• Myth: According to Michael Moore’s Web site, the Associated Press misreported the number of uninsured in America in a story they wrote about incorrect data in his film “SiCKO.”  AP said Moore inflated the number of uninsured people in the U.S. to 50 million. Moore’s Web site countered the AP claim and justified his figure by quoting a U.S. Census Bureau report – “Research shows health insurance coverage is underreported in the [census Current Population Survey - Annual Social and Economic Supplement] for a variety of reasons.”
  

Fact: The U.S. Census Bureau report does indeed admit they underreported their insured number. However, Moore twisted the numbers to support the exact opposite of the report’s conclusion. The number of uninsured is actually less than what the U.S. Census Bureau report states, not more as Moore’s Web site portrayed it, according to report co-author Cheryl Hill Lee.

• Myth: “There are nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance.” – Michael Moore’s Web site, citing the movie “SiCKO.”

Fact: According to the same U.S. Census Bureau report referenced on Moore’s Web site above, there are only roughly 37 million without health insurance if only actual U.S. citizens are included. – “Income, Poverty and Health Insurance: Coverage in the United States: 2005,” the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Myth: Moore keeps insisting health care is free in the United Kingdom and France and that we must adopt that in the United States.

“And the first way that they [the British after World War I] decided to pull together after the war was to provide free medical care for everyone.” – Michael Moore, “SiCKO”
“It is free.” – Michael Moore, July 10 “Larry King Live” program, referring to the French health care system.
Fact: It isn’t free. 

In France
“It’s funded through a 13.55 percent payroll tax, a 5.25 percent income tax and other taxes on tobacco, alcohol and drug-company revenues. And the system is still running a $15.6 billion deficit.” – “Moore’s Sick Rx,” by Michael D. Tanner, CATO Institute.
In the United Kingdom
“It goes without saying that healthcare on the NHS isn’t free. But just how unfree it is gets too little attention. We pay for it through our noses, every month. Next year’s NHS budget will be about £104 billion. That’s roughly £1,733 per man, woman and child. Multiplied by four for a typical two-child family, then divided by 12, that equates to median monthly family healthcare expenditure of £577, or $1,155 in American money. I can buy some very respectable US health insurance for $1,155 a month.” – “Michael, keep away. The NHS is a rip-off,” by Giles Whittell, The Times of London.

• Myth: Moore claimed in “Stupid White Men” that he didn’t own any stock.

Fact: “That year, he reported to the IRS that his foundation had more than $280,000 in corporate stock and close to $100,000 in corporate bonds,” – “Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy,” by Peter Schweizer.

• Myth: Moore in his 1989 film “Roger & Me” attempted to get an interview with Roger Smith, the chairman of General Motors. Moore depicted his attempt to get the interview as a failure because Smith never granted him the interview.

Fact: “For Roger Smith, CEO of GM, had in fact granted a lengthy interview on-film, at the early phase of Moore’s first famous foray in ‘reality-feature’ propaganda. Not that you’ll see that long-ago display of lying – Moore’s film then asserted throughout that Smith was avoiding him as he staked out GM offices, Smith’s home, etc. – to be any reason for Hollywood to dismiss his newest crop of lies.”  – “Michael and Me,” by Steve Finefrock, Hollywood Forum

Compiled by the Business & Media Institute • www.BusinessandMedia.org