Cuba vs. the U.S.: Controversy Already Exploding Around Michael Moore's Latest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV4-Wtu-vvI
It's only taken a few days for Sicko, the new Michael Moore doc, to become a national news story. The film, a critique of America's broken health care system, received favorable notices after its Cannes premiere last week. (Time's assessment: "Sicko is socko.") Even better for box office, the film, like Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11, has jumped from the arts-entertainment section and into the news. That's partly because Moore claims the Cuban health care system – despite that country's crushing poverty (Cubans spend, on average, less than 1/25 on health care as Americans do) – is far superior to our own. The New York Times explored that assertion in an article on Sunday, citing Pulitzer Prize-winning aging expert Dr. Robert N. Butler:

(A) principal reason that some health standards in Cuba approach the high American level is that the Cuban system emphasizes early intervention. Clinic visits are free, and the focus is on preventing disease rather than treating it. ... Dr. Butler said some of Cuba’s shortcomings may actually improve its health profile. “Because they don’t have up-to-date cars, they tend to have to exercise more by walking,” he said. “And they may not have a surfeit of food, which keeps them from problems like obesity, but they’re not starving, either.” ... Dr. Butler has just completed a study that shows it is possible that because of the epidemic of obesity in children, “this may be the first generation of Americans to live less long than their parents.” There could be one great leveler for Cubans and Americans. While all Cubans have at least minimal free access to doctors, more than 45 million Americans lack basic health insurance. Many are reluctant to seek early treatment they cannot afford, Dr. Butler said. Instead, they wait to be admitted to an emergency room.

You can expect plenty more ink to spill before Sicko opens nationwide on June 29. The U.S. Treasury Department is investigating Moore's Cuba visit (he took first responders from 9-11 attacks, who were suffering from environmental illness to the island). Moore's already hit the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Attacks from the right are already rolling (although, could anyone be so blinded by ideology to pronounce our U.S. health care system healthy?) In short, Moore, and a Moore film, are on their way back to the center of public discourse. Love Moore or hate him, you've got to admit: no other filmmaker, writer or artist (since Tom Paine, maybe), has gotten America talking the way he has.