Sicko Spurs Audiences Into Action

Picture this: each time you have the oil changed in your car, or get new tires or new wiper blades or buy a gas additive, your car insurance pays for it. Does this happen? OF COURSE NOT. Why not? Because this would make car insurance unaffordable. Do employers offer car insurance as a benefit? OF COURSE NOT. This is YOUR responsibility, same as rent or the mortgage, food and your other personal expenses. Health insurance became the cash cow for health insurance providers and drug companies when it was made an employment "benefit", and thereby stripped us of the advantage of a free market economy: competition that keeps prices down. I have full coverage on my car for about $55US a month, which includes more medical coverage than I could ever have otherwise. For medical expenses incurred in an accident. In other words, for a catastrophe...what health insurance SHOULD be for, not for "oil changes, tires, and wiper blades", things we SHOULD pay for out of pocket, and which most do ANYWAY as part of the yearly "deductible" (which oddly enough, doesn't roll over from one year to the next...). If you're historically healthy and have no pre-existing medical condition, you'd be better off putting the monthly premium in a savings or money market account and letting it sit until you need it for a medical emergency. Alas, under the present system, this is not an option.

American are not in the top 25 for life expectancy, yet, America is NUMBER ONE for expense, by far. America spend close to 15% of its entire GDP on healthcare. Countries like Australia spend close to 5% of GDP, and they are the second longest living people on the planet.The system is too expensive and as horrible outcomes! Universal Healthcare is the way forward. It is cheaper and better outcomes!! I went to university in Dallas, and I have been living in the UK and Australia for the past decade, both offer superior and cheaper healthcare.

Healthcare should not be a privledge put a right! Americans dont see this, because you dont travel. Get a passport and get on a plane and talk to people for yourself. Wake Up!! You are getting screwed !!

While I fully agree that EVERYONE in the USA should have full healthcare without fear of insurance rejection or going totally bankrupt, I fear that the citizens of this country will not be willing to pay the price. France and other countries have MUCH higher taxation of it citizens. In return they get much better services. Would americans be willing to submit to 40-50% taxation?
I doubt it. We all want something for nothing. We seem to want to put in $1 and get $2 out and then complain about the national debt. Any politician displaying a sense of reality and good leadership by saying he would have to charge more taxes would NEVER get elected in this country. Even the Boy Scouts have Adult Supervision, we do not....We GET the "leaders" we deserve. Just my .02 cents. -RAS

This is a beautiful story. I truly feel that when people understand what's happening with health care that they will support a universal health care plan 100%. Our system is broken, pathetic, and CORRUPT.

Every American should see SiCKO and make being pro Universal Health Care an absolute essential component of any candidate they will support.

"Canada,", our health care system here does have its flaws, but moving to a privatized health care system such as the United States has now (a system which people are obviously unhappy with) would be a step backwards. I have never found that Canadian doctors are incompetent because they are not preoccupied with being sued (a doctor can be sued for malpractice in Canada, too).

Our doctors are fine. Our government simply doesn't put enough money into the universal health care system because they are attempting to bully us into reverting to a private system like the U.S. That is why we have unacceptable wait times for medical care. However, such a private system would only benefit third party insurance carriers, medical supply companies, Big Pharma....and hospitals would become businesses, more concerned with money than with care provision.

If Americans begin to fiercely fight for universal health care, and this is reflected in the voting process, it would greatly benefit Canada as well. The American reaction to Sicko, and its call for universal health care, could give our politicians an example of what could happen to their popularity here if they continue to neglect our public system. Even with its problems, I don't know many Canadians who are willing to abandon our universal health care system. We just need to repair it.

I have been living in China for nearly 15 years. There are now more choices than ever for healthcare. Seven years ago I paid about 150 dollars for neurosurgery with excellent results. Dental care is cheap, clean and modern. Chinese traditional medicine stresses prevention and is accessible to all. But the scary side of China's economic development is that big state-run and the new, private hospitals now seem to be taking their cue from the current American model, a few of which have opened in a district heavily populated with foreign nationals. I dare not step inside. The consultation fees alone cost more than procedures, x-rays and medications at Chinese hospitals. I also was not impressed with the care I received by the foreign doctors. While both Chinese and foreign women can give birth in a reputable local hospital for less than 500 dollars, the new "American" hospital, which employs both Chinese and foreign staff, charges more than 20k. "It's okay, we have insurance," say the foreign mothers-to-be when I ask them if they balk at the huge fees. It is certain that local private hospitals are taking their cues from this model and creating facilities catering to the rich and emerging middle class. The brain drain on the big hospitals will no doubt follow, leaving the poor, once again, to suffer. I can only laugh when I return to the States and people come at me with talk of "communism" and "Red China". It's not only McDonald's, Coca Cola and Pizza Hut which is helping to corrupt the health of the Chinese people.

in answer to drbukk,
VA Hospital problem is twofold, under funding (by a administration that finds no problem with wasting hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars in a quest for an impossible empire) and overuse by a very needy patient population, those directly effected by this insane military gamble.

I've worked for many large corporations including medical insurance companies and inefficient bureaucracy rules them all, not to mention the quest for huge profits and bloated executive compensation. Medicare is extremely effective and many times more efficient than private insurance but again suffers because they "insure" only the sickest population, while private insurance cherry picks the cream, leaving millions uninsured or under insured.

And this terrible uncontrolled chaos of redundancy and inconsistency leaves doctors and hospitals with little choice but to over charge those who can pay or have no choice, while they fight with the insurance companies for some percent of costs. The patient is caught between these behemoth forces by ever escalating premiums, co pays, "exceeds reasonable and customary charges" and pre-existing condition exclusions and forced to make up the difference or go without care.

What the rest of the civilized world has learned is that national health systems (including single payer non socialist) do is introduce a high level of efficiently by reducing paper shuffling and superfluous bureaucracy costs inherent in the thousands of different plans with different coverages and payment (or non-payment) rules. They also insure everyone, rich and poor, healthy and sick, which spreads the risk while allowing for superior medical care for all. Everyone pays, this is not "free" care, but everyone is covered and an unlucky draw of the medical crisis short straw doesn't force a family in bankruptcy and poverty as it so often does in the United States. Unanticipated catastrophic medical costs are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S, and now safety net has been shredded.

Good discusion here...I wanted to say that in Europe , its the unions that help the people...It seems in america they don't like unions or unions lost power. What happens in Europe is that unions organise protest. They speak to eachother and can shut down the whole country.. The people have the power, but all the people need to work together. That why its important to have a network to be able to react.

i hope u guys manage to get universal coverage...Organise protest, try to get in the media,

If you want great education, healthcare,...U have to pay more taxes.. Im happy to pay alot of taxes because we get alot in return...

just imagine if the healthplan insurance companies ran the restaurants and grocery stores.

"That apple's 8.50'

'8.50?????????but it's full of spots.'

'well, fill out this form.'

This all sounds great but we do not live in a democracy, we live in a REPRESENTATIVE democracy. This means we have forfieted our vote to an elected representative. Since they will never pass laws restricting the flow of cash from lobbiests and since healthcare & related industry's lobbiests outnumber our elected representatives so greatly & spend so freely, where do you suppose that leaves the rest of us? We cannot even get a fair count during elections, why would I think our elected officials would be afraid of losing power? It is a shame our founders did not envision a mechanism for grass roots change which we could use for problems like health care/Iraq/global warming...which could be acted upon universally like a national referendum!

About the long lines for service in Canada and the UK..

I live(d) in both the US and Canada. Yes, there are lines at the hospitals in Canada. Why? Because if it is Saturday and you've got this unbearable cough that won't go away, a Canadians' first instinct would be to go to hospital. An American would NEVER think this. They'd just bear it until their family doctor opened 9am Monday morning, since you'd be looking at least at a $100 ER visit copay versus a $30 copay. People in Canada stub their toes at 2am they'll go to hospital. The point is anytime anyone has a medical problem outside of their GP's normal business hours, they'll go to hospital because they can. Those people who don't have an emergency are going to wait for care at the hospital. That's the way triage works. Now if you were having a heart attack, you chopped off your finger or whatever, you'll get care right away. The guy with the sore toe may have to wait a couple of hours but he will get care rather than not at all. Canadians are spoiled with such an all enveloping health care system, and they should be! Americans will take the same advantage of the system when it comes along. People who need care right away will get care right away. Another gripe is waiting for MRI's. I have no problem waiting a couple weeks for an MRI if I don't really need it right away. I could still pay for an open MRI at a non-OHIP (Ontario Health) covered clinic out of pocket if I wanted one the same day. I have that option, and it'd still be cheaper than getting one in the states. I'll tell you this though, when my wife was admitted to ER and needed a CAT scan, she got one within the hour. If you NEED something NOW, you will get it NOW. Wait lines or not, people live longer in Canada, and there's good reason for that. Thinking about how much this costs the government? Canada has a budget surplus and actually has cut taxes. The US needs to cut some of that money spent on pointless wars and spend it on universal health care. There'll be a bump in taxes but I bet it'd be less than what you have to pay now for health insurance, especially if you actually had to make any claims. If change isn't inspired yet, imagine what it'll be like when scientists identify more genetic markers for conditions and illnesses. Soon you would see insurance companies requiring blood tests before being accepted into a plan. Your premiums would go up if you had a genetic marker for high cholesterol, and you'd be flat out denied if you had a genetic marker that said you could get cancer. Is this the kind of future you want to see?

Look at the best healthcare systems in the world. Obviously something is wrong with ours if we're ranked #37! France is #1. Let's do a quick comparison...

France has a THREE-tiered system.

Everyone is covered under the FIRST tier: National Health Insurance. So healthcare is free. And while the lines aren't so terrible to get in to see a doctor, getting to see a specialist or have an operation can take time.

That's where the SECOND tier comes in: Non-profit Practices. These practices, as charities, are run off of endowments and offer further free health-care, off-setting the waiting lists and lines at the public hospitals.

Still too much wait-time? Try out the THIRD tier - Private healthcare providers, paid for with endowments and supplemental health insurance offered to 80% of the country through employers.

This means that EVERYONE is taken care of, on multiple levels. It's socialized healthcare with the competition that Dan D. raves about above.

Also, in comparision. The U.S. spends only about $1.9 trillion on healthcare (in comparision to France's $1.6 trillion), but has more than 3.5 times the population of France. Those numbers are way out of balance.

Not everything great comes from America. We should be the great innovators - take the best of the best and improve on it. We need to take a clue from the best healthcare system in the world - they got it right.

Go to canada for free health care. Look how crappy their system is now.
We dont need that in the US.
I'd rather the doctor that is cutting me open be worried about his practice if he messes up, rather then him not care at all because the government is going to pay him anyway.
This country does not need such a dividing issue now, the war in iraq is still going on, and our leaders need our support.

I second Zazkia's question. It's something I've been wondering about too: why aren't there community-based groups, sort of like credit unions, where people join based on some affinity (e.g., geographic location, religion, industry, income, age) and pool monthly payments into a fund that is then used to pay medical bills? If doctors and hospitals participated and everyone along the provider chain agreed to keep expenses reasonable, and if membership required participating in a preventative program to keep emergency visits as low as possible... well, why wouldn't something like that work?

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but I've always felt somewhat conned by insurance companies. I have been incredibly fortunate to have never suffered any major illness or accident, and all of the money I've paid (or that was paid on my behalf) to insurance companies over the years only increased the profits of those companies; meanwhile, I could never afford proper dental care (almost never insured for that, of course) and people all around me are driven to poverty by high bills and incomplete care because the insurance companies refuse to honor their side of the insurance agreement.

So, does anyone know more about this? Why can't there be "insurance" co-ops or unions? Are there laws against it, or do the numbers just not work? It seems like the larger the group, the greater the risk you could assume financially.

drbukk,
You are not wholly correct in that the insurance companies keep prices down by reigning in obscene doctors bills.
It has been well-documented that there are frequent flaws in billing by hospitals and other health care providers, but the onus falls onto the patient or one's caretaker to discover these and dispute them. Because the itemized bills are cryptic to understand, this is no easy task.
As for your comment on Cuba and prostitution, that scare tactic is so immaterial and simplistic that it takes away from the rest of your words.

Don't people realize that all members of congress and the senate have the best health coverage available, no questions asked. and who do you think pays for it. The U. S. Government. They have universal health care or as the conservatives call it...socialism. Why is it possible for the senators and congressmen (conservatives moderates and liberals) to have this service available to them while at the same time they are fighting so hard to keep it away from us. Write to your representatives in Washington and simply say. "I want universal health care. You have it. Why Can't I?"

drbukk,

Most of your arguments are addressed in the movie. You haven't seen it, then I suggest you at least give it a try so that you can argue effectively against the points that it brings up.

VA hospitals are a great example of government run health care. Whenever the government runs things, you have bloated beauracracy, cronyism, malingerers, useless lazy redundant people and purchasing departments with no accountability whatsoever.

Insurance companies perform a vital service in reining in "obscene" doctor bills. Our US doctors make 5 times their European counterparts. Competition among insurance companies has made the Medicare Prescription Drug Program a resounding success costing far less than projected.

At least one or two useless transcribing bimbos could be eliminated from every doctor's office if web-based technology were adapted by our Luddite physicians. How many billions would that save?

US physicians keep their prices high by limiting their numbers. Let's expand our medical schools and let people post their opinions about doctors, and force doctors to post their prices so we have real competion for informed patients. The UK has imported foreign doctors who were not sufficiently vetted, to keep up with heightened demand for free services.

100% of us will die. The families of those who don't have to pay often demand the most outlandish interventions (and forever blame the doctors) while people who are responsible for the payments can let go with dignity when there is no hope. I think every one of the posters on this forum fails to understand corporate efficiency, checks and balances supply and demand. and the venal nature of government control.

I haven't seen Sicko but it sounds like a maudlin, one-sided tear-jerker. I invite anyone who wants Cuban-style medicine think about their Cuban-style paychecks limited to $30 a month, maximum. Would you like to depend on your daughter being a prostitute to put food on your table? That's Cuba. Did Michael Moore mention that?

Just got out of surgery Thurs. (see my site www.file23magazine.wordpress.com for all the gruesome details) and also watched SICKO yesterday. Maybe not as hard-hitting as F9/11, but a great effort anyways. If it can get that reaction out of a Texas audience, I wonder whats going on in the lobbies of the Berkely theaters...
I've got insurance and have been paying for it for years. The hospital still demanded $2500 down on my much-needed hernia operation; had to borrow the money. I was in the hospital 4-5 hours tops. Ridiculous.

Well, one huge roadblock to change in the US's healthcare system is that it's geared toward profit. Healing is a spiritual as well as physical act, and demanding cold hard cash seems to effectively sap all of the humanity out of the act of providing healthcare. We need to make healthcare a government thing; right now the few big companies who essentially own the US healthcare infrastructure are owned and operated by hard-core conservative Bush Reichers. Trust me, I know! I ran a cancer clinic in Texas for years, and there's very little room for compassion when it all comes down to what ICD-9 code the computer assigns you. The US healthcare system is a monstrosity, geared to fatten the bank accounts of a select few while providing vastly inferior healthcare to the rest of the US. Don't think for a second that these extremely powerful and well-connected business owners will voluntarily give up their cash cows; they'll use every resource at their disposal to keep Mr and Mrs Every-American under their thumbs.

Gordon hits on some valid points. There is an enormous health insurance industry in the United States today, and introducing a national health care service would likely be seen by that industry as a threat to their profits, and anyone who knows how strongly industry interested can drive government policies knows that that is no trivial barrier...

Also, anyone who knows much about how the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA work will know that reorienting the health care industry around preventative care (rather than just illness-treatment) will also be no small feat...

Not that these things cannot or should not occur, but people need to understand the challenges involved...

It's a good story. I hate to lay a bummer on the festival, but in McKinney, TX, 30 miles N of Dallas, and (according to all the real estate developers who say it like it's a good thing), "The Second-Fastest Growing City in America," you can't see "Sicko." It's not showing at any of the theaters in McKinney. You can see "Knocked Up" on your choice of several screens. Just not "Sicko."
Today on the noon news broadcast of one of Dallas' major TV stations, a well-known, local movie reviewer said of "Sicko": "In this movie, Moore lays out the healthcare problem quite well, but DOESN'T OFFER ANY SOLUTIONS."
I haven't seen the movie yet, but from things I've read about it, Moore offers at least 4 solutions. To wit, 1) The Canadian system, 2) The French system, 3) The UK system, 4) The Cuban system.
We're screwed.

I also agree with everything you said. I work and live here in Arlington and watched it on July 4 to a packed audience. There were young adults and mature ones. And during the middle, during the Cuba scene you heard emotional cries and felt anger in the room.

As a fan of michael moore I am thrilled that he continues to push and create awareness of things that the mainstream media often can't wrap into a 6 second sound bite. This movie infuriates me and is even more of a crisis than I thought.

As for conservative Texas. I believe that Dallas-Fort Worth is different than the other cities. You don't have people wearing 10 gallon hats or big hair does. Anyway this is a great issue and it's good that the local paper - the Star-Telegram - and other media has given this small movement a much needed spotlight.

Arlington - by the way, just replaced their long standing Republican-congressman for a democrat. Why? Not because of party issues, but because of accountability. Republican or Democrat, if you have forgotten who you represent, then you too will be forgotten.

GREED IS GOOD! WHY does the US not have a National Health Plan??
Kaiser Permanente, Humana, Blue Cross and the rest have not yet figured out how to continue to make obscene profits from a National Health Plan!
When they do we WILL have National Health. GREED is the fuel of our society. We have the finest government private industry can buy!
GG

1. I am Chairman of JustHealth. Since 1995, we have provided assistance to both consumers/patients and providers of healthcare, who have problems with the healthcare system - at no charge. (See more at end of comment)
2. The stories in Sicko are consistent with those we have been involved in since 1995. Although the reality is even worse than he describes.
3. Nevertheless, I wish JustHealth could have been as effective at telling the truth about our current system as Michael Moore has been.
4. Michael gets it right enough and in such an effective way that, for the last week, I have personally observed well over a thousand people leaving showings of Sicko who have been moved in ways that no amount of data could have produced. I have spoken with many of them, watched the emotion rising in their voices, and heard them looking for things to DO to fix this system, which is eating at the Soul of our country.
5. There are many groups and individuals who can help anyone find something to DO in this great endeavor. There are many practical things to do.
6. It's not mystical.
7. Michael Moore has opened a window of opportunity, which, if we are wise enough and courageous enough, we will step through, create a just healthcare system in our country and reclaim our greatness and humanity.
8. The biggest obstacle to success is the belief that it can't be done.
9. It's not true.

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JustHealth exists because we have a healthcare system that is cheating the American people out of the healthcare goods and services for which we are already paying. As a result, millions of Americans get sick, get sicker, stay sick longer, suffer more, die sooner - and often go bankrupt in the process.

JustHealth's mission is to fix this and create a just healthcare system.

We work to accomplish this by:

1. Educating the public about the true state of our current healthcare system;

2. Taking action to protect consumers and providers from dangerous, deceptive, dishonest, unfair or unlawful acts and practices;

3. Proposing and supporting legislation and regulations that will foster a just healthcare system; and

4. Being an advocate for consumers and providers in every available forum.