David Lee Todd, Unknown Product Manager

BW and I saw Michael Moore's SiCKO this weekend and I have to tell you, every American should see this film. It's a devastating critique of the so-called US healthcare system, filled with heart-wrenching stories of good people denied coverage, bankrupted and even killed. It's not shrill -- it doesn't have to be. The stories speak for themselves. It's also hilarious in parts, as when Michael tries to sail a boatload of ailing 9/11 heroes into Guantanamo Bay, in hopes of getting the same free healthcare that our government provides Al-qaeda suspects there.

After years of hearing our craven legislators shill for the health insurance companies by claiming that the Canadians, British and French are fed up with "socialized medicine," I was overjoyed to see ordinary people in Canada, Britain and France talking about how much they like their systems, how good the service is, and how short the waiting times are. I used to manage a piece of Sun software that is a mission-critical element of the British National Health Service, and I can tell you I have never seen such a rigorous testing and implementation process used by any client. Those folks are dedicated.

Thousands of Sun employees outside the US are covered by government health care systems. I'd love to hear your comments (good or bad) on what you think of these systems.

Comments:

I too saw Sicko over the weekend and had the same question that you did concerning folks views today. Having had "free" medical care from the government for the first 21 years (back in the 50s to the 70s) of my life, I am not as quick to go running back to that system. The technology was not current compared to civilian care. I believe that situation is much better today. The difference, as brought out in the movie, is choice. If you can choose your Doctor - then that is key. The most disturbing part of the movie to me was/is how poorly we are treating our American Firefighters and policemen who are suffering lung ailments from being at Ground Zero - that is just shameful...

Posted by Dave Edstrom on July 02, 2007 at 06:12 AM PDT #

I'd add - every American should see all Michael Moore's films - and I'll watch Sicko when it comes out on Video. OK, to answer your question - I've lived in the UK, US and a few other countries; we've had a child born in both the US and the UK - so I'm reasonably well qualified to comment. The UK system (whether you have a private plan or just rely on the NHS) is pretty frugal - if there's something seriously wrong with you - you'll get the best care and you'll get it quick (this does depend a bit on where you live). If it something minor you may get pushed to the back of the queue. The US system is incredibly wasteful - general practitioners send you for MRI or CAT scans for the most minor complaints at a huge cost; push you towards expensive medication without considering more holistic alternatives / root causes. I'd say waiting times and customers service is about the same for the private system in the US and the state system in the UK. The private system in the UK is quite a bit better.

Posted by Rich Sharples on July 02, 2007 at 07:55 AM PDT #

I saw Sicko this weekend as well. My husband worked at a health insurance company for many years. We just got him out recently. It's that bad. I don't really think there is an argument against how bad 'socialized' medicine would be. No American should be put in the position to choose between living and dying. I think those are the things so called 'socialized' medicine are good at. Sure you may have to wait a little longer if you need say a knee replacement, but that's just us Americans being uppity and not getting it when we want it and seeing that as worse than people who supposedly protected not getting help at all. We have to care about our fellow Americans, that's the real message here, we really are all in this together. And on a sad/ironic side note, did you see this series of blog posts from Google Health Advertising blog? This post came out on Friday: http://google-health-ads.blogspot.com/2007/06/does-negative-press-make-you-sicko.html and this 'retraction' came out Sunday: http://google-health-ads.blogspot.com/2007/07/my-opinion-and-googles.html Thought you'd be interested......

Posted by Jen B on July 02, 2007 at 11:16 AM PDT #



	David Lee Todd, Unknown Product Manager People who love sausages and software should never watch either being made