Moyers Blasts Insurers for Denying 'Great Truth' of 'Sicko,' Trying to 'Radicalize' Michael Moore

Photo of Tim Graham.
  • Bookmark and Share

Brent Bozell wrote in his nationally syndicated column on Tuesday that Bill Moyers and his socialist "whistleblower" guest Wendell Potter discussed the genius of Michael Moore. The details are revealing.

Moyers asked if the movie contains a "great truth," and Potter agreed that it does: "That we shouldn't fear government involvement in our health care system. That there is an appropriate role for government, and it's been proven in the countries that were in that movie."

Like Cuba. But Moyers complained the insurers "radicalized Moore, so that his message was discredited because the messenger was seen to be radical." Did Moore really need help?

Here’s more of their Michael Moore discussion:

BILL MOYERS: So what did you think when you saw that film?

WENDELL POTTER: I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie. But the industry, from the moment that the industry learned that Michael Moore was taking on the health care industry, it was really concerned.

MOYERS: What were they afraid of?

POTTER: They were afraid that people would believe Michael Moore.

MOYERS: We obtained a copy of the game plan that was adopted by the industry's trade association, AHIP. And it spells out the industry strategies in gold letters. It says, "Highlight horror stories of government-run systems." What was that about?

POTTER: The industry has always tried to make Americans think that government-run systems are the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, that if you even consider that, you're heading down on the slippery slope towards socialism. So they have used scare tactics for years and years and years, to keep that from happening. If there were a broader program like our Medicare program, it could potentially reduce the profits of these big companies. So that is their biggest concern.

MOYERS: And there was a political strategy. "Position Sicko as a threat to Democrats' larger agenda." What does that mean?

POTTER: That means that part of the effort to discredit this film was to use lobbyists and their own staff to go onto Capitol Hill and say, "Look, you don't want to believe this movie. You don't want to talk about it. You don't want to endorse it. And if you do, we can make things tough for you."

MOYERS: How?

POTTER: By running ads, commercials in your home district when you're running for reelection, not contributing to your campaigns again, or contributing to your competitor.

MOYERS: This is fascinating. You know, "Build awareness among centrist Democratic policy organizations--"

POTTER: Right.

MOYERS: "--including the Democratic Leadership Council."

POTTER: Absolutely.

MOYERS: Then it says, "Message to Democratic insiders. Embracing Moore is one-way ticket back to minority party status."

POTTER: Yeah.

MOYERS: Now, that's exactly what they did, didn't they? They--

POTTER: Absolutely.

MOYERS: --radicalized Moore, so that his message was discredited because the messenger was seen to be radical.

POTTER: Absolutely. In memos that would go back within the industry — he was never, by the way, mentioned by name in any memos, because we didn't want to inadvertently write something that would wind up in his hands. So the memos would usually-- the subject line would be-- the emails would be, "Hollywood." And as we would do the media training, we would always have someone refer to him as Hollywood entertainer or Hollywood moviemaker Michael Moore.

MOYERS: Why?

POTTER: Well, just to-- Hollywood, I think people think that's entertainment, that's movie-making. That's not real documentary. They don't want you to think that it was a documentary that had some truth. They would want you to see this as just some fantasy that a Hollywood filmmaker had come up with. That's part of the strategy.

MOYERS: So you would actually hear politicians mouth the talking points that had been circulated by the industry to discredit Michael Moore.

POTTER: Absolutely.

MOYERS: You'd hear ordinary people talking that. And politicians as well, right?

POTTER: Absolutely.

MOYERS: So your plan worked.

POTTER: It worked beautifully.

MOYERS: The film was blunted, right?

POTTER: The film was blunted. It--

MOYERS: Was it true? Did you think it contained a great truth?

POTTER: Absolutely did.

MOYERS: What was it?

POTTER: That we shouldn't fear government involvement in our health care system. That there is an appropriate role for government, and it's been proven in the countries that were in that movie.

You know, we have more people who are uninsured in this country than the entire population of Canada. And that if you include the people who are underinsured, more people than in the United Kingdom. We have huge numbers of people who are also just a lay-off away from joining the ranks of the uninsured, or being purged by their insurance company, and winding up there.

And another thing is that the advocates of reform or the opponents of reform are those who are saying that we need to be careful about what we do here, because we don't want the government to take away your choice of a health plan. It's more likely that your employer and your insurer is going to switch you from a plan that you're in now to one that you don't want. You might be in the plan you like now.

But chances are, pretty soon, you're going to be enrolled in one of these high deductible plans in which you're going to find that much more of the cost is being shifted to you than you ever imagined.

That last paragraph is a doozy, and here’s why. Remember that Potter appeared on CNN, outraged that conservatives would dare to use "outright lies," that liberals in Washington wanted to impose a Canadian-style single-payer system when they’ve said no such thing. But look at how he’s predicting, without paying any attention to what insurers are actually saying, that "chances are" that insurers are going to bury their customers in high deductible plans.

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.

Read commentsFree email alertsTake action

Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

I haven't watched the movie,

I haven't watched the movie, but my brother who did, called me right after distressed saying if you get sick you need to come home. I said she'll be right, but that was a couple of years ago.

Stupid or Evil (or Both)...

 This type of peoples' complete stupidity, dishonesty, and/or simply wickedness makes me so angry and sick to the utter depth of my soul...

The real healthcare in Cuba

I can't help but imagine that the picture painted by this site, is more accurate than Michael Moore's presentation of the health care system in Cuba.

THIS IS THE FAMOUS 'GREAT AND FREE HEALTHCARE' THAT REGULAR CUBANS RECEIVE

My Lord Gary,

That is some mighty disturbing stuff!

"What a revoltin' development this is!"

Chester Riley

I have a liberal friend who

I have a liberal friend who keeps saying that he'd rather have cheap healthcare than to go bankrupt getting healthcare.

He keeps using the scenario that some people who can't afford health insurance could become impoverished in order to get treatment for cancer etc.

I know the standard answer (you may go bankrupt, but at least you live), but there has to be a better answer that this. 

What say you, guys?

Cheap healthcare. How about...

Funerals aren't cheap! The pain and suffering of the loved ones you leave behind isn't so hot either, or the bills they now have to pay without you around. 

Gary

I want my country back!

The reason healthcare is

The reason healthcare is expensive is because of the middle-man.  It's either an HMO or the taxpayer.  And if the government becomes the middleman the costs will go even higher because what is now only minimal free-market competition will become no competition.  It will be a government-controlled monopoly - the worst kind.  Welfare provides 28 cents of "relief" for every dollar taxed - O-dumbo-care will be far worse...at least welfare recipients can decide for themselves what to spend their payment on... 

You should ask your liberal friend if he/she knows the health-care plan lawmakers get.  They get HSA's, catastrophic coverage and more choices of providers than anyone else in the country - but that's not what we're going to get which is less money in our paychecks and a band-aid for a broken arm.

"If you lose a leg, we'll help you look for it" - Groucho

Well, you could start by

Well, you could start by explaining to him that there is a big difference between health insurance and health care.  When you have a system that gives out "free" services, demand for those services tends to increase dramatically.  People with the sniffles or hangnails will be encouraged to schedule doctor visits because there's no negative cost consequence.  Of course, when demand for services outweighs the system's ability to meet the demand, the supplier (not having the option of using copayments or other price disincentives to thin the herd to those who actually need treatment) is forced to ration services to keep costs in line.  This means waiting weeks or even months for essential procedures...and leaving the decision for whether or not you can be treated not to you and your ability/willingness to pay, but to some bureaucrat who will weigh your needs against the preservation of the system as a whole.  Meanwhile, the House, Senate and White House members who are attempting to shove this poor excuse for "health care" down our throats are on the Cadillac of health care plans...one that they do not intend to sacrifice in order to join the single payer system they're planning for us.

Then consider some of the other reasons that health care is so expensive.  Has your friend given any consideration to the parasitic influence the trial lawyers have had on the current health care system?  For all the money the pharmaceuticals put into R & D to develop the next treatments and/or cures, they get absolutely savaged by Congress and the plaintiff's bar.  The expensive lawsuits, the endless regulation and the populist political climate create villains out of the pharmaceutical companies...building so much cost into getting the medicines to market that they have to charge more to the consumer in order to cover the hefty costs and make some profit.  The sheer harassment of the pharmaceuticals creates a disincentive for them to continue developing treatments because the financial risk becomes too high relative to the potential reward.  Meanwhile, you have greedy shysters like John Edwards driving up the costs to practice through frivolous malpractice lawsuits...inevitably leading to the unnecessary use of expensive tests and other forms of "defensive medicine".

You see, the problem with the health care industry is not that doctors, pharmaceuticals and insurance companies are greedy profiteers who are out to screw poor people.  It is that there's an artificially high consumer demand for unnecessary medical services coupled with a poisonous business climate that discourages good people from even considering the medical profession (would you want to go that far into debt to attend medical school, invest that much time and effort into becoming a doctor only to have some wise-ass shyster like John Edwards ruin you financially because he was able to stack a jury with the dumbest riff-raff going).  It ain't worth the effort! 

If there was tort reform, capping damages on malpractice claims, you would encourage more medically-inclined students to become doctors...more doctors lead to more competition meaning consumers can shop around for the best price.  Meanwhile, stop the legislators and lawyers from harassing the drug companies with frivolous regulation and litigation.  The less they have to spend in the courtrooms, the cheaper they can produce their treatments...and they can pass the savings on to the consumer.  And if people stopped scheduling doctors visits to treat a common cold and instead waited until they really needed to visit the doctor, they would relieve a great deal of pressure from the already existing system.  At that point, you don't need some ineffective, garbage "single payer" system, because the reduction of excessive costs will put health care costs in line with a natural market. 

Then, people can purchase catastrophic health insurance to cover cancer and other such emergencies.  If this doesn't straighten your friend out, slap him around a bit...he's an idiot.

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."  -George Best

Thank you for your answer

Thank you for your answer -- it provides me with a substantive riposte :-)

 

 

It makes sense that a guy

It makes sense that a guy who has been one of the government's chief parasites for more than 40 years (first employed as LBJ's "opposition research" dirty tricks hitman, then as a PBS propagandist goon) would be an apologist for Michael Moore and government "health care".

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."  -George Best

So does that mean,

that if the Republicans are supposedly lead by Limbaugh, that the liberals are being led by Moore?

 I'll take those odds any day!!  Bring on 2010!!!!

Well, NC

The movie that put Moore on the map was a skewering of the 'Auto Industry' and we see what happened to some of those guys once the libs took over. He makes a movie about 'Health Care' and we see where that's going. But ain't it funny how some other guy made a movie about 'Fast Food' and it's relation to the obesity problem. Wonder why?

"What a revoltin' development this is!"

Chester Riley

like a B horror movie ...

Creepers!

Will someone tell me this is a just a nightmare?

This sound like dialogue from a B horror movie.

"Don't be frightened. We won't hurt you."

Wake me up ... please!

It's like my TV is crawling with roaches and spiders. 

At least turn on the light, for goodness sake!

 metaphorsbwithu

Bill Moyers is Sicko

I cannot believe there are people that think Michael Moore is credible.

I found more truth in "An American Carol" about Moore than any of his propaganda films.

My husband's nephew, another piece of lib work, shocked us last year when he said we are idiots and that "Michael Moore is great."

I never want to speak to that idiot again.

Radicalize Michael Moore?

Radicalize Michael Moore? Isn't that a bit like demonizing Satan?

mattm... It sure

mattm...

It sure is.

Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart

Some ''Journal''

As I read this I was reminded of Louis Tully in Ghostbusters II when they were in court.  Louis was ''questioning'' Peter Venkman as Peter was mumbling everything he wanted Louis to ''ask''.

This ''Journal'' show was not so much an interview as it was a anti health system/insurance company 'tag team'.  And I'm wondering how much Michael Moore paid this schlep Potter to stroke him so heavily.  I waiting for ANYONE from the news or entertainment media to go to Canada or Cuba for an operation or treatment.

It wasn't a bad

It wasn't a bad documentary, and had some valid points but all in all it was a propaganda film.  Like with Gore's shtick they insist on taking it as Gospel.

How about the stuff these Libtards always go on about such as thinking critically and presenting both sides of an argument so one can formulate their own judgments?

To them, both sides are Marxism vs. Socialism I guess.

I blame high health costs on a number of factors, mainly government regulation/interference...that seems to be at the core.  There's a real lack of competition and these insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and health insurance companies take advantage of it and rip us off.

A lot of it has to do with what insurance companies health providers will or won't deal with-and some of these companies are real slow to pay out so I can't blame them for being selective.  But that limits choices.  Imagine if car insurance was on the same par as health insurance and what that would be like.

One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).