Cult US documentary-maker Michael Moore told Italians on Friday not to take their universal health care system for granted and took fire at former premier Silvio Berlusconi for allegedly undermining it during his five years in power.
In Rome to present his latest film Sicko, Moore told a packed press conference that "you (Italians) can't complain, even though there are obviously some cracks in the system".
"Whether the government is Right or Left, you have a national health system which gives you the right to see a doctor. We don't have that right in the United States, and it's a disgrace," said the Oscar-winning filmmaker.
Sicko, which opens across Italy on Friday night, explores the defects of the profit-driven American medical care system, which Moore argues favours the pharmaceutical and insurance companies rather than the patient.
It compares the system to the free, universal health care, termed 'socialised medicine', available in countries like Canada, France, Britain and Cuba.
The movie opens with an uninsured carpenter with two severed finger tips who must decide if he wants his ring finger to be reattached for $12,000 or his middle finger for $60,000. Unable to afford the more expensive operation, the uninsured worker opts for his ring finger.
Another sequence in the film shows poor hospital patients being dumped on skid row in Los Angeles.
Sicko notes that some 50 million Americans lack health insurance.
But it also goes on to show that many people who think they are covered by their insurance find themselves denied the medical care they need.
Moore told Italian reporters on Friday: "In the US, we have 50 million people who can't afford to go to the doctor, and the same goes for lots of people who are covered by insurance. It's a real crime.
"Many Americans have lost their homes in curing themselves. Show me one Italian who has lost his or her home because of medical costs".
The 53-year-old director pointed out that the World Health Organisation had ranked Italy second among major countries in terms of the quality of its overall health care, with France claiming the No.1 spot.
Moore quipped that the Italians could probably overtake the French if they substituted brown pasta for white.
MOORE RAPS BERLUSCONI.
The director went on to attack centre-right opposition chief Berlusconi, who was in power from 2001-2006.
Moore accused Berlusconi of "trying to cut the welfare network by reducing spending", saying the billionaire media mogul was "somebody who admired America and tried to copy it".
He urged the current centre-left government headed by Premier Romano Prodi to "repair the damage caused by Berlusconi".
At the end of the press conference, which was attended by Health Minister Livia Turco, Moore wrapped up with a Biblical reference, commenting immediately afterwards: "Berlusconi won't be entering the Kingdom of Heaven, that's for sure".
Turco said afterwards that she hoped Italians would go to see Sicko.
"It's an important film. Above all, it reminds us that illness and frailty are part of the human condition and at such times, it is necessary for someone to take care of those who fall sick," she said.
"I hope that Italians who see the picture will appreciate our own health care system more. We often complain about it but it really should be treasured," the minister said.
Moore's previous film, the anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, clinched the top prize at Cannes in 2004.
The director won the best documentary Oscar in 2003 for Bowling for Columbine, a film denouncing America's gun culture.
