Michael Moore's film will never be shown in Wyoming, the home of the Republican party. We had to use the public library and show the DVD on 911. Even the comedian Mark Russel isn't shown on Wyoming Public TV.

Why was Dennis Kucinich (co-sponsor of the Conyers/Kucinich universal, single-payor health care bill) not mentioned? He is running for President, and his Universal Health Care will include everyone in America. This needs to be highlighted, and you must look at this at www.kucinich.us Please take a look, read about the bill, and insist your representatives sign on. This movie will open everyone's eyes! And Dennis Kucinich will heal not just our health care system, but our nation and it's role in the world.

Maybe Maxine and John can sponsor a bill which takes away the Congressional healthcare plan, and give it to soldiers and 9/11 rescue workers who can't get coverage. Maybe then we'd get some action. Also, stop buying Big Pharma products (buy generics only) and boycott the 'chain' hospitals like Humana and Bill Frist's HCA until they start begging government for protection.

Health care for all means equality for all Americans. Keep trying!! Speedy

Michael Moore is brilliant. He realized he had to abandon the anti-Bush polemic and use this movie to point out that even rich Republicans get shafted when they become sick and are notified their insurance policy can arbitrarily refuse to cover a procedure. Happens ALL the time. The shills are gearing up to scream boogeyman "socialized medicine!" but it might not work this time. I think this movie is going to take America by storm, when masses of people open their eyes and realize it is outrageously greedy insurance industry executive paydays worth tens of millions of dollars that are robbing us of equitable medical care.

Health care in the USA is in a crisis. The insurance companies should never have been allowed to manage it, but I have yet to hear any candidate for president or memebr of Congress say they will remove the influence of these dictators.

Michael Moore calls on us to live up to the best of the American spirit of caring for each other by assuring health care for all of us. Other countries seem to take care of their people without dangerous profiteering by private health insurance companies. So can we, if we insist that our elected representatives pass HR 676. Michael Brennan

dwo.md: If you're an MD, then if you think about it, you know full well how many people are employed in an average doctor's office just to handle the government mandated paperwork today, don't you? And that's with far less government involvement than what's being proposed as a "solution". You think the cost and complexity will go DOWN? I strongly caution my children about speaking in absolutes, such as "Can't possibly happen", and if you've got children then I bet you do too. I strongly caution everyone not to convince yourself that "It couldn't possibly be worse", because it certainly could. BTW: We've already spent trillions in our decades old War on Drug Users, and ruined millions of lives and families in the bargain. And we're still losing.

It is the gatekeeper system of regulation that is driving up cost for not just health care - but a whole host of professional services. Most lower middle class families can't afford health care, legal services,tax preparation, accounting, real estate, or a number of other services. And - believe it or not - poor people actually pay more for comparable levels of service provided by protected professional classes. This includes utilities, banks, insurance, housing, and crime protection.

Nobody was hurt? Not even the devil singing in bground or the 'the sticky finger 'posters..Americans fight/win to lose health car ..............and now they fight life to win life ? ..here is a recipe of a 'madpot''let water boil,even waiot to see it shimmer ..trim spinach leaves in it ,chop a few potatoes,ok! now look around for onions darlic aha! chop the radish,ooo peas,let em in babe! alright a chicken stock! what are you watching y face ,you? ADD TO FLAVOUR! PAY HEALTH BILL! ITS YOUR LIFE!

I saw the handwriting on the wall when I first heard of the HMO's and the DRG's that were put in place back in the late 70's and early 80's--I knew then the healthcare system was in for the fight of it's life. I'm just sorry we didn't recognize this problem 25 years ago before the healthcare system became so devastatingly damaged. There's absolutely no excuse in a country as rich as ours and who spends more capital per patient (with less than optimal results)than any other country in the world to be in this abysmal state!!

Darryl Issa is the biggest hypocrite in the Congress. His past history belies his phony actions that he displays as a proponent of a bi-partisan person, one has to observe him on any of the committees that he serves on to see that he is only a one sided individual and far from as a moderate that he poses .

It's beyond amazing to me that the rethug party of thugs calls itself PRO-LIFE and PRO-FAMILY. And yet they are the most vicious opponents of universal health care which is a totally pro-life and pro-family issue. What a huge hypocrisy that is. And all the right wing fundamentalist catholics(I am catholic, but not their kind of catholic)who so totally opposed to health care for all. Absolutely amaaazing. It's almost unimaginable;no it is unimaginable. What a bunch of corrupt people.

I don't understand why anyone is surprised by the way things are today. It used to be that you went to the Doctor and you paid him/her for the service. Now you pay the insurance company who's only interest is "The Bottom Line". The profit is taken out before anything else. If you are unlucky enough to be on Medicaid or Medicare, you can't even choose your own doctor. And every 6 months or so the doctors pay is cut to save money for such pressing matters as painting fake bricks in the crosswalks or providing a new stadium at tax payers expense for some baseball or football team, where they raise the price so high ordinary people can't afford to go any more. Both the state and federal governments do it. Who else in this country takes a pay CUT every few months. If we could CUT congress pay every few months I bet they'd get some work done, or go home where they belong. You sure wouldn't see any more CAREER POLITICIANS because they wouldn't tolerate it. They'd run for the hills so fast you wouldn't even know they'd been there. The more middle men you have, the more often the price gets jacked up eventually to the point no one will be able to get anything, except for the extremely rich. And that's just the way they want it. I went to the emergency room 2 years ago and I was told if I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have lived another day. Then I had a worker for Social Security ask me "Why in the WORLD would you GO TO THE HOSPITAL IN THE FIRST PLACE when you KNEW you COULDN'T PAY FOR IT?". I got lucky though. The hospital forgave my entire bill as financial assistance. But one of the doctors sued me 3 days before Christmas. When I tried to make payment arrangements I was told they wouldn't accept anything less than half and the other half in 30 days. On the other side of THAT coin, is the doctor who drove me to the hospital the day before Thanksgiving, saw to it I was registered and given a room before going back to the rest of the waiting patients in his office and then picked me up on Thanksgiving Day, and drove me home with a stop at his office to pick up free samples because he knew I couldn't pay for the prescriptions. This is the kind of doctors we are losing because of the bureaucrats and their "Bottom Line".

LAKE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CLUB HEALTH CARE FINANCE SYSTEM REPORT June 9, 2007 Our fragmented health care financing system consists of for profit insurance corporations, not for profit health care insurance and delivery corporations, government administered health insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration and military health care systems), and various charitable organizations. (The Federal Employee Health Plan which is offered to members of Congress and all other Federal employees is similar to major corporation health plans in that it offers a variety of private insurance plans to the employees and members of Congress). There are three basic problems with the current health care finance system: 1. Coverage: 47 million Americans and at least 5 million Californians do not have health insurance. This is caused primarily by the high cost of health insurance. All or most other industrial nations cover nearly 100% of their citizens. 2. Outcomes: In spite of having the most advanced health care technologies, the U.S. ranks at or near the bottom of industrialized nations in overall health care outcomes. The poor health care outcome is caused primarily by the large number of uninsured Americans. It is also caused by restrictions in coverage by insurance corporations to hold down costs and by the high cost of the health care finance system. 3. Cost: There are several factors that drive up the cost of insurance; A. Administrative costs; For profit corporations are the largest providers (in numbers of insured) of health care insurance. Their administrative costs range from 18 to 23% or more of revenues. In comparison, Medicare administrative costs are 2 to 3% of revenues. The multiplicity of health care plans require that health care providers employ additional administrative staff to comply with the different requirements and forms of the different plans. B. Profits; Stock market pressures for short term exceptional profits drive up the cost of health care insurance corporations, delivery corporations, and manufactures of equipment, products and technologies. Many private non-corporate providers and suppliers also seek higher profits by increasing their prices. The quality of care and the universality of care are diminished and the cost of care is increased by the pressure for higher profits. C. Employer costs; Most employer based health insurance is purchased from for profit insurance corporations. The high and rising cost to employers of this insurance reduces the employer's price competition with foreign firms and domestic firms that do not provide health insurance.. Employers reduce or curtail their contributions to employee health care plans to reduce costs. Employees then seek other plans or become uninsured both of which increase the cost of health care insurance. D. Risk pool; The overall costs of health care for all participants in an insurance plan (the risk pool) are divided among the participants by actuary tables. The more participants there are in the plan, the lower the cost to each participant. The smaller the risk pool, the higher the cost to each participant. For profit , not for profit, and government administered health insurance plans divide the population into hundreds of risk pools at a higher cost to each participant than would be the case with fewer risk pools. In addition, for profit health care insurance corporations seek to include only healthy participants to contain costs and increase profits which raises the cost of insurance to less healthy participants and/or increases the number of uninsured who then rely on more expensive emergency room care. E. Overlapping coverage; Because few if any of the private for profit health care plans offer complete coverage, many participants enroll in more that one plan to get all the coverage they need. This includes high deductible plans for catastrophic events, high premium plans for preventative care, dental plans, vision plans, long term care plans, plans at work, sick pay plans, plans at school, plans included in automobile insurance (including uninsured motorist coverage), plans included in homeowners insurance, separate plans for each spouse, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans health care and military health care. Any family or even any person can easily find themselves in need of more than one plan to get all the coverage they need even though those plans may well overlap in other coverage areas. F. Legislation; Our fragmented health care finance system was created and is regulated by legislation. That legislation is full of inconsistencies and loopholes that allow fraud and abuse which increases costs. In addition, legislation allowing general and specific tax breaks and regulatory relief have increased corporate profits with no visible significant cost reductions for participants as exemplified by the Medicare Part D prescription insurance legislation which was written by the pharmaceutical lobby and has enriched the pharmaceutical and health care finance corporations. Additional legislation and regulation further complicates the fragmented system driving up the cost of administration. G. Economies of Scale: The multiplicity of health care insurance plans reduce the purchasing power of those corporations providing the plans for prescription drugs, equipment, devices, supplies and services that they pay for compared to fewer plans with more participants each. H. Economic Loss: The lack of universal health coverage and optimal health outcomes results in unnecessary lost work hours, reduced productivity and higher production costs than would be the case with a healthier work force. Our fragmented health care financing system was created piece by piece in response to particular problems and incentives. The assembled pieces are not well integrated with each other or with the overall system. There are at least several cost spirals within the system that drive up costs and drive down coverage and outcomes. Just two examples are: 1. The rising cost of employer based for profit health insurance causes more and more companies to reduce or eliminate their participation in employee health care insurance. This reduces the size of the risk pools and increases the cost of health care to the remaining employers in the risk pools which causes more employers to reduce or eliminate participation. 2. The rising cost of health insurance forces many people to go without insurance which increases the number of uninsured who then rely on more expensive emergency room service for all their medical care. That cost for emergency room care is then passed on to the remaining participants in the risk pools which forces still more people to go without insurance. The increase in the number of uninsured also reduces the size of the risk pool which increases the cost to the remaining participants in the pool which forces even more people to become uninsured. These and other cost spirals plus the other problems listed above are driving costs up and driving coverage and outcomes down. The basic problem lies in our very complicated and fragmented health care financing system. No corporation could function profitably if it was so disorganized and inefficient. Any further measures to repair specific problems in this system other than a unifying reorganization will only complicate, and possibly fragment it, further.

I watched the premiere viewing of Sicko last night in Phoenix AZ. The crowd hissed at the Republicans, esp. Dubya. Standing ovation at the end. This movie has some real eyeopening information for us Americans.

i and others were awaiting transplant on the ninth floor at shands hospital in gainesville.. how sad to watch the uninsured and poverty stricken finally realize they were going to die from having no dough.

11 lobbyests showed...

I'm NOT for the type of universal healthcare proposed and I'll explain why. Conventional/traditional/allopathic medicine will continue to have a monopoly in this country. Universal access to all modalities, Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Naturapathic, Wholistic, etc. is what is needed. Take away their monopoly and let me decide what's best for me and my family and then I will support Universal care.

Obviously steven, you understand that under a government provided and controlled healthcare system, we'll get exactly what the government decides is appropriate for us to have. Nothing more and nothing less. Apparently many are comfortable with the idea of putting their healthcare decisions entirely in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats. I've watched them conduct so many cluster-f***s in the past 40 years that there's simply no way I'll support giving those a-holes that much additional control over my life.

Our health care is a disrace.Years ago , physicians, in order to be put on the staff of hospitals, rotated for a month at a time, and cared for all patients needing the doctor's particular specialty. The hospitals, non-profit organizations, were subsidized by government funding, grants, and local charitable donations. EVERYone was cared for. The insurance companies,banks, pharmaceuticals, and other for-profit businesses were not involved. The main cost of health care today is due to blood sucker industries. Government should run everything BUT with CHECKS and BALANCES. There are myriads of retired doctors and nurses who would welcome the opportunity of helping.

The time is upon all of us as the latency period becomes a reality to millions of innocent people, entire families to suffer and die from something that began in 1963 and was knowingly allowed for over 40 years.This poisoning was done to millions of us and if you think there is a health and safety issue you haven't seen [deleted] because this deadly monster is still out their and is still being allowed to continue to kill innocent people/entire families.In Libby Montana,we learned the truth and our fate and yet this deadly fate was allowed to continue by the very ones who allowed this to happen.The EPA and this White house has knowingly allowed us, we the people to be poisoned and now the truth,latency is becoming known.Where did we as a people get off the wrong track? By trusting Govt for the people not Govt against the people as we have now learned the truth.Wake up people and stay away from Libby Mt.Pass this on, thank you

Moore does not attribute our failed so-called health care system to HMOs, but to insurance in general. No insurance company wants to insure anyone who might get sick; they make their money by denying care, not by providing it. HMOs are merely among the worst offenders. In a government-financed system, there is no incentive to avoid sick people, since the very purpose of a "health care system" presumably is to provide people with health care. Moore shows how this is the case in countries with government-funded systems. But in the US, health care is paid for with private insurance, which has as its purpose (for for-profit companies) making money for shareholders. Even non-profits seek to have a surplus and must pay claims from what they take in. They too try to avoid insuring anyone who might have high claims. Clearly, the problem with health care in the US is that we use insurance as the payment mechanism, and this doesn't work and will never work.