Tech News
By Stevie Smith Jul 3, 2007, 13:32 GMT
Google blogger slams Michael Moore’s Sicko
And Also
Michael Moore - View Michael Moore Pictures - Michael Moore News
|
|
|
|
|
Similar articles
- Google spreads ad tentacles
- Google lets you “Click-to-Buy” on YouTube
- Google and Yahoo ad deal on ice
- Microsoft-Yahoo: Could Yahoo say yes? (2nd Update)
- Microsoft-Yahoo: Could Yahoo Say Yes? (1st Update)
Latest Headlines in Tech
- 1. Troubleshooting browser plug-ins
- 2. Michael Jackson tops 2009 search terms
- 3. Access from any computer: NAS network storage for home users
- 4. Tech gifts for Christmas
- 5. Yahoo improves its search engine
Older Talkback
Google taking a position of advocacy against a movie which criticizes the US healthcare system is just a mind-boggling turn of events. A substantial problem is that the critique which appeared on the blog wasn't at all well-formulated, it offered no actual examples or citations of wrongdoing on the part of Moore, it just simply jumps to the conclusion that the movie is wrong, and asks the reader to proceed from there. Ridiculous! People always accuse Michael Moore of doing the very things they do themselves in order to exaggerate their criticism of him! All of the pushback against 'Sicko' comes from US healthcare companies and rich right-wingers. The 'balanced' reports trying to dissect Sicko without actually addressing its real subject matter exaggerate 'waiting lists' and inadequacy of care and such things, trying to play on Americans' overall xenophobia - ie. 'other countries' healthcare couldn't possibly be better than the US'!' But they never offer specifics, never offer statistics, and cherry-pick stories, just like they accuse Moore of doing. Only Moore admits right up front that he does so to make a specific point, whereas those attacking him have no such courage to declare their intentions outright. Our healthcare system is terrible, there are myriad reasons why, we overspend on it and receive very little in return. Its basically a gigantic scam run by insurance companies who just milk the pubic, businesses, and medical professionals for everything they can. Their influence needs to be reduced and eventually removed, for the good of the country.
I was unable to get through this article, since it was so poorly written. It's resonance is that of a college essay and a rant. I'm wondering why it's even featured as an 'article'.
whiteshould I care about what a blogger named Laura Turner thinks about anything at all? And should I care about the Monsters and Critics website?
Rich right wingers huh? I'm not rich, but I think Michael Moore hates this country. I think a big reason our health care costs are so high is because lawyers sue Doctors for millions due to malpractice. A lot of them are bogus due to natural births. I will use exclamation points too. Can you say John Edwards!! He has made MILLIONS off of suing Doctors. I know that you being a hard core lefty might not want to hear this, but I'm not a rich right winger and apparently you are a left winger. Go ahead and move to Cuba with Moore and see how it really is there.
Matt are you old enough to enlist in the Iraq War. I will give you a bonus if you join. Just tell me where to mail the check to. Let's see if you are really are a Man of conviction's.
SiCKO lays bare the corruption in the healthcare insurance industry, as well the big pharmaceutical companies and the greed of the AMA in trying to exert a stranglehold on the healthcare industry.
Those of us providing healthcare can definitely relate to this movie, since we know the truth from working inside the system.
Through this very well made movie, which is factually based, now the public can see for once and for all, how they are being taken advantage of by a system that would rather let a patient die, than spend the money to help them.
It's all about greed and power. If you want to understand the AMA, Big Pharma, and the health insurance companies, it's simple...follow the money!.
Great film Michael! I support your efforts by buying a ticket to the movie.
Soory, but talkign about right wing and left wing goes completely off topic.
But to go as far to suggest that the rampant costs of health care are because liberla tort-lawyers are suing doctors is absoluty ignorant.
Surely, the big-lobby insurance companies, medical corporations, and drug manufacturers have nothing to do with it!!!
-The same EXACT drugs in Canada are much much cheaper than in the US...this has NOTHING to do with lawsuits.
-Profit focused HMO's focus on $$$, and put patient health after profits.
Granted, other countries aren't perfect, but the US can learn a hell of a lot from the like of Canada and Cuba and make it better. That's what America does.
This discussion shoudl be about Micheal Moore, it should be about ways to fix our broken heatlh care system where people wait for hours for a scheduled appointment, pay $300 for a few pills, and die in hospital waiting rooms.
Wake up people, the time for idealogical BS infighting is over.
@ Matt,
'I'm not rich, but I think Michael Moore hates this country.' W
Why is that, because some right-wingnut told you to think that? What do you base this opinion on, a hunch?
'I think a big reason our health care costs are so high is because lawyers sue Doctors for millions due to malpractice.'
There you go thinking again. Proof?
'Matt are you old enough to enlist in the Iraq War. I will give you a bonus if you join. Just tell me where to mail the check to. Let's see if you are really are a Man of conviction's.'
Dear RetardCowardRepBitchBoy,
Did you pass high school? How does what he said relate to enlisting in the Military. What branch did you want him to enlist in? Be specific Genius you obviousily have no idea what you are talking about. I doubt a coward like yourself that won't even give his real name in the blog reply would send him any money!
That's exactly what michael moore would say. Argue with emotion rather than logic. Please get your G.E.D. before commenting on a message board.
- Josh
(Hint: Matt made a point about litigation concerning healthcare . You can say he is wrong or make another argument to counteract his claims! There you go ! good boy ! would you like a treat now? )
'isloted cases' where issurance companies are at their worst.... right.
like 365 days a year? (I'll give them one day on leap year). Has anyone had any type of involved procedure or treatment done? It is a mess, even for normal stuff there are common billing mixups, usually in favor of insurance companies.
And when you go into the Dr.'s office, how many people are shuffling paper vs. how many people are working on direct treatment? In my expierience, it is about 50/50 .... and I think if the Dr. didn't have the army of those office people haggling with insurance companies they would likely go out of business. It is absurd.
The article was trash and the documentary (in name only) was just a mock-umentary in the same way Spinal Tap was, only Spinal Tap was actually interestingly funny.
Describing Sicko as a movie is like comparing a childs drawing pasted on a refrigerator door to a painting in a museum. Moore hasn't a clue about how to make an honest movie, never has and never will.
Isolated incidences... thats an easy statement to make from someone who has a pampered lifestyle of the Googleplex... She needs to go out in the real world and see how isolated she is.
As far as pharmaceuticals go they are insanely expensive and time consuming to develop as well as test. Phase three approval from the FDA requires pharmaceutical companies to be able to produce their product on a metric ton scale, which is not as simple as just adding the same ingredients proportionally, as well as starting human testing. This is when side effects of these drugs are first presented. These side effects have the potential to scrap the development of an entire drug. Not too long ago du pont chemical company came up with a drug that was predicted to replace chemotherapy for breast cancer. They invested on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars to get to phase three drug approval and they eventually scrapped all research on the drug because people reported suicidal thoughts while they were testing the drug. Hundreds of millions of dollars all down the drain on a drug that most likely would have worked all because they could not pass the FDA's third stage of approval. Keep in mind this is all for the development of a single drug. It takes teams of a lot of highly trained people to do all the research, work on problems involved with the scale of the synthesis of these drugs, and finally to test the drugs on people. The reason drugs are so cheap in Canada is the drug companies in America license the Canadian companies to produce the same drugs as an additional source of income to fund further research and development. So they basically skip the entire research, development and testing of the drugs they sell.
I think that we must first set priorities. First understand that drug companies are not involved in charity. They do not have altruistic motives that drive them.
Neither are doctors and other health givers driven by just the desire to serve others for free.
Progeria is a well publicize condition and those involved with its care and cure have often unjustly said drug companies are not doing anything to aid in its cure.
They are right, but look at the economics of the condition. There are probably less than 10 known cases world wide. To invest an investor's money in a quest solely designed to the disease is folly. It doesn't necessarily follow that consideration not be given the condition when there is reason to believe that something will help.
Most physicians I know haven't a clue of what it is to work eight hours per day five days a week and go home for an uninterrupted week-end. Lawyers say that their time is their fortune and rarely give freely legal advice gratis. Doctors give more medical advice for free than even they think.
Your personal health is your responsibility. Not the drug company, not the doctor or other health advisory. If you want to live, try listening to your advisor and doing as they say, not as you do.
Poor Google, you've gone corporate and so have your bloggers. Of course you will cowtow to your big money advertisers and defend them to the hilt. As far as the article written, it was hard to follow (especially with the flahing ad to the side).
I'll keep my opinions about Moore and his movies to myself, but I think it's funny when some Ann Colture idolizing online reporters try to be 'shocking' by going after Michael Moore. He's a heavy left winger, no kidding. We get it. You are a passionate righty, great. Move on. Just once, I would like a moderate view. Someone that says, sure there is corruption, but there is honesty, too. Using isolated incidents (for either side) to stir passion is fine, as long as you demonstrate the majority (good or bad).
Same argument can be used regarding terrorist suspects and torture.
I think it is terrible that if I walk into a doctor's office with insurance, he gets $20.00 from me and maybe another $15.00 from the insurance company. Yet if I walk into the same office w/o insurance, the bill is considerably higher (can be in hundreds for the same office visit).
I have a very easy solution to start fixing the health care system (at least as far as office visits are concerned)
1) If you as a doctor state your rate at $300.00 for an office visit but only get about $35.00 from an insured (combined), you should NOT be allowed a writeoff of the remaining $265.00. From what I understand, that is part of the reason the uninsured rate is normally so high is for generating write offs for the medical office. Only writeoff allowed should be your lowest billing rate less what you charged the uninsured person(no kickbacks, no end of year payoffs from the insurance comapanies, etc.) So if you normally get $35 (20 copay + 15 from insurance), you get no copay if you charge $35.00 to the uninsured. You get a $35.00 write off if you see them for free.
2) Make it illegal for an insurance company to negotiate a rate with doctors based on their uninsured bill. That forces the uninsured visit to be set artificially high (more than the market will bear in my mind).
3) The Fed and state govts should state that if you want any of the government's business, you must extend the same rate to uninsured people that you do to the fed/state govt for your services.
I think using these techniques, all you will need to do is buy major medical insurance if you are willing to pay a higher out of pocket office visit. If I had a choice between paying $600.00 a month in insurance premiums with a $20.00 copay, I would rather pay $200.00 a month for major medical and $35.00 out of pocket for an office visit.
I have a question. How many of you this blog has Health insurance? How many don't? If you don't have it, is it that you cannot afford it? My company provides me with a PPO health care plan. I pay nothing for it. 15 years ago I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 10 years ago I had to file bankruptcy, of which ALL were medical bills. 1 year before I filed bankruptcy, CFS made it to the list of 'covered' diseases. However, instead of grandfathering me and paying the bills that had been fought over for 5 years, they now called it a pre-existing condition. My story is not rare. It's common. The state of insurance companies is laughable. I still have fully paid health coverage, but it's cheaper for me to pay cash and stick with the Dr.'s who know me. The point of Mr. Moore's film is to make Americans aware that the state of health care in our country is NOT ok. And he's right, it's awful. If you don't belive it, get sick. Or call an insurance company for health insurance and tell them you have some condition and find out the quote. LOL Why are people arguing if it's bad? It IS bad. What can we, as the people, do about it? That's what I'm thinking about these days...
Hello everyone, I just saw the movie over the weekend,
It will definitely get you thinking about moving to a county with state sponsored medicine. I currently have dual citizenship between my beloved United States and where my family tree’s roots go back to Poland, in Poland the hospitals are free for anyone. I went back for a wedding 2 years ago and hurt my arm. I was rushed to a hospital and helped there, they gave me care even though I didn’t have any id or anything on me I could have been a foreigner and they didn’t care, all the doctors saw was someone that needed help. The hospital charged me nothing. I wish we had care like this in the USA. I cannot understand why we shell out so much money every month on insurance when we know that its really a craps shoot whether they will pay your bills or not. Insurance companies are in it to make money, they all have publicly traded shares and they all have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. There CEO's get bonuses for having larger profit margins, do you assume they do this by telling folks not to smoke or eat McDonalds or wearing safety equipment while doing action sports? I don’t think so they do this by finding reasons why they should deny you when you need them the most, when you need a 250K 'experimental' surgery. It’s so sad that the strongest country on earth is ruled by fear. We are all scared of the government and we should just admit this because we never stand up ourselves. Maybe the civil war was too bloody for us to ever want to rock the boat again, maybe we are conditioned as children to fear big brother and that’s why we don’t have rally’s and demonstrations whenever we are in need. God bless America, God bless the American people but I cannot ask god to bless this corrupt system that we live in.
What the article does not tell about is that Turner had previously circulated a request to the health care industry to employ Google to run ads which would denigrate Moore and the movie Sicko. When it came out that she was trolling for business she then adopted the line that it was all her own personal idea. Yeah right! And pigs fly too!
Bottom line is that when it comes to making a fast buck Google does evil as much as it can get away with.
everyane who makes a comment needs to stop worring obout oter things like this. get a life
Your Talkback on this Story