according to Moore Monday on Democracy Now!

MICHAEL MOORE: Well, I actually -- I had a TV show on back in the '90s called TV Nation, and one day I just -- I thought it would be interesting to have like a race. So we sent a camera crew to an emergency room in Fort Lauderdale, a camera crew to an emergency room in Toronto, and then one to Havana. And they would each wait until someone came in with a broken arm or a broken leg. And then they were going to follow that person through and see how good the quality of the care was, how fast it was and how cheap it was. And I convinced Bob Costas and Ahmad Rashad, sportscasters, to do the play-by-play of what we called the Healthcare Olympics. And so, it was a race between the US, Canada and Cuba. And to make a long story short, Cuba won. They had the fastest care, the best care, and it cost nothing.
We turn the show in to NBC that week, and we get a call from the censor. They're not called "the censor," they're called Standards & Practices. And so, this woman calls. She's the head of Standards & Practices -- Dr. Somebody. I don't know they -- she actually had a "Dr." before her name, but I forget her last name now. But she calls, and she says, "Mike, Cuba can't win." I said, "What?" "Cuba can't win." "Well, they won. What do you mean they can't win? They won." "No, we can't say that on NBC. We can't say that Cuba won." "Well, yeah, but they won! They provided the fastest care. They were the cheapest. And the patient was happy, and the bone got fixed." "No, it's against regulations here." I said, "Oh, well, I'm not changing it."
Well, they changed it. They changed it. Two days later, when it aired, they changed it so that Canada won. And Canada didn't win. Canada almost won, but they charged the guy $15 for some crutches on the way out. So it's bugged me to this day that anybody who saw that episode, you know, where it said, you know, "and Canada won the Healthcare Olympics," and in fact it was Cuba, but that couldn't be said on NBC, because God knows what would happen.

As Moore mentioned yesterday on the radio, the point he was trying to make was that the US government is spending all kinds of money to treat the prisoners (alleged terrorists) in Guantanamo and not extending the same kind of free treatment for its own citizens in the US.

Filming a scene in Sweden or Canada surely would have shown that those countries have great health care systems but would not have been able to make the point that Moore was trying to make (i.e. that the US government is completely hypocritical)

however, back to your point.  the cuban trip is probably very much publicity driven, but it also worked very well in the edit.  for example, how much more poetic to see three fishing boats head off to gitmo than to watch people board a plane to europe?  besides he also visits canada, london, and paris.  i  took exception to how he characterized the detainees at gitmo as the most dangerous of the dangerous as it is becoming increasingly clear how many men we have unjustly incarcerated, but i do understand his premise of revealing the hypocrisy and injustice within the american government and health system.  the cuba scenes were actually very moving and gave him a great way to tie together different stories in the film and make a final statement.  moore is not an easy man to work with, but he has created an crucial film/tool which reveals exactly how low this country has fallen and what dire straits we are in.

With SiCKO, though, I'm willing to bet Moore mostly sticks to the facts.

It's true that I wish Michael Moore were a wee bit more scrupulous with the facts in his films,

it's true i wish pundits were a bit more scrupulous with their comments, especially when they fail to provide evidentiary support for said claims. but now i'm just being nit picky.

i hear and read this assertion constantly, about mr. moore's productions. however, just as constantly, not one shred of supporting evidence is ever actually provided by the commentator. why do you suppose that might be, he asked?

how about this? the republican party, and right-wing media, have been drumming this supposed truth into our heads since "roger and me". it has now become accepted wisdom that mr. moore prevaricates in his documentaries, even in the absence of any actual proof to that effect.

The reason I wonder is that, although reports are that their is full employement in Cuba, in fact, many, many people of working age are standing about on work days during work hours.