Red Hats and Foil Hats watching "Sicko" in Grand Forks, BC.

[Bruce McAuley]

The wife and I went to Grand Forks yesterday afternoon to watch "Sicko".
Grand Forks, BC is actually the closest next larger city to Republic, at about 35 miles away, closer than Colville or Tonasket. We hit the Gem Theater at about 3:15 after laughing with the Canadian border guard about Americans going to Canada to see what's wrong with our health care system.
Before the film we gabbed with a group of Canadian Red Hat women outside, and they said they wanted to see what Michael Moore had to say good about their system. Afterward, one of them asked why they hadn't shot him yet. I said Who? George Bush? No, she said, Michael Moore! She was sure he was scheduled to be wiped out(and maybe he is...).
The movie was fantastic, the best work Moore has done yet. Highly recommended for those who DO have "health insurance".
Everyone chronicled DID have health insurance. The group of 9/11 responders going to Cuba for care was poignant, to say the least. It was real person to person interaction you rarely find in films. A documentary in the old sense.
The Canadian audience ate it up. There were laughs at George Bush and I could almost hear them thinking, "That system is SCARY!".
A point mentioned in the movie was about a Canadian who had to go to an American hospital and was quoted tens of thousands for health care he got for free back home. Many stories like this make up the backbone of the film.
The job of medical insurers is to TURN YOU DOWN.
That's the way they make money.
In comparison, the goal of the British health care system, the NHS, is to make you better, and the doctor gets more money if he produces healthier patients. He makes money if patients quit smoking, for instance.
The point is this: We see LOTS of health care systems out there in the world that have plusses or minuses, but we should be able to pick from among the best and USE IT.
But we don't.
Why?
$$$$$$$$$$$
The Canadians are now afraid to come down here without some sort of catastrophic insurance to cover them if something happens to them down here and they're FORCED to go to an American hospital, with their sky-high budget busting costs. One of the Red Hat ladies confirmed what was shown in the film about herself not coming down here without extra insurance.
We've made them afraid to come here to visit, it's so bad.
A good time was had by all who viewed the cautionary masterpiece of Michael Moore today in Grand Forks, BC, and it got a rousing applause from all at the end.

Bruce

[I Have A Dream]

1. Thanks for the review, Bruce. n/t

[panader0]

2. For some reason, the movie was never aired in this city.

Even tho we have 14 screens. Farenheit 911 played here, but it seems as tho Sicko is being blackwatered.

[Bruce McAuley]

3. We live out in the sticks...

I'm sure glad for the Canadians and their sensibilities. We get CBC TV too, and it's excellent.
If nobody has ever heard of Tommy Douglas, well they should because he's the most admired Canadian of ALL TIME, beating out Wayne Gretzke.
Tommy Who?
Even the Red Hat ladies mentioned Tommy Douglas, and I was lamenting we never had such a man in our country where we change health care from "me" to "we" and go ahead and make it work. Nobody could say enough about Tommy, who was mentioned prominently in Moore's film, but some ladies were afraid Canada was sliding closer to the US style of for-profit health care, especially in the payment for Alzheimer's meds, so she thinks.
I'm certain the Canadians were relieved to see how gently they were treated in Moore's documentary, and well deserved.

Bruce

[peacetalksforall]

4. Afraid to travel here because of the threat of needing health care. !!!

I never thought of that, never heard that.

Folks, this is another form of sick - our country is sick - and it is normal people like you, me and our neighbors who have to work for these conglomerates of theft and corruption and screwing.

I'll assume that DUers don't hold stock in any of these companies - independently.

I would be sick to my stomach to be a part of a cororate 401 plan that includes these companies.

We are sick in more ways than one.

Anyone realize how important the tourism industry is to this country and the world?

We have been taken. We're big suckers. They must meet and giggle at our stupidity for buying the lies.

I pity us.

[Bruce McAuley]

5. The Canadian ladies pitied us too.

Having to return to a place where Michael Moore's own Canadian relative is afraid to come here without an extra insurance rider he's shown buying at Sears. He's quite serious, "What if somebody punches me in the face?" he says.
I was about to tell the Red Hat lady there was nothing to be afraid of down here, but then the reality of the movie made that impossible, and I could only agree...
Sad.

Bruce

[peacetalksforall]

6. I'm going to k & r. People should read these 'witnessings'.