.... commentary on it??? Once again it went over my head... I do not like the medical system we have or didn't until I had a heart attack and the system jumped into gear, took over, got me stabalized, rushed me 58 minutes to the nearest hospital through mountain passes at record speeds, saved my life and then within 48 hours put a stint in my heart, brought me back to where I needed to be.

When I was released they helped me with financial aid as I had no insurance or funds. It was the quickest and most painless piece of analysis on me that I have ever had and they took care of my financial obligation which was substantial, I am sure you can imagine.

I am recovering and not being stressed out with problems. THAT FINANCIAL AID DID NOT COME FROM THE GOV OR TAX PAYERS. IT CAME FROM A FUND RUN BY THE PRIVATE HOSPITAL WITH DONATIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY. It was private donations that are tax deductible and the hospital was also private.

I have to say I was not only impressed with the efficiency, but with the commitment to my life and health that I experienced. I will never rail against the system again. The medications which were very expensive I received free from the drug companies based on my fiancial approval from the hospital. So, I am not sure what everyone is talking about given what happened to me.

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In 1992, my friend dislocated both joints in his pinky. He had been a bit sunburnt, but the pain turned him gray. The small town took him to the clinic to have it set, but then they wanted to make sure there were no broken bones. They rushed him in an ambulance (30 miles) to a bigger town where they took x-rays and found no broken bones.

His cost for all (including x-ray and ambulance ride) of this $10, the location Costa Rica.

For the earlier poster that was happy with the aid he qualified for, lucky him and I am glad he was lucky both the procedure and the financial support. However, I am sure there are many folks that will hit that bittersweet spot, where they make just enough money to not qualify for aid, but really need it.

As to the point of this post, I think it is google is trying to make money off of ad buys from the health industry to counter the negative influence of SICKO, which costs all (or most) of us. As has been pointed out the administrative costs of private insurers is in the 10-15% range, while Medicaid is about 2%, and marketing is part of that added cost.

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Trust me I am very disappointed that Google would choose to censor the information that I receive when I log on for a search. This disturbs me because now I will suspect that other controversial items may be omitted or not even checked. Bad practice...no matter your personal views, Google absolutely MUST include all info...pro or con. Perhaps Mr. Moore should choose to intestigate search engine practices for his next documentary.

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Lauren Turner of the Google Health Advertising Team writes:

Moore attacks health insurers, health providers, and pharmaceutical companies by connecting them to isolated and emotional stories of the system at its worst.

You're wrong, Lauren.

Everyone I know has a story about health care in this country that is both factual and heartbreaking -- otherwise middle-class families WHO THOUGHT THEY WERE INSURED plunged tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt by errors, connivances and outright corruption on the part of health insurers, often with the outright collusion of health care providers.

And because everyone -- with the exception of Lauren Turner, perhaps -- has experienced this vicious, death-dealing so-called health care system in operation, no amount of Google advertising is going to convince anyone.

Lauren Turner calls Health Insurer Advertising "Education" -- but just wait, Laura, until one of your parents gets sick -- and the paltry 12 weeks UNPAID leave you might get from your job is nowhere near enough to cover the 12 YEARS of full-time nursing care they're going to need...not to mention that their insurance coverage will likely be drained in a matter of weeks.

These "isolated and emotional" stories won't seem so isolated to you anymore. You won't be using "emotional stories" as a term to dismiss injustices that are so enormous, so destructive, so heartless and cruel in their execution that it's a wonder the victims of these injustices don't rend their clothes and sit on the ash heap.

We'll hold out hope that Lauren Turner can grow a conscience and develop some empathy for her fellow human beings.

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So Google is shaking down health insurers to pay them to run ads countering Michael Moore's film? That really is Sicko.

There should be an organized email campaign brought to bear on Lauren Turner and other Google executives for even suggesting such a sleazy campaign. Not only is this a serious abuse of their corporate privilege as a hegemonic provider of net services, but demonstrates how the synergy of search engines and content providers can be extremely dangerous.

The fact that this Alternet account is registered with a gmail account, and that Google is not only in trouble with anti-trust AND anti-privacy laws demonstrates the risk of such monopolies even if likable fellows like Al Gore sit on their boards.

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Read the actual posting by Lauren Turner here.

If you want to have fun, notice at the linked page there is a place to make comments on her posting.

It's obvious that it's purely an advertising pitch aimed at soliciting ad revenue for Google from insurers by dripping with such sympathy for these industry vultures to lure them in. Clever marketing.

Question is, would Lauren Turner write another posting about how horrible the insurance industry is as is demonstrated in the movie SICKO if she's told to solicit ads from health care workers unions? That's hypothetical of course since they don't have the cash the insurance companies have, but I write it to demonstrate the level of sincerety LT has as an adorable p.r. hack, so adorable that she may earn some kind of award, become famous for her cute little p.r. script.

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Google is a $165 billion dollar company, and while everyone knows about the brilliance and philanthropy of Google's founders, perhaps people who be surprised to see who actually owns Google Here are the top five institutional holders:

1. FIDELITY MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH
2. CAPITAL RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT COMPANY
3. Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings LtdAXA
4. AXA
5. VANGUARD GROUP, INC.
6. STATE STREET CORPORATION

Wonder who the top holders of drug manufacturer Pfizer are?

1. Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd
2. STATE STREET CORPORATION
3. VANGUARD GROUP, INC.
4. AXA
5. FRANKLIN RESOURCES, INC
6. CAPITAL RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT COMPANY

How about the top holders of health insurance giant AETNA?

1. Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd
2. STATE STREET CORPORATION
3. VANGUARD GROUP, INC.
4. AXA
5. FRANKLIN RESOURCES, INC
6. CAPITAL RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT COMPANY

This doesn't seem to be about generating more ad revenue for Google - rather, this seems to be about pleasing the corporate financiers on Google's board of directors.

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Quote:
"fails to show healthcare's interest in patient well-being and care."

Actually, from a Mel Brooks movie would be more accurate...

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Guess the internet and its search engines aren't free of corporate corruption, either. Why am I NOT surprised?

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add this line to your hosts file

127.0.0.1 ads.google.com

And you'll never see another google ad again.

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Moore’s film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare’s interest in patient well-being and care.

This kind of commentary makes me call into serious question the validity of Google Health coverage. Even when I worked for the pharmaceutical industry writing health content our employers would never have deigned to try to convince the public that the industry wasn't sticking it to the average American. That;'s because you want people to buy into your message, which is impossible if you feed them a load of bull.

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