2008-11-17 09:36:40 Sicko (By Michael Moore) Why Wasn't I notified France was so awesome?

I just decided to watch this movie for the first time and I can't believe what I'm seeing.

I'm still in shock. Part of me desperately wants to believe that what I'm seeing is totally made up or exaggerated to serve the purpose of the movie -- just so I can better digest what it is I am witnessing.

We have a seriously screwed up Health-Care system in America here. I already knew this so there was no need for a movie to educate me on this fact because I've seen, firsthand, some pretty extreme cases of an insurance company putting the practice of protecting profits before the practice of protecting human life.

Why didn't any of the French people on this board notify me of how cool France was? If only our Country had a Health-Care system the likes of what France, Britain or Canada has in place. It would make life a whole heck of a lot easier for people that don't have the kind of luxury that wealthier individuals get to experience over in the USA.

It would be quite a turnaround if that nice old lady I know down the street could actually afford to get proper medical treatment for her 11 year old grandson that has been left in her care due to the passing of both his parents. My entire family knows the kid is pretty sick and we also know that the old lady has been troubled with cancer for years and can barely manage to care for herself -- cutting corners on her treatments or chemo appointments in order to help the boy however she can. We need a total revamping of Health Care in this Country.

The republicans will continue saying what a terrible thing a National Health Care system would be -- but if it were implemented once and for all -- it would evolve into being political suicide for any politician who opposed it or publicly called for its dismantling. There is a reason so many politicians are afraid to talk tough about Social Security.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-11-17 09:48:02 In reply to Optimusv2 (2008-11-17 09:36:40)

Because they're now trying to americanize us. :/

We still have a decent health care system but they do their best to make it worse little by little. I even saw Moore say that France had eventually sold its soul. Hopefully we can protect what we have and it won't get to the same extent it has in the US.

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Je bannis, tu es banni, il est banni...

One ring of death to rule them all.

2008-11-17 10:53:05

Wow the detainees at Guantanimo Bay have much better Healthcare than the majority of americans do.

This movie is such a masterpiece.

It is an amazing sight seeing that 9/11 workers, who couldn't get the treatment they desperately needed over here in -- their own country -- were actually able to get it in Cuba. Even Cuba has Universal Healthcare.

Then Moore sending some guy who ran an Anti-Michael Moore website the money he needed to help pay his wife's health care costs. This movie is amazing. I honestly wasn't a major fan of his work until this.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-11-17 12:02:09

It's his best (and most important) movie by a landslide. It's also wickedly funny and sad at the same time.

2008-11-18 00:26:39

I agree; it hit all the right notes.

Very funny while also being extremely sad -- and at the same time -- downright anger provoking on occasions when you see the kind of terrible treatment that people have to go through in this Country. If more people were aware of all that was going on under their noses, it wouldn't be allowed to stand. Our government would have to really get off their behinds and get something done.

The movie is a real eye opener.

Has there ever been a news station in our Country that has really done any serious justice to the problems with how Health-Care is handled in this Country? Are they afraid to?

Someone in the media needs to give this subject -- and anyone with knowledge and/or involvement in these kinds of practices -- some long overdue attention.

Someone in the media needs to use their television platform to do to the Health-Care Industry in this country what Edward R. Murrow had the courage to do to Joe McCarthy.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-11-23 03:47:05 In reply to Driftwood (2008-11-17 09:48:02)

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http://www.cyberwarriors.nl
http://home.xmsnet.nl/bigbear/mycar.jpg

2008-11-23 21:57:30

Didn't watch the movie, but I heard the US healthcare system is almost non existant. Heard there are about 40 million US citisens without healthcare insurence. That's pretty sad for one of the richest countrys in the world.

That said, Driftwood is right, too. The healthcare system gets liberalized every year here in old Europe. In Germany you have to pay extra for a private teeth insurance, otherwise you won't get your teeth done when you need it most. The whole healthcare system is very expensive, partly because we get older than say 20-50 years ago. Building a healthcare system in the US as good as here in the EU will be very expensive, as far as I know there are even more older people than here.

2008-11-23 23:16:11

It's funny to hear "liberalization" in reference to privatization of markets when here in the USA it's liberal politicians who push for socialized systems and conservatives and libertarians who push for the private sector to control the market. In an ideal world I would believe in the libertarian ideal of the free market. The unfortunate truth is that corporation breaks the system. I do not believe that anyone thinks that the free market is well represented when big money controls the government. We were warned!

Sicko isn't about people without health insurance though.. it's about the people who have it and who suffer tremendously anyway. It's a very moving documentary. I have mixed feelings about Michael Moore and I have no doubt that he's a bit of an extremist.. but I loved this movie.

2008-11-24 00:15:59

Yes, being liberal in the EU or US is quite the opposite. Has to do with our history, socialism was never up to debate in the US, other than in foreign affairs. I'm not a socialist myself, I hate their idea of a better world, but I have to admit that there has to be ballance between the state and economy. As of right now the economy is controlling the politics, that's not democratic in any way. It really is like in this FG episode.

2008-11-24 07:30:20

When all is said and done, nobody will ever be able to say that the version of a Conservative administration ,led by George W. Bush, didn't make a valiant effort to take ownership of the socialist label. The President that has done it all. Not many others Presidents can make such a claim.

Even better, since it was under George W. Bush that a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq was established, we know that it was a Republican administration that waved the "white flag of surrender" in Iraq :P

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-11-25 22:47:26

Anything state controlled is badly mismanaged usually, so it's nationalisation of entire industries is hardly ever a solution for difficulties.

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"That just happened 'cause that was awesome" - Randy Pitchford, Gearbox

2008-12-08 15:30:18 In reply to szaromir (2008-11-25 22:47:26)

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http://www.cyberwarriors.nl
http://home.xmsnet.nl/bigbear/mycar.jpg

2008-12-13 14:10:06

In Germany, there is a national health insurance, which is offered through dozens of different health insurance companies that act in some way as private companies but are all state owned. Despite all of these companies are offering the same legally defined services, they have very different price plans ranging from 12.5% up to nearly 17% of the gross income (the employee has to pay 50% of that only though, the other 50% is paid for by the employer) depending on their administrative costs, the demographic structure of their subscribers etc.

When you lose your job, your health insurance will be paid for by the state through the unemployment insurance.

From 2009 on, the contribution will be harmonized to 15.5% for every health insurance company.

People above a certain income are allowed to leave the national health insurance and e.g. subscribe to a private insurance with better coverage.