Sicko makes some people sick

“A multifaceted counteroffensive against Michael Moore’s film about the health care industry” is beginning, reports Elizabeth Solomont. To counter the movie Sicko, “free market think tanks and the drug companies are already mobilizing. …

Several organizations staging responses to Sicko receive funding from pharmaceutical companies, including the Manhattan Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Pacific Research Institute,” notes Solomont, citing SourceWatch. “It definitely has to be rebutted,” said the Pacific Research Institute’s Sally Pipes. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America’s Ken Johnson called the film a “biased, one-sided attack.”

Health Care America, “whose web site says it is funded in part by pharmaceutical manufacturers,” held a conference call with reporters, “to discuss what Michael Moore left out of his movie.”

A press release from FreedomWorks says the conservative lobbying group will also weigh in, with its “nationwide grassroots army … handing out information at movie theaters that exposes Moore’s hypocrisy, points out the problems associated with government-run health care, and promotes the FreedomWorks solution of removing existing government barriers that prevent Americans from being able to use the free market to choose the care that suits their individual needs.”