Moore has called 'Sicko' a "comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on earth."
Michael Moore’s upcoming health-care documentary "Sicko" promises to take the health-care industry to task in the way Moore confronted America's love for guns in "Bowling for Columbine" and rip up George W. Bush over his handling of September 11th in "Fahrenheit 9/11." In February, Moore took about 10 ailing workers from the Ground Zero rescue effort in Manhattan for treatment in Cuba, according to an unidentified source working for the filmmaker.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control got wind of this trip and notified Moore in a letter that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba. A copy of the letter was obtained Tuesday by the AP.
"This office has no record that a specific license was issued authorizing you to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba," Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations, wrote in the letter to Moore. Moore is in Cuba making "Sicko."
Moore has commented on the making of “Sicko” which he claims is 75% completed. On his website on July 7, 2006, Moore posted a lengthy letter regarding the documentary's future. "We've spent the better part of this year shooting our next movie, "Sicko." As we've done with our other films, we don't discuss them while we are making them. If people ask, we tell them "Sicko" is "a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on earth."
For many Americans the lack of health care is not comical. Yet, Moore appears confused by the response he receives, while "throwing himself at the wolves" and placing himself in a position of huge controversy. He continues in his letter, "And if you don't hear much from me in the meantime, it's only 'cause I'm busy working. I realize that my silence doesn't stop the opposition with their weird obsession for me! It seems like not a week passes without my good name being worked into some nutty news story or commentary."
It is true that the U.S. appears to be a wealthy country that cares little for the health of its citizens. Doctors, drugs and treatments are big business in this country and have almost nothing to do with healing. This trend will continue, as medicine is simply a way to make money and to make pharmaceutical conglomerates more powerful. It’s the American way, Mr. Moore, until it isn't anymore.
