More on SiCKO and Canada

As promised, more on Canada and SiCKO.

As I mentioned last week, I saw a sneak preview of SiCKO, and it features quite a bit about Canada. Michael Moore has been friendly to Canada for years, ranging from singing the Canadian anthem at a Detroit Tigers game to his fiction film, "Canadian Bacon," to featuring Canada in "Bowling for Columbine."

I wanted to save a lot of what was said about Canada until the movie came out. If you didn't see it Friday, well, spoiler alert.

SPOILER

Some of Moore's praise for Canada's health care system starts with Tommy Douglas. Tommy Douglas was recently voted the greatest Canadian of all time. He was instrumental in getting universal health care for Canada.

Moore didn't really explain much of who Douglas was. Here's a helpful page. Douglas was the longtime leader of the CCF Party (now the New Democratic Party).

From Michael Moore:

For more than 50 years, his staunch devotion to social causes, rousing powers of speech and pugnacious charm made Tommy C. Douglas an unstoppable political force. From his first foray into public office politics in 1934 to his post-retirement years in the 1970s, Canada's 'father of Medicare' stayed true to his socialist beliefs -- often at the cost of his own political fortune -- and earned himself the respect of millions of Canadians in the process.

As a trivia note, Douglas' grandson is Kiefer Sutherland of "24" fame.

I particularly enjoyed the story of the woman who drove across the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to Windsor to get medicine. Yes, she was breaking Canadian law, which makes it illegal for non-citizens to get medicine. She had apparently listed the address of her Canadian friend in Windsor. But I can understand her predicament.

Ironically, as the film notes, she could have married her friend, and then legally received the medicine.

Moore also talks with a couple of his relatives who are Canadian. We see them buying insurance for when they travel to the U.S. This isn't travel insurance, this is health insurance in case something happens while they are in the States. I had the understanding that Canadians were covered as they travel outside the country, but perhaps I am mistaken.

He also speaks with a gentleman in a golf cart. Moore asks him if he is some kind of liberal for his views on health care. I laughed when he said he was in the Conservative Party. Regardless of party affiliation in Canada, universal health care is accepted in Canada.

For those who argue that Moore has exaggerated the praise for Canada, perhaps that is so. But compared to the U.S. system, every consensus is that Canada's system is better. Nobody has argued otherwise. We could discuss how long some have to wait for elective surgeries or the tax impact (though Moore does address that in the movie).

Does Canada's program need improvement? Yes. Is it still better than the U.S. and can the U.S. learn from how Canada does things? Yes.