CNN Pressroom - ‘Critical Condition’ Installment Reveals Gaps in Health Care Coverage in U.S., Examines Debate over Issue

CNN Productions plans to produce a series of one-hour documentaries in 2008 under its successful Broken Government brand. As it did in the 2006 midterm election, the series seeks to offer clarity to the political topics receiving close attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign.

The first documentary in the series, Broken Government: Health Care Critical Condition, is reported by CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Critical Condition will premiere on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 11 p.m., immediately following the CNN/Los Angeles Times/POLITICO Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate and will replay on Saturday, Feb. 2, and Sunday, Feb. 3, at 11 p.m. All times Eastern.

In Critical Condition, Gupta focuses on the gaps in health care coverage experienced by the more than 45 million Americans who lack adequate health insurance. These include consumers with health insurance still vulnerable to bankruptcy by medical bills and the uninsured who cannot afford healthcare. Gupta also examines various health care plan proposals and the pros and cons of universal health care coverage in other countries.

Other Broken Government documentaries in the 2008 series will feature CNN’s Rick Sanchez taking an in-depth look at inconsistent and ineffective U.S. immigration policies; chief technology and environment correspondent Miles O’Brien investigating the impact of government policies on the environment; and a documentary on the government failures at the federal, state and local levels that continue to plague those impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Additional programs in the series will be announced later in the campaign season.

Carol Kinstle is the executive producer and the director of CNN’s health and medical unit. Mark Nelson is the vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions.

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