Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” a polemical rant on universal healthcare falsely advertised as a documentary, is causing Dem presidential hopefuls nothing but headaches and heartburn, reports the Los Angeles Times:
[U]nlike Al Gore’s film on global warming, which helped rally support on an equally controversial problem, “Sicko” is creating an awkward situation for the leading Democratic presidential candidates.
Rejecting Moore’s prescription on healthcare could alienate liberal activists, who will play a big role in choosing the party’s next standard-bearer. However, his proposal — wiping out private health insurance and replacing it with a massive federal program — could be political poison with the larger electorate. …
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of South Carolina [sic] all have staked out positions sharply at odds with Moore’s approach. But none of them is eager to have that fact dragged into the spotlight. …
“Sicko” agitates for dismantling the insurance industry, regulating pharmaceutical companies up the wazoo, and adopting a Canadian-style socialized healthcare delivery system. Moore hopes his healthcare cure will gain traction amongst voters after “Sicko’s” general release June 29.
An inconvenient truth that “Sicko” will not tell you: Canadians who have the financial means to pay out-of-pocket for American-style healthcare, prefer to come here rather than be subjected to health-threatening waits for specialists who are all-too-often recruited from second-tier medical schools in third-world countries. For instance, The Mayo Clinic (which has branches in Rochester, MN, Jacksonville, FL, and Scottsdale/Phoenix, AZ) serves an international clientele.
Given his girth, The Stiletto is laying odds that within 10 to 15 years Moore will suffer a major cardiovascular event – probably a myocardial or cerebral infarct – and will gratefully avail himself of the best U.S. medical care that his somewhat considerable fortune can buy. You can bet he won’t be going to Canada or to Cuba for treatment and rehab.
[Editorial Note: Several years ago, The Stiletto was vacationing in Norway with two friends. We were all injured when the bus we were riding in Oslo collided with a car. One friend suffered cuts and bruises, one fractured her forearm and The Stiletto thought she might have cracked a rib or two. Police took us to a nearby hospital, where we found out that our money was no good. No, we weren’t going to get free healthcare. We were going to get NO healthcare. You see, X-ray films, plaster for casts and other medical supplies are strictly rationed. The hospital had a set number of X-ray films, for instance, and could not get restocked if they ran out before December 31st of that year (it was the end of June). The ER did not want to “waste” any of their medical supplies on tourists – even though we would pay cash on the barrelhead – because their own citizens might have to go without by the end of the year. The Stiletto nearly caused an international incident to get her friend’s arm casted. She never did get her ribs X-rayed; turned out they were badly bruised but not broken. She received no painkillers or other treatment. That’s socialized medicine in a nutshell.]
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