I am an admitted liberal, but I try to be an educated one (as I’m sure most of us do). So, when I can stomach it, I watch GOP TV (AKA Fox News), I check out Redstate and Free Republic time to time, and yes I read Drudge. Of all these, I usually check out Drudge the most because it is the lesser of all these evils. I can generally read it without consuming an entire bottle of Pepto.
So, when I’m at drudge I read their attacks on Edwards, which usually are a rehash of "He does a lot for poverty BUT HE GOT AN EXPENSIVE HAIRCUT!" I click on the headlines that say Gore bought endangered Chilean Sea Bass, but fail to mention that Gore in fact dined at a restaurant that also serves non-endangered, commercially raised Chilean sea bass. So when I saw this headline:
SiCKO patients got VIP treatment in Cuba...
I decided to read on.
Three New York rescue workers injured in the September 11 attacks got the best treatment Cuba can offer in Michael Moore's film critique of U.S. health care, the Cuban doctors who attended them said this week.
Alright, the patients were treated well in Cuba. Maybe they forgot the part about how Cubans usually can’t get a band-aid without waiting sixteen hours. The writer probably overlooked it.
The 9/11 responders spent 10 days on the 19th floor of Cuba's flagship hospital with a view of the Caribbean sea, a sharp contrast to many Cuban hospitals that are crumbling, badly lit, and which lack equipment and medicines.
NOW, we are getting to the meat! This doesn’t mention that this Caribbean hospital is only for wealthy visitors to the island, but I’m sure this is the case and no normal Cuban citizen can be treated here. But the smoking gun here is all of those crumbling, badly lit hospitals with a lack of equipment and medicines (actually, that does kind of sound like hospitals near where I grew up[note the per capita income]).
The 750-bed Hermanos Almejeiras is Cuba's main hospital for heart and liver transplants with a staff of 500 doctors and 800 nurses.
Cuban health officials say they have given priority to preventing disease by renovating a network of 498 neighborhood health centers across the island that bring health care closer to people's homes.
So if I compare that to the size and population of Cuba, that works out to 1 hospital per 81 square miles, or 1 per 14,602 people.
Hey, how’s our hospital situation in the United States?
There are 5794 hospitals in the United States.
Alright, so compared to our size and population that works out to....
1 hospital per 641 square miles or 1 per 51,777 people. Let me get this strait. Those hospitals that have fewer supplies, dim lights and crumbling buildings (sound familiar?) actually serve two-thirds fewer patients and an area 560 square miles smaller? Oh, and there are hospitals that are available which are better suited for more specialized medical attention (than the 498 community hospitals which are at worst Walter-Reed-esque)? Okay, so where is the "hit" in this hit piece?
There were given a barrage of tests, including a psychological evaluation, and new dosages of medication. One got a tooth implant for a jaw fractured at Ground Zero.
The main difference with their treatment in the United States: there was no bill...
But the hospital where SiCKO's patients were treated is an exception in Cuba, where patients of many other hospitals complain they have to take their own sheets and food.
THE TRUTH COMES OUT!!! Moore’s film is skewed because he did not show the heroes of September 11th bringing a sack lunch and a set of bed sheets! Michael Moore, you charlatan, you!