Sicko (2007)

We finally watched this Michael Moore documentary. I used to be a huge Moore fan, in high school, and still appreciate his stabs at the powers that be in the country, even though he's now one of them. He gives average Americans a mic and airtime, and though he exploits them from time to time, they more or less give themselves to the camera. If they didn't want to be manipulated a bit, they wouldn't have signed on to make the film.

I think France in particular gets a sweetheart treatment. The public demonstrations he fondly parades, no pun intended, across the screen don't show the race rioting that's occurred from those not so well treated by the national systems, including unions.

Taking 9/11 victims to Cuba for healthcare is a symbolic victory for the non-unionized volunteers who served at Ground Zero. I doubt many of the NYPD/firefighting unions have put up much of a fight for the volunteers, but hey -- the whole scene of them getting top quality care is really warm and necessary in the polemical film.

Obviously, someone in those foreign countries is paying for health care. Just because it comes out of taxes doesn't make it free. I wonder what the bureaucratic and administrative (billing, etc.) costs or savings are when there's a single payer, like the government. It must save a lot of resources when they don't have to track down delinquent and late-paying patients, like myself.