“Sicko” Masterpiece Hits Home with Many
Tonight I had the pleasure of catching an early screening of Michael Moore’s latest film, Sicko. While many of his past efforts in filmmaking, such as Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, have put him in the position of being a very polarizing figure, his latest effort is something that no matter what your party affiliation will strike a chord. You may not care about gun control, who your president is, or other political issues, but something that all of us care about is our health.
The first half of the film is narrated by Michael Moore, who introduces the audience to a number of Americans from around the country. Each person we are shown has one thing in common – the American healthcare system has failed them in one way or another. From no coverage to denied coverage to inadequate coverage, each of these individuals has suffered at the hands of the healthcare system. There’s the couple who between the two of them suffered several heart attacks and a bout with cancer. Both had very good jobs and were even lucky enough to have healthcare, but despite this, even the co-pays for their treatment ultimately proved to be too much, forcing them into bantruptcy and having to move in with their children. Next, there’s a mother whose young daughter was experiencing an extremely high fever and was rushed to the hospital, only to find out that because she has insurance through Kaiser Permanente, they can’t treat her daughter at the hospital they have taken her to. Refusing to treat her, despite the mother’s pleas, her daughter dies. The stories go on and on, and for many in the audience, the stories are all too familiar, including me.
And it doesn’t just seem to be patients who have been appalled by the system. Moore got responses from a good number of industry insiders, who confirm what many of us already suspect or know – that it is all just one big numbers game, and a race to see who can profit the most. They admit their own frustrations with the way things work, and genuinely seem affected by the practices that they, as workers in the industry, are forced to comply with – putting the bottom line ahead of the care needs of the individual.
Another thing we learn in the earlier portion of the film is the origins of the American health care system and HMO’s, which according to the film was first put into action by Nixon and Henry Kaiser. Kaiser’s vision of U.S. healthcare was a private venture which would exist to make a profit, and a big profit at that. The American healthcare system, we are shown, has its roots in greed and the hunger for money, not in concern and compassion for other human beings.
In the second half of the film, Michael Moore finally makes an appearance. After having exposed the appalling nature of the U.S. healthcare system, Moore sets out to take us to various other countries throughout the world to see what their healthcare is like, and if we really have anything to complain about. AFterall, American is supposedly the “best” country in the world, and therefore we must have the best healthcare available. And while it may be true that the U.S. has some very fine hospitals and top research clinics, not everyone has to access to it. But in other countries where a more socialist approach is taken to healthcare, we are shown that not only do they receive the care that they need through universal coverage, but also that they don’t have to sit up night after night, worrying whether they’ll be able to afford the medical bills, or hoping not to get sick for fear of huge doctor’s fees.
Moore takes us into hospitals in France, Canada, Great Britian and Cuba, and it appears that all of them have a very different approach to healthcare than we do. In those countries, it seems as though everyone actually cares about eachother and don’t mind contributing money to an issue that could potentially help many others. And surprisingly, these governments also don’t mind helping out Americans who happen to get injured or sick while in town.
Watching this film really makes you wonder where everything went wrong, and will likely spur new healthcare reform debates in Washington. This film will make you laugh, and it will make you think, and it might even piss you off or pull at your heart strings, but most importantly it should leave you feeling inspired, to call for changes, to fight back, and to be given a fair chance at life and treatment for health ailments.
Whether you love Michael Moore or you hate him with a passion, I urge you to keep an open mind and think beyond your party leanings, and watch this film. It is truly one of the must-see films of the summer, possibily even the year, and is by far Moore’s finest work to date.
You’re a total moron. Seriously. Do you really believe Moore and his cameras ACTUALLY got the same treatment that the average Cuban does?
My buddy spent two years helping bring medical supplies to the Cubans. When he’d show up with a box of Pepto-Bismol, people would greet him with tears. Aspirin was so rare it was a black market economy.
Come on. Wake the fuck up.
Cubans have a longer life-span than Americans! What do you attribute that too? Do Cuban Cigars hold some hidden Medical Benefit.
You probably believed that Saddaam had a WMD’s and were linked to Al-Qaeda. It is hard to argue with the facts of the World Health Organization.
And if your buddy was Ameircan and bringing Pepto-Bismo to Cubans and happens to be an American he would be breaking a embargo set. Shame on him or her lol.
Yeah, shame on “him or her” for actually trying to help starving and dying people.
You pathetic lump of shit.
Shame on Michael Moore for trying to get health care coverage to people who can’t afford it.
Thank you for devoting some of your blog to this important issue of health care. Please allow me to comment against Mr. Moore’s work. I believe the market failures Sicko addresses are not due to a failed government or economic system but to an epidemic of unhealthy lifestyles that cannot be supported economically. Preventable illness comprises 80% of the burden of illness and 90% of all healthcare costs. Preventable illnesses account for eight of the nine leading categories of death. No medicine, surgery or treatment can reverse the damage caused by a lifetime of smoking, poor eating and lack of exercise. If no such treatment is available, then there is no economic system that would provide a treatment. Treatments exist today to buy individuals time to get back on their feet toward healthier lifestyles. There is no replacement for health living. Thus, NO ECONOMIC SYSTEM CAN SOLVE MARKET FAILURES DRIVEN BY UNHEALTHY LIFESTYLES.
I would never see anything that has this man’s hand on it…We have had medical for the poor in the US for many years..it’s called medicaid…I wonder if Moore needed a transplant if he would run to Cuba for their expertise in natters of health..Somehow I think not…
For the greatest place in the world, you guys are clearly being sold a line and getting stiffed by your own government. I thought we had it good in Canada, man France has us beat BIG TIME!
UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE…FOR ALL. Americans dont need more insurance…we need reliable, reasonable access to health care. We are the ONLY industrialized nation that doesnt have a basic form of care…my husband accidently stepped on an old nail…$10,000 later (yes I said ten THOUSAND dollars for a nail???)were paying it off and we didnt lose the farm but what happens when its $100,000? I dont think I can “Prevent” appendicitious? Contact your Representatives and Senators (they have that gold plated coverage that moron in the whitehouse speaks of)Speak up…we really are the power and Michael Moore is a patriot!
Anyone that thinks that America has the best medical system in the world, or won’t watch a movie simply because they don’t like Mr. Moore are ignorant and part of the problem.
Nothing would make me happier than this becoming the hot topic of the election.
I’ve seen the movie, and it has it’s flaws. Moore never tells people the cost of socialized medicine (in Canada it is $75 per person per month) but by and large it is a good movie and I hope it starts a change.
Medicaid is a joke, so don’t bother brining it up.
The reality is that every other 1st world country is baffled at the fact that American’s care more about money than their health. For some reason we would rather let the rich get richer and the poor die. Even if you are insured you can (and will) get denied or end up with such high premiums that you can’t afford it anyway.
I’ve lived in both Canada and the States. I’ve been to doctors, hospitals, family members have had surgeries (with no major waiting times by the way) and I would have to say that I felt the care in Canada was better. Mostly because we never had to worry about affording my child’s surgery or medication.
My wife is Canadian and we plan or retiring there because there is no way I’m getting old and sick in this country.
If you are happy with the system as it is, you are either:
A. Stupid
B. Lucky
C. Politically Blind
D. You have no friends or family, because if you did would would see the horror stories too.
Just to clarify on the monthly cost of medical in Canada. As a single adult male I pay $54.00 a month.
Good luck in Canada, chief — did you read the reports about Bill Clinton’s heart episode, that if he had been living there he’d be DEAD right now? Have fun waiting in lines.
For anyone who actually wants to do the research, instead of trusting whatever Moore says (like the morons above), talk to some Cuban expatriates. They’ll tell you the truth — that Cuba has the highest abortion rate in the world, the highest suicide rate in the world, the lowest fertility rate in the hemisphere, and that basics such as aspirin takes a black market to find.
Oh, yeah — and that if you speak up against the Cuban leadership, you’re shipped off to prison, possibly forever.
Let’s not forget that little part.
Cuba, Cuba, Cuba, OK, we get it. But that doesn’t change the fact that our system is broken.
Look, I don’t give 2 craps about Cuba. For that matter, I think the French are way too socialized. And I don’t think that Canada’s system is perfect, but as a father with a child that has had heart surgery in both Canada and the US I think she got way better treatment in Canada.
It is morons like you, that have never used a socialized system, that keep the discussion stupid. Just wondering if you have ever spent time (more than a year) in other countries that have socialized health care? Have you? I have no problem heading up there when I get older. I’ll send you affordable prescriptions when you need them.
I lived there for 12 years and I spend WAY more time in doctor and hospital waiting rooms here in the states.
And for the record, I’m not some left wing liberal. I’m a conservative, Christian Republican that lives in one of the most conservative states in the country. I own my own business with 14 employees and I believe in capitalism whole heartedly.
BUT, there are some things that everyone should have the right to and focusing on profits and quarter earnings when it comes to the health of another is sickening. Our system charges more then it should, denies coverage more than it should, and makes more money the more you need it. One writer said that we need to focus more on preventive health care. I agree. But what if you get cancer, or hit by a car?
America has never had socialized medical coverage for all, but the other countries that have it were originally more capitalized. Yet none of them would ever go back to our type of system, even with their system’s flaws. What does that tell you?
I could care less what your political leanings are — and stating that I’ve never used a socialized system, when you no nothing about me, hints at the depths of not only your ignorance, but your arrogance as well.
Report from February 2007, WSJ:
- the average waiting time for Canadian patients between referral from a general practitioner and treatment is 17.8 weeks
- the average waiting time for a CT scan for Canadian patients is 4.3 weeks
- the average waiting time for an MRI for Canadian patients is 10.3 weeks
- 80% of Canadians who responded in the survey are dissatisfied with the current Canadian health care system
- 60% of respondents endorsed greater private-sector financing
- 40% said they’d be comfortable with a parallel private system that compliments the publicly administered system
- in the past five years, Canadian private health plans have grown at an average rate of 12% annually
Call me a moron all you like, sir — and good luck with those “affordable prescriptions” — I’m sure your government will recommend them as you’re waiting months for that life-saving CT scan.
I’m sure Michael Moore won’t be there to help you out.
The Wall Street Journal happens to be the most conservative paper in the country. Do you think they are going to shine a good light on a socialist form of health care when Drug Companies and HMO’s are making money hand over fist?
And there you have it, typical radical “argumentation” — when you can’t deal with the facts, attack the messenger.
By the way, the WSJ only REPORTED on the survey… they didn’t run it.
Also, not to let facts get in the way of your delusion: but the annual public health expenditure difference between Canada and the US is a mere 1% GDP.
I think you are proving a point S Gabriel. We are paying for Universal Health Care but not getting what we are paying for as American citizens. Its also funny as stated in the bias report that you posted that the Canadians didn’t say that they wanted to get rid of their system. And it appears from the people who are posting here that they are very happy with it all. Sometimes you have to think for yourself and realize there is a lot more to the story that big media presents.
So let me get this right — facts that you don’t agree with means “bias”?
Talk about thinking for yourself…
No bias means that big companies own all the media in the country and for some reason people term it as “liberal”. The media isn’t out for the common man. If you think that you have been listening to Rush Limbaugh and AM talk radio too much. If the media as “liberal” as it is said to be than we wouldn’t have a war in Iraq, Bush wouldn’t be president, and we would have a health care crisis in this country that kills people on a daily basis while your leaders are saying “stay the course”. Not only is health care killing people it is killing American businesses like GM who pay $2000 per car made for health care benefits. Believe what you want, but something has to change and ‘Sicko’ is a small wave in a tide that has to come to save this country.
Again, another typical radial “argumentation” — when you can’t deal with the facts, change the course of the discussion.
Good show. That’ll get you far in life.
I will tell you won’t get you far in life: When you sit back and let hard working people go bankrupt because of illnesses they did nothing to bring on themselves. When drug companies can charge hundreds of dollars for pills that they push on American citizens. Talk about a war on drugs. Every time I turn on the TV these companies tell me how I should be popping another pill. It is literally inhumane for a society to allow these things to happen. And it honestly scares me that people like you have been brainwashed so much to believe universal health care is some kind of Pandora’s box. If it was so bad, other countries would mimic our way, instead they have some form of socialized health care system. And again, do you hear the Canadians posting on this board complaining about their system? The proof is in the pudding.
Yeah. I’m personally sitting back and letting hard working people go bankrupt.
Fool.
S Gabriel, by allowing the current system in place to keep working so unfairly that is exactly what you are doing.
Sorry, Al, but I’m not doing anything like what you’ve suggested. I never said the current system was flawless, or even half-perfect. I actually agree with many of the criticisms.
What I don’t agree with is Moore’s method of “dis-information”, or the assertion that the other systems people have raised are “better”.
Putting false words in my mouth is exactly what YOU are doing.