Health Care America Welcomes Michael Moore's Honesty, but Condemns Health Care 'Proposal' as a Recipe for Disaster

Health Care America Welcomes Michael Moore's Honesty, but Condemns Health Care 'Proposal' as a Recipe for Disaster

WASHINGTON, June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Health Care America, a non- partisan, non-profit health care advocacy organization, released the following statement in response to filmmaker Michael Moore's three-part proposal for health reform.

"We give Michael Moore credit for being honest about his true goal: a total government takeover of health care. While we welcome any serious discussion generated by his new movie, SiCKO, and believe that every American deserves access to affordable, quality care, Moore's "proposal," which includes abolishing private health coverage and treating drug manufacturers like a "public utility," is not a serious solution.

"Government-run health care seems like a simple answer to fix the challenges facing our health care system, but in reality, government-run health care systems around the world force patients onto long waiting lists, ration care, limit access to lifesaving medicines and often deny urgent treatments. A recent survey has shown that ninety-four percent (94%) of Americans say they don't want to scrap our current system for this kind of government-controlled model," said Sarah Berk, executive director of Health Care America.

Patients in Canada's government-run system currently wait over 17 weeks between the time they are seen by a general practitioner and a specialist; in fact, wait times in Canada are at an all-time high despite increased spending. Many Canadian patients are forced to come to the US each year for procedures - - many of them lifesaving -- they can't obtain in their own country.

"We all believe that Americans should be able to access health care based upon their needs and not their ability to pay. But a radical government takeover of our system is not the place to start: we need to fix what is broken, while protecting the elements of our system that make the U.S. the world leader in the discovery and development of new technologies and medical breakthroughs," concluded Berk.

For examples of how single-payer, government-controlled health care systems are failing to provide care to patients around the world, visit http://www.healthcare-america.org/worldwide/index.cfm.

Health Care America is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization devoted to improving access and affordability to health care for all Americans. Support for Health Care America is provided by a diverse and growing list of organizations, companies and individuals with experience in health care. For more information visit http://www.healthcare-america.org/

Source: Health Care America

CONTACT: Bill Pierce, +1-202-659-7931, for Health Care America

Web site:

http://www.healthcare-america.org/

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