
November 16th / 18th, 2007
"Moore’s ’Sicko’ Reveals Sick System"
I recently viewed Michael Moore’s brilliant documentary, “Sicko”, and the
film definitely lives up to its hype. Billed as “comedy, poignancy, and
outrage”, it is all three in spades. In fact, if you aren’t moved by this film,
then you’re not human.
“Sicko” is vintage Moore in that it features lots of subtle humor mixed
with pathos. But it is also different because, unlike his previous films which
appeal mainly to liberals, his target this time around is the unscrupulous
health insurance industry, an entity we all love to hate, regardless of our
political affiliations.
Yes, Moore reminds us that nearly 50 million Americans are without medical
insurance, but his primary focus is on what happens to those of us who have
insurance, but are denied care when we need it most.
Citing one horror story after another, Moore demonstrates how the high cost
of medical care can bankrupt families who pay, or devastate those who can’t.
And while several hospital chains are mentioned, the clear villain is the
insurance industry who fleeces customers when they’re healthy, then denies
claims when they’re sick.
Featured in the film are two courageous employees of major insurance
companies. One, a medical director, testified before Congress how she was rewarded
for denying claims. Another, a customer service representative, broke down
in tears as she recounted telephone conversations she had with patients who
were about to be denied the medical care they needed.
The fact is that here in America, insurance companies profit by denying
claims, not by helping people. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, though
not targeted specifically in the film, demonstrates the problem. Its top
executives make over $2 million per year, and last year gave themselves 20%
raises while jacking up our premiums by that same amount.
But in “Sicko”, Moore doesn’t just complain about the problem, he offers a
solution by asking viewers to support House bill HR676, which would give free
healthcare to all Americans. Conservative leaders want us to believe that
such a bill would lead to socialized medicine. Ironically, those same
politicians benefit from free , government sponsored healthcare. I guess what’s
good for the goose isn’t good for the gander.
Moreover, demagogues like Bush, O’Reilly, and Limbaugh also like to spout
the party line about how government sponsored healthcare is a disaster in other
countries. And so, Moore visited England, France, Norway and Cuba for a
first hand look. In each nation, medical care was dispensed for free, and with
much more compassion than we receive here in the Land of Milk and Honey.
In France, doctors still make house calls, and the emphasis is on prevention
and proper recuperation time. New mothers even get free assistance from
government paid nannies. In England the most anyone pays for medicine is about
six pounds, regardless of the type or quantity of drug. Those who can’t pay
receive prescriptions for free. Norway also offers free healthcare and even
offers one year maternity leave. Such policies are possible in part because
the government there owns all of the oil reserves, and allocates their
profits to healthcare and other human services. And then there’s the film’s most
eye-opening excursion. Moore, accompanied by three boat loads of Americans
who had been denied the medical care they needed, peacefully invaded
communist Cuba. The U.S. patients included three EMS workers and firefighters from
New Jersey who had been injured or became ill as a result of their rescue
efforts during 9/11. The Cubans welcomed Moore’s entourage, and provided them
with state-of-the-art care.
Somewhere along the way, we Americans have become gullible. We believe
everything the government tells us (ex:”medical care in Europe is sub standard
and inefficient”), and we’ve lost our will to fight back (ex: “if you speak
out against the war, you are un patriotic”) . As one English politician
points out, each U.S. Congressman is employed by about 240,000 citizens. But
instead of us telling our employee what to do, the employee dictates how we
live, and then sells us out to insurance companies who only cover healthy people.
I hope that HR676 passes, but I’m not holding my breath. And with the
possible exception of Dennis Kucinich, don’t count on any of this year’s crop of
Presidential candidates pushing for free health care for all citizens. Even
Hillary who fought the good fight in the last decade, is now the second
leading recipient of campaign contributions from the healthcare industry, whose
lobbyists now outnumber Congressmen by a margin of four-to-one.
And so, here in America, politicians get free healthcare, insurance
executives get million dollar bonuses, and the rest of us just get sicker and poorer.
Boy am I glad I don’t live in England, France or Norway.
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