Michael Moore's revenge...T.R. Reid walking in 'Sicko' s footsteps

T.R. Reid a former 'Washington Post' correspondent in Japan, among other assignments, is walking in a path well trod by film maker Michael Moore. Reid's on 'Frontline' and is presenting his take on healthcare in 7 industrial countries--the UK, Taiwan, Germany, Holland, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan. Each with complete coverage for all citizens and at a cost lower than anything the for profit assurance companies can match in the mighty US. Why? Strict regulation of the insurance industry! Although Reid's daughter had care in a London hospital at no cost to him, a non resident with a fat cheque book, he thinks the UK model has the bad odour of too much government intervention, read the old bugaboo 'socialised medicine', which is not an uncommon attitude especially among the white shoe elitist Reid is. What he does admit however, is that all the countries he's visited, in everyone of them the government has intervened strongly and oversees the system. So isn't that a form of socialisation? Yes, it is, but not for deep pockets Reid. Nonetheless, his programme and book will help inch the US to universal healthcare. He favours Otto von Bismarck's German model which he thinks will fit America's experience. Why he left out France boggles the imagination since he readily admits it has a top notch system which will pay bills from another EU country should a French national seek healthcare there for any reason! It is useless to speculate why this wellbred American sniffs at the French. What is sure and certain, he won't get the flak Michael Moore's 'Sicko' did. Although Moore's film stated clearly and fortrightly the case for universal healthcare in the US. Moore made the cardinal sin of rubbing the US' nose into Cuba's excellent though barebones health system. Reid's discourse is more acceptable since he belongs to the old boys' network and is a Washington insider. Reid predicts the new president who assumes power on 20 January 2009 will proclaim universal healthcare. Is he too sanguine?