Sicko Moore Subpoenaed for Cuba Trip?

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:20 pm

U.S. officials may subpoena filmmaker Moore

By Bob TourtellotteFri Jul 27, 6:33 PM ET

Federal officials may be planning to subpoena filmmaker Michael Moore seeking information about a trip he took to Cuba for his documentary, "Sicko," a source close to the situation said on Friday.

In a late Thursday appearance on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Moore said he was notified at the TV studio in Burbank, California, that a subpoena had already been issued.

But the source, who declined to be identified, said Moore had not actually been served with the request. Rather, the office of his attorney, David Boies, was contacted by a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce seeking the name of a person who would accept a subpoena on Moore's behalf.

"Sicko" takes a scathing look at the U.S. health-care system through the eyes of people who suffered injuries or had diseases and felt the U.S. system of insurers and drug providers failed them.

The director took several Americans, who became ill after working in the ruins of New York's World Trade Center following the September 11 attacks, for free treatment in Cuba.

In May, the U.S. Treasury Department informed Moore it was investigating his trip to the communist state as a potential violation of Washington's long-standing embargo restricting U.S. citizens' travel to the communist nation.

Moore wrote then to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, "I have broken no laws, and I have nothing to hide."

A representative for Moore referred calls to Boies, who was not immediately available to comment.

"Sicko" has received mostly good reviews from film critics, but some viewers have criticized it for a lack of a substantive comparison of the U.S. health-care system with countries like Cuba that offer universal health care.

The Weinstein Company, the studio behind "Sicko," declined to comment on a possible subpoena.

Weinstein Co. plans to donate 11 percent of the movie's box office on August 11 to a fund to help rescue workers suffering from ailments relating to their work at Ground Zero.

Moore won an Academy Award for 2002's anti-gun documentary "Bowling for Columbine." He took a critical look at President George W. Bush's war against terrorism in his 2004 documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:28 pm

Why is he a sicko?

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:49 pm

abbey;669719 wrote: Why is he a sicko?

Oh, I'm sorry Abbey, I just wrote it that way. "Sicko" is the title of his latest documentary about the U.S. health care system.

[love]light · Post by **[love]light** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:24 am

God bless Michael Moore. He has balls of steel & the brain of a revolutionary. Americans need a spot light shown on injustices & inadequacies. Too often, we are foce fed the "America is Perfect: Above Any Other Nation" thought. Its really not true, and people need to understand that we have our faults... just like anyone else.

George W. Bush is one of them.

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 1:58 pm

One of the least attractive things about the USA, as far as I am concerned, is that health-care is seen as a money-making industry. Whereas, in most of the developed world, it is service to society, provided by the various governments in return for us paying them too much in taxes.

I'd like to correct what seems to be a widely-held opinion in the States. Medical care in Europe is not free. In the UK, we pay a form of taxation called "National Insurance" the money raised in this way is used only (?) to provide health care which is free to the patient, be it wart removal, cancer treatment or orthopaedic services.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:19 pm

Chookie, thanks for the info. I'm curious. Are you guys able to choose any doctor you want or does the health care system decide for you? That's a concern we have in the US, that if we switched to a national health system, we would lose the freedom to choose our own doctors and our own treatments.

Post by **spot** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:36 pm

RedGlitter;670106 wrote: Chookie, thanks for the info. I'm curious. Are you guys able to choose any doctor you want or does the health care system decide for you? That's a concern we have in the US, that if we switched to a national health system, we would lose the freedom to choose our own doctors and our own treatments.

I can go into any General Practitioner's health centre in the country and ask to transfer my National Health registration to that practice. There are a few specialist health centres which are purely private practice with no NHS registrations but I've personally never seen one. I've also never been turned down when I've asked to transfer. It's considered to be an automatic acceptance, unless someone has a horror story.

I can imagine that a practice which has disagreed radically with a patient might ask that patient to find a different provider. I don't know anyone in that position and it would be on the basis of bad social skills and disagreement regarding treatment, not money.

The cost to the citizen is described in post#2 of http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/showt ... hp?t=29761 - those are the contributions Chookie was talking about. Those national insurance contributions from income rise to capped at $140 (£70) a week for high earners, at which point they're capped as a maximum - nobody pays more than that regardless of their income.

Nobody in this country - and, on an emergency (as opposed to elective) basis, that includes even uninsured foreign visitors - gets refused treatment.

For completeness I'll copy the NHS charges which we pay when using the service. Prescriptions and dental work are charged for but under a price cap - $12 fixed fee per General Practitioner prescription, $80 per series of dental treatment visits or $400 if that series of visits involves bridging or cap work. Eye tests cost $20, people pay for spectacles and contact lenses. Hospitals charge nothing, operations and medicines are part of the service.

G-man · Post by **G-man** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:15 pm

Sicko.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:27 pm

'[love wrote: light;669829']God bless Michael Moore. He has balls of steel & the brain of a revolutionary.
'kay.

Glad to meet you, though, Lovelight. :-6

Bored_Wombat · Post by **Bored_Wombat** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:56 pm

Is there some reason why going to Cuba should be illegal?

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:02 am

Bored_Wombat;670200 wrote: Is there some reason why going to Cuba should be illegal?
Only if you subscribe to galootism.

See, there's this stubborn old galoot over there who has really PO'd some stubborn old galoots over here. So, until galoots from one side apologize or die, the galoots from the other side ain't budgin'.

Galootism

Bored_Wombat · Post by **Bored_Wombat** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:59 pm

Accountable;670425 wrote: Only if you subscribe to galootism.

See, there's this stubborn old galoot over there who has really PO'd some stubborn old galoots over here. So, until galoots from one side apologize or die, the galoots from the other side ain't budgin'.

Galootism

Got it.