About the movie sicko?

Question

I'm a big fan of Micheal Moore's films, but my aunt lives in England and my dad has type 2 diabetes and had a double by-pass, but might need to have heart surgery again. We asked her about what we saw in in the movie about England, she said that you could go and see the doctor but you would still have to pay.........I'ld like to here from anyone in any other country that can tell me if that movie is accurate.

Are there any countries where you can get serious medical care like heart surgery for free? And what are the rules for foreigners? In the movie they said that you don't have to pay for college in France, is that so?

Answer 1

DONT EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER PUT TO MUCH THOUGHT INTO WHAT THAT CRAZY MAN SAYS.

Answer 2

I don't get why so many people listen to Moore about anything, including health care. He is just a whiny liberal with to much money.

Answer 3

In France, you don't pay if you need care, especially emergency care. I never received a bill from my ER visits.

In France, you pay extra if you go see a specialist that charges more than the normal fee. or if you go see a specialist without a referral I think.  French people do have health insurance on the side as well for the extra costs (eyes for one, orthodentistry, etc)

I went back to France in May ( don't have their Carte Vitale since I am not a resident anymore) and I paid 20 euros to see an awesome doctor who resolved my ear problem that no one in the STates could do in 3 years. The doctor took the time to ask questions, to check me... no assistant, no nurses, a real doctor just for me.

Dentist: 2 cavities fixed, full x ray, + my husband visit and mine total without insurance/non resident: 98 euros.

So even without insurance or their carte vitale, it's cheaper to get care in France!

About education I seriously payed 2,200 francs for a year included extra health insurance (for my eyes) so divide that by 6.5 and you get the price in Euros: NOTHING basically for a year in a good university!

But people pay taxes. that's it. If everyone pays, you don't pay a lot individually.

As for the UK example in Sicko (I love Michael Moore's docs) I was jumping on my seat.... becasue Uk residents go to France to get cancer therapy... because referrals can take forever in the UK, so I would say the worst system in Europe is the UK one, ask any european citizen, so I was surprised Moore chose the UK as an example.

Edit: Also, your aunt probably pays because she does not go to the Public Healthcare system, like a lot of UK people. That's why she pays. MOore took the public healthcare example, but not all UK residents use that system. Your aunt probably goes to a private practitioner, or a private clinic... my thought on that. I lived in London for a while and i never used their public healthcare system, because it was too long a wait  for a specialist appointment.... that's the issue, if you need a specialist, it takes forever.

EDit 2: what I would do if someone I know needed surgery very badly and could not afford it. I would take that person to France (because I am French and I know the system) and bring him to the ER and then if it's an emergency, they will do the surgery. But I am not a doctor, I don't know the exact conditions of your Dad, and whether he can travel or not. Why not try Canada, they don't refuse people at the ER. ER is ER, if they have to treat you, they will.

I told my husband that if his parents need care, we will bring them back to France. but travel can be stressful, you need to speak the language etc... You should really try Canada, it's closer.

Also, I know the French consulate asked my American friends who wanted to emigrate in France for health insurance. If you go as a tourist, and something happens to you there, they will care for you for sure, but they might go after your travel insurance? which might go after you if they find out it's a pre-existing condition... so I would do a research about that.

Also check medical tourism in India, Morocco etc it's cheaper to get care there and they are good.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Well,  there is no such thing as "free" medical care anywhere because someone pays for it and when that someone is government then they are just taking money from the people by way of taxes. For people who don't have money that's a great system because they can freeload off of the money of others.

Your question is whether there is any country in the world that will let you freeload off its citizens and, to the best of my knowledge the answer is no.  

Most countries with national health care will allow a foreigner limited access for emergencies but they will not foot the bill for complex surgical procedures. And, in any case, most such procedures must be scheduled far in advance and therefore beyond the time limit for a tourist visa.

Education in France is not exactly free. There are some fees that must be paid but they are very low at most public Universities. There are some private colleges in France and they can be quite expensive.

EDIT: If getting someone else to pay for something that you haven't earned isn't "freeloading" then exactly what is it?

Your need does not create an obligation in others to satisfy your need.

What I would do is not relevant because of what I have DONE which is to provide myself with excellant health insurance despite its high cost.

To do so I had to forego buying other things but accepted that as a self employed person I had no choice but to forego buying that nifty new car or getting the latest new gadget so that I could afford to. Yes, that meant that feckless, irresponsible people heaped scorn on me for not "keeping up with the Jones"  but now I can sit by and watch them suffer the consequences of their profligate and reckless behavior with a perfectly clear conscience.

EDIT 2: The French, conttrary to the misinformation supplied below, are the most heavily taxed people in Europe. A single person's average tax burden is slightly in excess of 50% of their income. The tax burden of the average family of four is about 40%. Ther "free" health care costs more in taxes than the best private health insurance premiums in the United States.

What we see in the USA is that people CHOOSE to spend their far greater disposable incomes on vastly bigger houses than the French live in (on average more than twice as big) , more clothes, more gadgets, bigger, more gas guzzling cars, and a bunch of things other than health insurance premiums. In America they have that CHOICE. Of course choice that is exercised irrespinsibly can produce unfortunate results. That is one of the problems with freedom but Americans, at least in the past,  haven't wanted to give up their freedom to Gauleiters and Commisars.