Michael Moore, the controversial documentary filmmaker, used a preview screening of his newest film in Manchester yesterday as an occasion to discuss his views on how health care reform should shape the presidential primaries.

"We're here in New Hampshire today because we hope that this film will have an impact on the upcoming elections," Moore said at a press conference held after the screening of his film, Sicko.

The "we" was Moore and members of the California and New England nurses associations. They rallied nurses in busloads to attend the screening and a town hall-type question-and-answer session afterwards. Nurses came, wearing red Sicko t-shirts and visors, many with purple "I'm a health care voter" stickers for good measure.

Moore said he'd be asking every presidential candidate to sign on to a four-part pledge to adopt the health care reform package of his choice: a free, universal, single-payer plan like the ones in England, France, Canada and Cuba.

In the film, which features stories of individuals harmed by health insurance red tape, Moore travels to all those countries to explore how government-run health insurance works. In the closing portion of the film, he rounds up many of the sick Americans he interviews at the beginning of the film and takes them in a boat to Cuba. In an earlier sequence, he shows congressional testimony describing the health care afforded to prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

"There was actually one place on American soil that had free, universal health care," Moore observes.

He and his entourage don't make it to the base, but they do seek care at a Havana hospital, where, Moore claims, all of his U.S. health care rejects receive comprehensive and appropriate care.

The film's audience, divided between nurses and "undecided voters," cheered and laughed throughout the film. In an early sequence, when President Bush was pictured, he was drowned out with boos and hisses.

Moore, too, said he is an undecided voter, though when he listed the candidates alongside their campaign contributions from health care industry sources so far, he only mentioned the Democrats. He came onstage at the Palace Theater to a standing ovation, clad in white sneakers, black pants and t-shirt, and a navy blue blazer. In the hour-long town hall session, he answered questions and detailed his hope that the film would be a catalyst for political change.

Health coverage like Cuba's is the only form of health care reform Americans should accept, he said. He called for the abolition of private health insurance companies, saying voters should not settle for anything less than government-provided health insurance.

"We don't want to hear plans that line the pockets of these companies," Moore said, criticizing recent legislation in Massachusetts that requires all state residents to get coverage. He said that law amounted to a payout to health insurers and equated humans to automobiles.

He asked that presidential candidates agree to endorse the single-payer model, swear off campaign contributions from the health care industry and promise to abolish private insurance companies.

Though one declared presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, does espouse that menu of health care coverage, Moore declined to endorse him, saying that he would remain uncommitted in hopes that he could persuade other candidates to sign on too.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former-North Carolina senator John Edwards have already revealed detailed health care reform packages that they said they would enact if elected. Both call for a combination of private and public health insurance options, with some subsidies for low-income people. Edwards's plan would require every American to purchase health insurance. Each of the other Democratic candidates has endorsed universal coverage in theory (while none of the Republicans has), but many have not yet prepared detailed policy plans.

It's early yet, Moore said, and not too late for them to revise their proposals. He's also holding out, he said, for another candidate to enter the race.

"There is a one candidate who actually is really good about this issue. He's actually not a a candidate right now," Moore said, to cheers, as it became clear he was describing former vice president Al Gore. "I would like to see him get in the race."

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