Nixon in Sicko

Here's a transcript of the taped coversation that Michael Moore sees as a ground zero for "managed" health care - thanks to "brokentarot-1" on the imdb.com Sicko page.

Ehrlichman : "We have now narrowed down the vice president's problems on this thing to one issue, and that is whether we should include these Health Maintenance Organizations like Edgar Kaiser's Permenente thing."

President Nixon : "Let me ask you, you know I'm not too keen on any of these damn medical programs."

Ehrlichman : " This is a private enterprise one."

Nixon : "Well, that appeals to me."

Ehrlichman : " Edgar Kaiser is running this permanente thing for profit. And the reason he can do it... I had Edgar Kaiser come in, and talk to me about this... And I went into some depth... All the incentives are toward less medical care, because the less care they give them, the more money they make."

Nixon : "Fine."

Ehrlichman : " And the incentives run the right way."

Nixon : "Not bad."