Yes. It is possible.
The loud mouth guy was totally stumped on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (actually by another guest on the show by the name of Dr. Sanjay Gupta). Ok, it was only at one point but it shows this guy can be made to shut up.
The thing is that I love Moore’s work. I have seen all his documentaries and the sole movie he has made (Canadian Bacon, highly recommended, BTW) and the thing about him is that the passion with which he speaks about a topic and presents the whole package, it’s nearly impossible not to agree with him even though you see the holes in his arguments later on. At least he is willing to put himself in front and center to get the debate going.
So, when Dr. Sanjay Gupta (a CNN hack who provided a live coverage of the first operation from Iraq…..oooooh!) said something to the effect that the countries that Moore portrayed as having a better health care system than US aren’t exactly free (Moore kept making the claim that they were free). Gupta pointed out, rightly, that the taxes on the countries are higher than they
are in the US so the Health care is not exactly free because the money from the taxes are what fund the health care systems. And Moore had no reply to it except “Hoo Boy”.
So I have come to the rescue of Moore here. Dr. Gupta let’s do a little logic thinking here, shall we?
Every individual in Canada is taxed and a part of the tax goes to fund the Health care system. That we both agree with. However, when I break a leg or get sick or get a fever, I go to the hospital and am checked and treated and put back in the car after the treatment, I PAY NO MONEY. No matter what I have been afflicted with, I do not have to pay because I have ALREADY BEEN TAXED. This is something that blowhards like you fail to understand about
Universal Health Care. Under a universal health care, since the costs are distributed among the entire population, the actual cost of a treatment of an individual can be absorbed easily. This is the basic tenet of the insurance industry. Spread the costs to keep the actual payment low. Yes
there are serious flaws with the Canadian system. Wait times are notoriously long. Special treatment takes a long time to come. But NO ONE IS REFUSED immediate health care. No one is told that you cannot pay so get out even if it means you will die. Apparently, Dr. Gupta, that seems to be A-OK in your books.
You’re welcome Michael.
Desi In Toronto 