who aren't.
This is an excellant discussion. Bernie, I think at some point this topic should be rvisited. This impacts County politics as I read how private sector employees are angery over the benefits of public sector employees. Rather than attacking each other we need to look at Corportate profits that are an all time high. High level executive compensation is highest in history. Somehow healthcare and pensions are not 'doable'. Was that a new commandment I missed or just the powerful getting regular folks to tear into each other. I agree healthcare should no longer be a business responsibility since large Corps have given way to smaller enterprises and self-employed. I recently heard an American carmaker complain about not being able to compete with another industrialized nation's car prices due to health care costs. Yet that country had national healthcare and could still create a cheaper car. And the wages were on a par with America's. I don't suggest we copy any one system or say what system would be best, but the time has come to deal with this issue. As Americans I believe we can devise a fair comprehensive system of healthcare that will put the care givers back in control along with individuals and then our new 21st century economy will truely grow. The demise of healthcare and pensions will be more detremential to the future of this country then any terrorist.
ReplyDeleteAh, Bernie, but there are people who will disagree that the health care system is broken.
ReplyDeleteThese people are filthy rich. Many of them donate big bucks to politicians. Thus, we're stuck with the system that we have today.
The problem with Socialized Medicine is it’s a Socialist Program in a Capitalist Republic.
ReplyDeleteThe recent attack on Social Security should be proof sufficient any program even hinting of socialism is not welcome here.
If someone doesn’t stand to make a fortune from it, there’s little chance it will pass in our Capitalistic government.
Unfortunately, we (citizens) have been successfully turned on each other by the ruling elite of America. We have been brainwashed to believe that nothing short of No Holds Barred Capitalism is Socialism or even worse Communism . Today it would even probably be equated with terrorism.
ReplyDeleteCheck the tax laws and all the socialist provisions for big money. Oh, before someone screams taxes are socialist fine get rid off all taxes I'd love to see these fat cats defend themselves from thieves and foreiegn Armies. All Western DEMOCRACIES have a form of National health except the US. Until we take off our collective party and libearl/conservative armour we are doomed to keep on paying for the $$$$$guys.
I saw the movie. It can make a grown man cry.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is lets move to France! And I hate how our government convinces us we are socialist if we have universal health care. I wish we had universal health care and our insurance companies couldn't deny us of anything, my father in fact just died of cancer and he was denied of many treatments that could have kept him here longer.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why socialism is a dirty word.
ReplyDelete