NY Times review of "Sicko"

[groovedaddy]

June 22, 2007
MOVIE REVIEW | 'SICKO'
Open Wide and Say ‘Shame’
By A. O. SCOTT
It has become a journalistic cliché and therefore an inevitable part of the prerelease discussion of “Sicko” to refer to Michael Moore as a controversial, polarizing figure. While that description is not necessarily wrong, it strikes me as self-fulfilling (since the controversy usually originates in media reports on how controversial Mr. Moore is) and trivial. Any filmmaker, politically outspoken or not, whose work is worth discussing will be argued about. But in Mr. Moore’s case the arguments are more often about him than about the subjects of his movies.

>
If you listen to what the leaders of both political parties are saying, it seems unlikely that the diagnosis offered by “Sicko” will be contested. I haven’t heard many speeches lately boasting about how well our health care system works. In this sense “Sicko” is the least controversial and most broadly appealing of Mr. Moore’s movies. (It is also, perhaps improbably, the funniest and the most tightly edited.) The argument it inspires will mainly be about the nature of the cure, and it is here that Mr. Moore’s contribution will be most provocative and also, therefore, most useful.

http://tinyurl.com/326els

[bluethruandthru]

1. After seeing Sicko earlier this week

I'm looking at presidential candidates much differently. I was leaning towards Edwards, but after seeing the film, I really don't feel good about supporting anyone who still wants to funnel money to the insurance companies.

[november3rd]

2. He doesn't want to

He just wants to let them die on the vine, rather than re-invent them into the system.

They are the problem and are unwilling to allow a single-payer solution.

So Edwards forces them to compete with the single-payer, and the insurance companies will lose.

[applegrove]

3. I cannot wait to see the film. I'm so exicted.

[barb162]

6. Yeah, I'd like to see it

[Uncle Joe]

4. This is a universal truth regarding the MCM's treatment of all liberal/progressive champions.

I would only add books and speeches to the highlighted sentence, I'm referring to.


It has become a journalistic cliché and therefore an inevitable part of the prerelease discussion of “Sicko” to refer to Michael Moore as a controversial, polarizing figure. While that description is not necessarily wrong, it strikes me as self-fulfilling (since the controversy usually originates in media reports on how controversial Mr. Moore is) and trivial. Any filmmaker, politically outspoken or not, whose work is worth discussing will be argued about. But in Mr. Moore’s case the arguments are more often about him than about the subjects of his movies.

[barb162]

5. "He finds that British doctors are happy and well paid..."

I read they are leaving the system fast and furious. I think I read that in the BBC a few weeks ago. SO are the nurses. I don't remember if the problem was low pay, work hours, or what.

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

7. They seem to be well-paid

The average GP is making £106,000.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6157219.stm

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. There was a big screw up with a central system for arranging training

Doctors call for Hewitt to resign

Junior doctors have called for Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and Health Minister Lord Hunt to resign over "shambolic" medical training reform.

The British Medical Association's junior doctors conference called the Medical Training Application Service's problems "gross negligence".

The online job application service was suspended amid fears personal details of applicants could be accessed online.
...
The BMA estimates that 34,250 doctors are chasing 18,500 UK posts, due to start in August.

But it has warned thousands of NHS doctors could go to work abroad because of their disgust at the process.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6604531.stm

It was a new system, that was designed and introduced really badly. There are also some concerns about how hospitals are controlled - central targets versus local control, whether that local control should be democratic or appointed, and so on; but this computer system is the main issue at the moment.