Opinion Pieces Discuss Role of Health Care Documentary

The New York Times on Thursday published two opinion pieces discussing "Sicko," filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary about the health care industry. Summaries appear below.

• Philip Boffey, New York Times: The documentary is "unashamedly one-sided, superficial, overstated and occasionally suspect in its details," columnist Boffey writes in a Times opinion piece, adding, "But on the big picture -- the failure to ensure that everyone who needs medical care gets it -- Mr. Moore is right." Boffey notes that a single-payer system "would be hard to sell" in the U.S., adding, "Yet the case for some form of universal coverage is strong." Boffey concludes, "Mr. Moore is right to ask how a country that spends so much more on health care than any other nation can't take care of everyone who is sick" (Boffey, New York Times, 7/5).
• Timothy Egan, New York Times: "Let's stipulate that Moore is a one-sided pamphleteer" whose "job is not to find some objective truth, but to anger, challenge, ask hard questions," guest columnist Egan writes in a Times opinion piece. According to Egan, even insured U.S. residents "are stuck with what may be the worst of all systems: One that lets a handful of corporations make life-and-death decisions, with incentive to dump and deny" (Egan, New York Times, 7/5).