Canadians don't care for Sicko...

…so read the headline for an article written by Peter Howell for the Toronto Star on May 20, 2007.

He stated that Michael Moore took quite a verbal beating during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival where Moore has been touting his latest “documentary”. I quote from his article:

“We Canucks were taking issue with the large liberties Sicko takes with the facts, with its lavish praise for Canada’s government-funded medicare system compared with America’s for-profit alternative.”

“…Sicko makes it seem as if Canada’s socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo.”

“Other Canadian journalists spoke of the long wait times Canadians face for health care, much longer than the few minutes Moore suggests in Sicko.”

“Sicko, to be released in North America on June 29, is by turns enlightening and manipulative, humorous and maudlin. It makes many valid and urgent points about the crisis of U.S. health care, but they are blunted by Moore’s habit of playing fast and loose with the facts. Whether it’s a case of the end justifying the means will ultimately be for individual viewers to decide.”

The U.S. health care industry knows this is coming and feels alternately threatened, angered, frightened and somewhat helpless. What can be done to blunt this latest of Moore’s film adventures?

Those who care must become much more knowledgeable about Canadian, British, French and Cuban health care issues and how those systems compare to that of our country. Moore has changed his original tactics and now attempts to cajole, instead of club, folks to get them to see his point of view.

His tactics require that spokespeople for the industry assure that they too change their tactics. They can no longer simply criticize the messenger; they must become sufficiently knowledgeable as to be able to refute the wild claims one-by-one.

We are disadvantaged by the fact that his public relations machine is running at full speed and has been for awhile. We have yet to see the film in its entirety and do not yet understand the nature of his various claims and/or charges. We must begin to act now in order to counter the various “issues” soon after the initial screenings in this country.

Agents certainly understand many of the faults of the current U.S. health care system. They must not be seen as defensive, however, when it is they who have been preaching to the choir for the past decade or better.

Agents simply need to occupy the high ground of truth and reason. The Coalition for Sensible Health Care Solutions is a solid platform on which to build consensus.