Cohn, LA Times on Moore

The New Republic's Jon Cohn reviews Michael Moore's "Sicko" here. Definitely worth reading, as are the dozens of comments, many from France that is a major point of comparison both in the film and the review. If nothing else, we're going to learn a lot about alternative health care delivery systems as the debate over health care insurance reform unfolds.

Meanwhile, a news story yesterday in the Los Angeles Times highlights the tension between the plans offered by leading Democratic Party presidential contenders and Moore's call for a single-payer national health insurance system. This story highlights another issue raised in the Cohn review: If Moore's film turns the debate over the failures of our own system into another endless argument over long lines in Canada or Cuba, we'll never get beyond the insurance debate to the really serious issue confronting America: the deteriorating condition of our children's health and the likelihood that for the first time in American history, the next generation may live shorter lives than the previous generation. A new study that comes out next week (still embargoed so I can't talk about it) will reveal some startling data along those lines.