Moore recalls when health care wasn’t ‘Sicko’

updated 4:48 p.m. ET June 27, 2007

LOS ANGELES - “The doctor will see you now,” says a Hollywood publicist as she opens a door for a reporter at Los Angeles city hall.

Alone inside a conference room there is Michael Moore, who has just finished speaking at a rally outside with supporters of universal health coverage for Americans.

An Academy Award winner for the 2002 gun-control documentary “Bowling for Columbine” and the filmmaker behind 2004’s President Bush-bashing “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Moore returns with “Sicko,” his dissection of the nation’s health care infirmities.

Moore, 53, presents horror stories of Americans who have gone bankrupt and lost loved ones after health insurers denied coverage. He contrasts public health care coverage in Canada, Great Britain and France with the U.S. private system. He visits Cuba for treatment of ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers, a trip that has prompted the U.S. Treasury Department to investigate Moore for potential violations of the trade embargo prohibiting travel there.

“Sicko” opened at one theater in New York City last weekend and played in sneak previews around the country Saturday night in advance of its nationwide release this Friday.

Since 1989’s General Motors critique “Roger & Me,” Moore has been breaking box-office records for documentaries, with “Bowling for Columbine” topping $20 million domestically and “Fahrenheit 9/11” shooting past $100 million.

The Weinstein Co. — co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, the former Miramax boss who championed “Fahrenheit 9/11” — is releasing “Sicko.”

Moore sat down with the AP to discuss how “Sicko” will resonate with audiences and policy-makers on the health care issues.

AP: In “Sicko,” you stop to ask what’s wrong with a nation that might put profit ahead of people’s welfare. Do you view your whole body of work as a sort of diagnosis of a sick society?

Moore: That’s probably a good way to put it. I clearly got into this in part because I love the movies, and so the idea of making a movie seemed like an exciting thing to do. But then the stories I wanted to tell seemed to be pretty much based around an America that I thought could do better. And I believe that we’re capable of much more.

AP: What effect do you hope “Sicko” has on the health care debate?

Moore: I went to some of the screenings last weekend, both in New York and the sneak previews last Saturday. People were leaving the theaters ready to ask the ushers, “Can you direct me to the torches?” I think the health insurance industry, the pharmaceutical companies are in for some pretty bad times here. I don’t think people are going to tolerate this any more. They’re going to demand legislation. They’re going to demand that we have universal health care.

AP: At the end of the movie, you encourage people to eat their fruits and veggies and go for a walk. Are you following your own advice?

Moore: I’ve been going for a walk every day and losing some weight. Eating a little different. I’m feeling a little better right now. A little more energy. While I was finishing the film, sitting in the editing room, I just started thinking, geez, I’m seeing myself on the screen. This is so hypocritical. You’re making a health care film, and you’re not taking care of your own health. So I just started doing it. I’ve lost about 30 pounds. I’ve got a ways to go, but yeah.

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