By the looks of it and the typical Moore reaction (attacking his critics personally) CNN's Sanjay Gupta's look at the fudgy facts of Moore's movie have really hit a nerve. Moore was really steaming as Gupta continued to point out that links to MSNBC web sites are not real citations and projected numbers are not actual dollars spent.
Even when Moore's acolytes and staffers try to defend him they step in it. For example, Deborah Burger, the head of the California Nurses Association claims that Aetna CEO Troy Brennan claimed that " recent statistics from the Institution of Healthcare Improvement document "that people are waiting an average of about 70 days to see a provider."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10023
Uh, actually the Institution FOR Healthcare Improvement document was referring to the Amarillo VA Health Care System which reorganized Primary Care in January 2000 based on the principles of Advanced Clinic Access. It had a waiting time for 76 days and reduced the time to 20 days by using the new software system. And the system is designed to reduce the backlog of no-show appointments which is unrelated to excess demand.
It took them one month to cut the waiting time by two thirds. Meanwhile, primary care waiting time for first appointments in the UK are, what, 3 months at a minimum?
And don't give me the crap from the Commonwealth Fund...that compared Medicaid recipients (government care) and the unisured poor to middle class and rich people who supplement their care with private health insurance in other countries. And Commonwealth failed to sample in rural areas internationally where health and access disparities show up. And even then, Americans did as well or better than less diverse and urbanized countries in getting prompt care. Oh, they never told you that? Neither does Michael Moore.
Read here
Even when Moore's acolytes and staffers try to defend him they step in it. For example, Deborah Burger, the head of the California Nurses Association claims that Aetna CEO Troy Brennan claimed that " recent statistics from the Institution of Healthcare Improvement document "that people are waiting an average of about 70 days to see a provider."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10023
Uh, actually the Institution FOR Healthcare Improvement document was referring to the Amarillo VA Health Care System which reorganized Primary Care in January 2000 based on the principles of Advanced Clinic Access. It had a waiting time for 76 days and reduced the time to 20 days by using the new software system. And the system is designed to reduce the backlog of no-show appointments which is unrelated to excess demand.
It took them one month to cut the waiting time by two thirds. Meanwhile, primary care waiting time for first appointments in the UK are, what, 3 months at a minimum?
And don't give me the crap from the Commonwealth Fund...that compared Medicaid recipients (government care) and the unisured poor to middle class and rich people who supplement their care with private health insurance in other countries. And Commonwealth failed to sample in rural areas internationally where health and access disparities show up. And even then, Americans did as well or better than less diverse and urbanized countries in getting prompt care. Oh, they never told you that? Neither does Michael Moore.
Read here
