Sicko Page #11

and for all of us in America!

Tonight is dedicated to you!

Don't forget about the raffles going on

over there - one dollar each.

I spent two and a half years down there.

I got upper and lower

breathing problems.

I need a double lung transplant,

but was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis.

I haven't slept in a bed in over five years,

I sleep on a chair with a blanket,

because if I lay down I can't breathe.

(Moore) There were hundreds

of rescue workers on 911

who were not city employees.

But rather ran down to Ground Zero

on their own to help out.

We need volunteers for first aid!

(Moore) And many developed

serious respiratory illnesses.

That's when the government said:

"They're not our responsibility

because they weren't on our payroll. "

John Graham is an EMT volunteer

from Paramus. New Jersey.

He was in Lower Manhattan

when he heard the planes hit.

And rushed over to help.

He worked in the rescue effort

for the next few months.

But then had trouble

receiving benefits for his illness.

They just deny you for any reason.

It's just a terrible waiting game.

I really feel like

they're waiting for you to die.

It's terrible.

I never thought that we would do this,

that the United States would do this.

(Moore) William Maher is a volunteer

member of New Jersey's fire service.

He spent to months

working near The Pile at Ground Zero.

Recovering bodies or body parts.

And it deeply affected him.

I'm experiencing

a lot of disturbing dreams,

or whatever you'd like to call them,

and it affected

what I was doing at night,

and unaware of it because I was asleep

and I just kept

grinding and grinding my teeth.

The upper fronts are damaged,

practically beyond repair,

because of my constant grinding

over the last three years.

I've been before a workers' comp board

already for the 9/11 volunteers' fund.

I've been denied three times, and hopefully

I will go on my fourth appeal soon,

if I can get the necessary documentation.

(Moore) Of course.

There was a $50 million fund set up

supposedly to help rescue workers.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the governor of New York, George Pataki.

(Moore) But the government.

Like the health insurance companies.

Made it very difficult

for people to receive help.

You have to have spent

a certain amount of time at Ground Zero,

you have to be able to establish that.

You do have to file an affidavit

within the next year,

relating your work experiences

at Ground Zero.

And then, even with all of that,

it's not automatic.

There is a presumption

when certain illnesses occur,

but that presumption can be rebutted

by other medical evidence.

We think it is a very fair approach

that protects our heroes.

I'm sorry.

(Moore) Reggie Cervantes was

a volunteer medical technician on 911.

Nothing makes it go away sometimes.

Not water, not cough medicine, anything.

It's just burning in my throat and irritated

and it just gets me to coughing.

Sometimes I have trouble breathing

'cause I can't catch my breath.

(Moore) Reggie spent her days

at Ground Zero carrying bodies

and treating other rescue workers.

My airway was totally burnt

that first week,

and I had trouble breathing by then.

But we wanted to see

if we could dig anybody up alive,

we wanted to see if we had lost anybody,

if we were still missing somebody.

I wanted to help.

I was trained for this.

You know, you see somebody

who is in need, you help 'em.

(Moore) Reggie had difficulty

getting treatment.

Too sick to work and with no income.

She was forced to quit her job.

And used her savings

to move her and her kids out of the city.

It's hard to figure out

how you're supposed to get help.

We're trying to go about it the right way.

But we're ignored.

(Moore) But not everyone after 911

was ignored by the government.

We're now approaching the five-year

anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

So I'm announcing today

that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,

Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi Binalshibh,

and 11 other terrorists in CIA custody,

have been transferred to

the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

(man #15) On that island are some of the

world's most hardened enemy combatants.

(man #16) These detainees are deadly

and include the 20th hijacker,

as well as a number of Osama bin Laden's

personal bodyguards

and others who had a direct role

in the September 11 attacks.

The kind of people held at Guantanamo

include terrorist trainers, bomb-makers...

Many of them have American blood on

their hands and are the elite of al-Qaida.

It seems to me we have an obligation

to treat these individuals

as enemy combatants.

(Moore) And then I learned

it wasn't all bad news at Gitmo.

(man #16) Detainees representing a threat

to our national security

are given access

to top-notch medical facilities.

They have acute care 24 hours a day,

in which surgical procedures,

everything can be performed right there

in the detainee camps.

This is the dental clinic,

or the health clinic.

We have a physical therapy department,

X-ray capabilities with digital X-rays.

We have one single operating room.

Health personnel to detainee ratio

is one to four, remarkably high.

They do sick call on the blocks three times

per week, care for them there if they can,

or bring that detainee back to the clinic

to be seen there.

Screening for cancer has taken place.

Colonoscopy is a procedure which

is performed there on a routine basis.

We have diabetes,

high blood pressure, high cholesterol.

We monitor the weight

and nutrition of the detainees,

so that we can track those detainees

to make sure we see them frequently,

monitoring their labs

and their overall health.

Their medical attention... They get way

better medical treatment than I've ever had.

- You think it's as good as most US HMOs?

- Certainly very similar and as good, sir.

(man #15) I leave with an impression

that healthcare there is clearly better

than they received at home,

and as good as many people receive

in the United States of America.

(Moore) Wow! So there is actually

one place on American soil

that had free universal healthcare.

That's all I needed to know.

I went down to Miami. Florida.

Got myself a boat.

And loaded up Bill.

And Reggie and John.

John, welcome, sir.

And anyone else I could find who needed

to see a doctor and couldn't afford one.

So many people showed up.

I had to get a couple extra boats.

And I called up Donna Smith from Denver.

Who is now on nine different medications.

And asked her

if she'd like to come along.

I figured she'd like to get out

of her daughter's basement for a while.

All right, let's go.

Which way to Guantanamo Bay?

Can we go?

We're not going to Cuba!

We're going to America!

It's American soil!

We made it.

There it is.

There's the runway.

That's the prison over there

where the detainees are.

- (Reggie) We're very close.

- Yeah, we're very close.

The white building is the hospital, I think.

OK, let's go.

(Moore) We commandeered a fishing boat

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