If they made a show where they went to different countries and interviewed American expats about their experiences with the health care there, followed them to a routine doctor's visit, etc. But to present it in as objective a manner as possible. It would be interesting to see how people who have lived with both American health care and health care in another country view the systems in other countries.

9/28/2009 2:44:02 AM

I agree that it would be interesting, but such a project would pick up a partisan label so quickly (the side depending upon which it ends up favoring) that its message would probably be muted before it gains traction.

Outside of the politics of it, one would have to pick the cases quite carefully to make it objective. If the US were one of the test cases, one might have a very different experience even from two doctors in the same city under the same insurance scheme let alone the even larger gaps in say a Mayo Clinic vs. an understaffed rural clinic in the middle of nowhere. The same I imagine would apply overseas with care in urban environments differing tremendously from that in poorer rural districts. This gets even more complicated as we go beyond the routine and start going into more complex procedures.

Still, it would be fun to see if the debate hadn't already gained so much vitriol.

9/28/2009 9:37:26 AM

I think it would be good to cover as many aspects as they could. That's how you can get a fuller picture. Say they went to Japan, talked to people who work in a big, well-funded hospital in Tokyo, then a small one in the middle of nowhere that is about to close from lack of funds. Talk to expats living in various areas about the good and the bad. Throw in some stats about how much of the country's GDP is spent on health care, how much is taken out of people's paychecks towards health care, etc.

9/28/2009 10:43:13 AM

You would also need to have Ex-pats of other countries talk about their experience with care in America.

9/28/2009 11:10:10 AM

Why do we use "percent of GDP spend on healthcare"? We export healthcare, so its like being upset the Swiss spent more on banking.

Consumer spending on healthcare is still higher than other countries, even after adjusting theirs up to account for their citizens buying healthcare in the U.S. But it is not nearly as extreme as the politicians say it is.

9/28/2009 4:26:24 PM

^^ Yeah, that could be a whole different series of episodes of its own. Or you could do an hour show split half and half between American expats in the country and that country's expats in America.

9/28/2009 5:54:58 PM

They already made a movie called "Sicko." Incidentally, the only Michael Moore movie to date that I could stand. It already did a lot of this.

9/29/2009 12:09:23 AM

Yeah I remember him talking to those people in France. But it would be interesting to hear from other expats that maybe have had less favorable experiences as well. And to hear from people in all sorts of countries. I really do think you could make a whole series out of it if you wanted to.

9/29/2009 12:21:12 AM

The problem is that you can find people with less favorable experiences everywhere, including here. As was said earlier, this is impossible to do without bias, real or suggested. Even if you find that 99% of expats had a better experience abroad, the opposition will get that other 1% to yell their heads off about their problems.

9/29/2009 12:39:04 AM

You're absolutely right but I think it would be good to hear both sides in an objective and non screamy manner Just as you can find people who will always talk ill about anything you'll find the ones that will talk good about anything. So if you give both ends of the spectrum a rational venue in which to talk, such as in an objective as possible documentary series, people can watch it and decide for themselves what to think of the perspectives offered.

I think this sort of insight would be nice since it seems like all I've seen on TV since getting home is people screaming and shouting at each other but nobody seems to be really screaming and shouting about anything at all

9/29/2009 1:01:42 AM

The problem here is that one side can be more rational than the other, and it doesn't matter. Both sides have enormous amounts of influence to throw at the question. In an "impartial" debate, both sides will scream at each other. In a "rational" debate, one side will look better than the other -- and the "other" will cry foul and start screaming about it.

I applaud the concept, which is that maybe people are capable of discussing the issue without foaming at the mouth. Sadly, at this point, I've abandoned such optimism. I can watch people scream at each other on any major news network.

9/29/2009 3:05:41 AM