LITTLE ROCK - The producer of Michael Moore's documentary on the U.S. health-care system, "Sicko," suggests that Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's criticism of the filmmaker may be motivated more by his need for campaign funds than his concerns for Americans' health.
The former Arkansas governor told reporters in a conference call that he hasn't seen and probably won't see the Flint, Mich., native's documentary, which calls for an overhaul of America's health care system.
"Frankly, Michael Moore is an example of why the health care system costs so much in this country. He clearly is one of the reasons that we have a very expensive system. I know that from my own personal experience," said Huckabee, who lost more than 110 pounds and became an avid runner after he was diagnosed with diabetes.
"I know how much more my health care cost when I didn't take care of myself than when I do take care of myself, not only in terms of doctor visits but regular diseases, illnesses, chronic things that come up, monthly prescription bills," Huckabee said. "All of those things have gone dramatically down since I've taken care of myself and worked to live a healthier lifestyle."
No comment could be obtained from Moore, but Meghan O'Hara, producer of "Sicko," questioned Huckabee's motives in criticizing Moore.
"Looks like Mike Huckabee is auditioning for some insurance company dough, since he's raised just about no money and sparked zero interest since jumping into the race," O'Hara said in a response provided by Moore's production office. "I wonder what the good governor would say to the French, who drink more, smoke more, eat more cheese and still live longer than us despite paying less for health care?"
Huckabee also singled out Moore for flying to Cuba in March for the documentary to obtain health care for a group of ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers.
"Let me ask you, have you ever met anybody when they were really sick say, 'Oh my gosh, I have a desperate disease. Get me to Havana, I've got to have the best health care in the world,' " Huckabee said.
Huckabee earlier told reporters that there should be a greater push toward insurance companies paying for preventive measures such as nutrition counselling and cancer screenings that would cut down on higher health costs in the future.
"Anything we could do to help steer people to healthier habits comes back to us many times over and that's a real focus that needs to happen," Huckabee said.
"Right now, insurance companies will pay $100,000 or more for a quadruple bypass but wouldn't pay a couple hundred dollars for a person to have nutrition counselling and maybe to work with an exercise physiologist to determine how to get those extra pounds off. ... It's a lot better to spend some more money on the prevention side than it is on the intervention side."
Huckabee is not the first Republican presidential hopeful to target Moore.
On Tuesday, Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani said promises of universal health care are hollow and simply not manageable.
"If you try to do socialized medicine, a la Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama or Michael Moore, you're going to end up with a disaster," the former New York mayor said.
O'Hara said the comments by Huckabee and Giuliani illustrated problems with the Republican approach to reducing health-care costs.
"No wonder the Republicans are in such trouble - their entire plan to fix the health care system in this country is to tell people to lose weight," she said. "Maybe if Mike Huckabee and his Republican friends stopped sucking up to health-insurance campaign contributors they wouldn't feel the need to blame Americans for this crisis. Just because he stopped eating Twinkies by the bushel doesn't make that an outline for a national health care plan.
"There's nothing worse than a reformed smoker - or Twinkie eater for that matter - preaching conversion."
In May, Fred Thompson - who is widely expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination - criticized the filmmaker in an online video over his trip to Cuba.
