An Honest Leftist?
So who says this:
However, he somewhat misrepresents the Canadian health care system, grievously misrepresents the British, and while he gets some aspects of the French system right, he completely fails to understand the context of the socially dysfunctional French welfare state.
Far more damaging than these errors, however, is his propagandistic presentation of the Cuban health care system, in which Moore shows 9/11 rescue workers with lingering work-related health problems getting state-of-the-art treatment in Cuban hospitals—and explicitly says that this is the treatment that all Cubans get. This isn’t true, and even if it were, any discussion of Cuban medicine that completely omits the totalitarian system in which it is offered would be disgustingly false. Moore isn’t concerned with human rights, though. He even shows us the daughter of sadistic psychopath Che Guevara, gushing about the glories of the revolution.
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Moore gets the British health care system very wrong. Anyone who has seen Sicko and thought that it represented reality on that score should read this piece by Theodore Dalrymple, a doctor who worked for 20 years in the British National Health Service.
It’s Jesse Larner, a leftist over at HuffPo who hates Michael Moore because he gives Right-Wing Lunatics (TM) ammunition.
Larner, of course, still supports socialized medicine (are you allowed to post at HuffPo if you don’t?) with laughable comments like this:
Why not have a fully-funded national health care system that continues to make investments as necessary, and in which doctors and patients make decisions free from meddling by bureaucrats?
Um, because it’s impossible? Because such a system would have absolutely unconstrained costs paid for out of the public dole? Because we already have $50 trillion in unfunded medical care liabilities bearing down on us?
Anyway, although it doesn’t come up with any new criticisms and makes a number of incorrect assertions (which Michael Cannon takes apart here), Larner is to be commended for at least wanting an honest debate.
He might be a delusional lefty, but he’s an honest delusional lefty.
Update: Just to expand on the point, Larner links to an article by Theodore Dalrymple, who describes the British NHS as a paradise done in by creeping bureaucracy (which he blames on Thatcher, of course). Does anyone know of any massive government program that hasn’t gotten more bureaucratic over time? All socialized systems do this. They start out as a free-spending paradise until someone realizes they can’t spend money forever. And bureaucracy and rationing follow.
And considering that the Democrats spend a lot of time blaming greedy, irresponsible doctors and hospital for our health care “disaster”, I don’t think they’re going to give them any power any time soon.
Comments
Hey all,
Haven’t seen Moore’s new film yet(live in Europe) and frankly don’t really want to. Pretty sure there’s a book out there that could tell me a lot more abvout the subject. I live in Ireland and we’re currently undergoing a crisis period as regards our healthcare system(it sucks). At the moment public private partnerships are being touted as the way forward but many people are against this as they believe it would spawn a two-tier health care system. One for the have and one for the have nots. I’m not sure if there is a viable solution but I’ll let you know if I find out.
One thing I’d like to add is as regards some of the posts on the site. I really think that it lowers and weakens your anti-Moore campaign when you give a scare story such as ‘cancer treatment denied to person in UK’.
Now I know there’s an argument for including these stories as you need to show that the places cited by Moore aren’t the socialised heatlhcare utopias that he claims they are. The problem is that you’re using the same tactics that he is.
He highlights the positive cases about France and Cuba, and the negative cases about the US and you do the opposite and in the end no-one gets anywhere. Surely larger datasets can be employed; lists of waiting times or personal income spent on healthcare or other economic details or something.
A friend of mine recently had a child in France. At no cost her boyfirend was given a bed beside her in a private room for three days. if I just tell this part of the story, it sounds great. However you have to mention that France’s welfare state is crippling the country in many ways and this is partially why they’ve just rushed to elect and new center right gvt.
Similarly, if I live in Germany and lose my job I still get a holiday, a nice tv, an allowance for aother home appliances. This is pretty good provided I’m an honest person looking for a job. Outisde that, the flaws become pretty obvious though.
I will add that the one terrible thing about socialised medicine is that it will always force people to make financial choices. I had this explained very well to me by a doctor from Australlia.
It costs X amount to treat a mother of 2 with terminal breast cancer, this treatment will perhaps keeep her alive for another few months. This sum of X can be used to far greater effect in other areas, probably saving lives. The problem is that first case is such a tragic story that it will always get loads of attention.
What am I saying? Not sure exactly. Good to be here. Keep the arguments going. Moore is indeed full of crap(can I say crap) but I feel it’s important that you don’t employ the same BS tactics.
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Dalrymple’s not a lefty btw… if he makes criticisms of Thatcher, I’d give them consideration (re: he is not her ideological enemy with ideological bones to pick.. or scores to settle… with her)…