CNN tries to smear Moores Movie and gets owned. Tip: Next time do more research you noobs before you just air a poorly made smear video on national tv and own your entire network.
July 10th, 2007 12:19 am
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN: "(Moore says) the
United States slipped to number 37 in the world's health care systems.
It's true. ... Moore brings a group of patients, including 9/11
workers, to Cuba and marvels at their free treatment and quality of
care. But hold on - that WHO list puts Cuba's health care system even
lower than the United States, coming in at #39."
THE TRUTH:
[*]"But hold on?" 'SiCKO' clearly shows the WHO
list, with the United States at number #37, and Cuba at #39. Right up
on the screen in big five-foot letters.
It's even in the trailer! CNN should have its reporter see his eye doctor. The movie isn't hiding from this fact. Just the opposite.
[*]The
fact that the healthcare system in an impoverished nation crippled by
our decades-old blockade (including medical supplies and drugs) ranks
so closely to ours is more an indictment of the American system than
the Cuban system.
[*]Although Cuba ranks lower overall than
the United States, it still has a lower infant mortality rate and
longer life span.
(see below)
[*]And unlike the
United States, Cuba offers healthcare to absolutely everyone. In an
independent Gallup poll conducted in Cuba, "a near unanimous 96 percent
of respondents say that health care in Cuba is accessible to everyone."
("Cubans Show Little Satisfaction with Opportunities and Individual
Freedom Rare Independent Survey Finds Large Majorities Are Still Proud
of Island's Health Care and Education," January 10, 2007.
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brlatinamericara/
300.php?nid=&id=&pnt=300&lb=brla)
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CNN: "Moore asserts that the American health care
system spends $7,000 per person on health. Cuba spends $25 dollars per
person. Not true. But not too far off. The United States spends $6,096
per person, versus $229 per person in Cuba."
THE TRUTH:
[*]According to our own government – the
Department of Health and Human Services' National Health Expenditures
Projections – the United States will spend $7,092 per capita on health
in 2006 and $7,498 in 2007.
(Department of Health and Human
Services Center for Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures, National Health
Expenditures Projections 2006-2016. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/proj2006.pdf)
[*]As
for Cuba – Dr. Gupta and CNN need to watch 'SiCKO' first before
commenting on it. 'SiCKO' says Cuba spends $251 per person on health
care, not $25, as Gupta reports. And the BBC reports that Cuba's per
capita health expenditure is… $251! (
Keeping Cuba Healthy, BBC, Aug. 1 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/5232628.stm ) This is confirmed by the United Nations Human Development Report, 2006. Yup, Cuba spends $251 per person on health care. (
http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/52.html).
As Gupta points out, the World Health Organization does calculate
Cuba's per capita health expenditure at $229 per person. We chose to
use the UN numbers, a minor difference - and $229 is a lot closer to
$251 than $25.
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CNN: In fact, Americans live just a little bit longer than Cubans on average.
THE TRUTH:
[*]Just the opposite. The 2006 United Nations
Human Development Report's human development index states the life
expectancy in the United States is 77.5 years. It is 77.6 years in
Cuba.
(Human Development Report 2006, United Nations Development Programme, 2006 at 283. http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/pdfs/report/HDR06-complete.pdf)
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CNN: The United States ranks highest in patient satisfaction.
THE TRUTH:
[*]True, but even when the WHO took patient
satisfaction into account in its comprehensive review of the world's
health systems, we still came in at #37
. ("World Health Organization Assesses The World's Health Systems," Press Release, WHO/44, June 21, 2000. http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-44.html ).
[*]Patients
may be satisfied in America, but not everyone gets to be a patient. 47
million are uninsured and are rarely patients - until it's too late. In
the rest of the Western world, everyone and anyone can be a patient
because everyone is covered. (And don't face exclusions for
pre-existing conditions, co-pays, deductibles, and costly monthly
premiums).
[*]It's not that other countries are unhappy with
their health care – for example, "70 to 80 percent of Canadians find
their waiting times acceptable."
("Access to health care services
in Canada, Waiting times for specialized services (January to December
2005)," Statistics Canada, http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/82-575-XIE/82-575-XIE2006002.htm )
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CNN: Americans have shorter wait times than
everyone but Germans when seeking non-emergency elective procedures,
like hip replacement, cataract surgery, or knee repair.
THE TRUTH:
[*]This isn't the whole truth. CNN pulled out a statistic about
elective
procedures. Of the six countries surveyed in that study (United States,
Canada, New Zealand, UK, Germany, Australia) only Canada had longer
waiting times than America for sick adults waiting to schedule a
doctor's appointment for a medical problem. 81% of patients in New
Zealand got a same or next-day appointment for a non-routine visit, 71%
in Britain, 69% in Germany, 66% in Australia, 47% in the U.S., and 36%
in Canada.
(The Doc's in, but It'll be AWhile. Catherine Arnst, Business Week. June 22, 2007 http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2007/
tc20070621_716260_page_2.htm)
[*]"Gerard
Anderson, a Johns Hopkins health policy professor who has spent his
career examining the world's healthcare, said there are delays, but not
as many as conservatives state. In Canada, the United Kingdom and
France, 'three percent of hospital discharges had delays in treatment,'
Anderson told
The Miami Herald. 'That's a relatively small number, and they're all elective surgeries, such as hip and knee replacement.' (
John
Dorschner, "'SiCKO' film is set to spark debate; Reformers are gearing
up for 'Sicko,' the first major movie to examine America's often
maligned healthcare system," Miami Herald, June 29, 2007.)
[*]One
way America is able to achieve decent waiting times is that it leaves
47 million people out of the health care system entirely, unlike any
other Western country. When you remove 47 million people from the line,
your wait should be shorter. So why is the U.S. second to last in wait
times?
[*]And there are even more Americans who keep
themselves out of the system because of cost - in the United States, 24
percent of the population did not get medical care due to cost. That
number is 5 percent in Canada, and 3 percent in the UK.
(Inequities in Health Care: A Five-Country Survey. Robert Blendon et al, Health Affairs. Exhibit 5. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/21/3/182)
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CNN: (PAUL KECKLEY-Deloitte Health Care Analyst):
"The concept that care is free in France, in Canada, in Cuba - and it's
not. Those citizens pay for health services out of taxes. As a
proportion of their household income, it's a significant number …
(GUPTA): It's true that the French pay higher taxes, and so does nearly
every country ahead of the United States on that list."
THE TRUTH:
[*]'SiCKO' never claims that health care is
provided absolutely for free in other countries, without tax
contributions from citizens. Former MP Tony Benn reads from the NHS
founding pamphlet, which explicitly states that "this is not a charity.
You are paying for it mainly as taxpayers." 'SiCKO' also acknowledges
that the French are "drowning in taxes." Comparatively, many Americans
are drowning in insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays and medical
debt and the resulting threat of bankruptcy – half of all bankruptcies
in the United States are triggered by medical bills. (
Medical Bills Make up Half of Bankruptcies. Feb. 2005, MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6895896/)
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CNN: "But even higher taxes don't guarantee the
coverage everyone wants … (KECKLEY): 15 to 20 percent of the population
will purchase services outside the system of care run by the
government."
THE TRUTH:
[*]It's not clear what country Keckley is
referring to. In the United Kingdom, only 11.5 percent of the
population has supplementary insurance, but it doesn't take the place
of NHS insurance. Nobody in France buys insurance that replaces
government insurance either, although a substantial amount buys some
form of complimentary insurance.
( Private health insurance and access to health care in the European Union. Spring 2004. http://www.euro.who.int/document/Obs/EuroObserver6_1.pdf)
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CNN: "But no matter how much Moore fudged the facts, and he did fudge some facts…"
[*]This is libel. There is not a single fact that
is "fudged" in the film. No one has proven a single fact in the film
wrong. We expect CNN to correct their mistakes on the air and to
apologize to their viewers.
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