Film essayist Michael Moore has chosen fat targets before - corporate bullies, gun fetishists, war profiteers - but with Sicko,'' he's got his biggest and most entrenched target yet. Sicko,’’ which takes on America’s profoundly profitable and catastrophically inefficient health care system, is Moore’s most assured, least antagonistic and potentially most important film.
Anecdotal in nature, Sicko'' shows what's wrong with our health care system by comparing it with those in Canada, England and France, where universal health care is as ingrained in the social fabric as their national anthems. Asked what would have happened in England if Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair had tried to dismantle the National Health Service, an elderly British statesman answers without pause, There would have been a revolution.’’
In the U.S., politicians in the pockets of medical industry lobbyists respond to any universal health care movement by screaming, Socialism!'' And, as Hillary Clinton learned, it works. Though Moore raised the dander of conservatives by taking ailing 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for treatment they couldn't get at home, Sicko’’ is a darkly funny and relatively stunt-free polemic.
No, we don’t meet any Americans who have good health care stories to tell. But this is a picture about the big picture, showing that the U.S., while investing far more money in health care than any other country, ranks 38th in the world in effectiveness - far, far behind every other Western industrialized nation.
The reason for this poor return is that most of the money ends up in the bank accounts of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, both of which are driven to improve the financial health of their stockholders.
Moore, who has a major but inoffensive presence in the film, found insurance company examiners whose job it is to find reasons not to approve claims, even if the patient is fatally ill.
And he found a retired insurance company hit man whose job it was to find reasons in people’s medical histories to reclaim money already paid out and revert the debt to them.
In England, where the motto is ``Pay according to your means, get treated according to your needs,’’ government-paid doctors receive bonuses for improving the health of their patients. What a concept.
The richest country in the world with the worst overall average health care of advanced nations. Worst infant mortality, though some of that may be based on above ground nuclear testing from decades ago as the deaths peaked along the fallout routes from New Mexico to Albany NY (I used to work in Insurance). Incredible really. Yet over and over you hear bragging about the system and the dangers of socialized medicine. Of course, at the highest levels for those who can pay, it is often the best.
Never heard that. Wow. I used to work in insurance also.
Michael is great. But, he doens’t always tell the full story. When asked why he didn’t tell why 911 was an inside job Moore responded “because that would not be American.” I have watched all his movies. He is pretty good. He won’t get down to the nitty gritty though. I mean most of us know we already pay more for medical costs and insurance then anyone else. No ground breaking news here. I did see some of the previews though and it looks ok. Regardless I will go watch it. He usually has some interesting things to say.
PS. Anyone want to watch a good documentary (not by Moore) watch “Who killed the electric Car” it shows how technology for the electric was available in the US and was shot down. I almost cried when all those toyota EV1’s were taken off the street.
B’s.
Im watching it right now. Will finish later. Very good so far.
Off to train.
B’s.
Just watched the whole thing. This film is excellent.
Saw who killed the electric car, definately a good watch, no demand come on now
Instead of going to war over gas and oil we could of had electric cars…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSBykAngDpY&mode=related&search=
(3.3 million views)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8mDGnA2KAU&mode=related&search=
(electric car vs ferrari 355)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHQ4cEr5Wao
(brief summary of electric car and the documentary)
To take the conversation a lot further, check out youtube on “Energy from the Vacuum” Can someone post the link?
If you want to find out some very interesting things…read about Nikola Tesla
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6EnDBjCjBw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTiiblwwLPk
(born at the stroke of midnight during a lightning storm. WOW!)
Free energy may be why Tesla didn’t keep his Westinghouse stock. he didn’t think there’d ever be any shortage of supply. Back to Energy in a Vacuum.
I was thinking the same thing.
I doubt is was the government. All that energy floating around probably caused the warehouse to burn down. I mean the guy was basically living in lightning storm. He was certainly a genuis though.
I didn’t realise that Americans can be refused medical health insurance yet have no state option to fall back on. Moore is of course over the top but if 1/5 of the film is a true reflection of what is going on I’m surprised there arn’t riots in the streets over this stuff and the fact that people actually voted against a state run system seems bizarre. The Cuba touch at the end must have just totally pissed off the administration!
His working on it & talking about it might have had something to do with his lab burning down :rolleyes:
Riots?? :o I’ve lived in the States for 15 years… . Americans don’t have riots. Well, it’s a rarity… (people do stand out of abortion centers, walking in perfect circles with signs… :rolleyes: )
(On the other extreme, I remember us having a riot in Greece in 7th grade because there was not enough cheese in the school’s cheesepie… :rolleyes: )
Sorry if I went off on a tangent there 
I understand Morre’s point, but from a European point of view his examples of “perfectly working European System” seem absurd.
We do have generaly a differnent (call it more social or human) aproach, but they way Mr. Moore draws his picture of European health insurance must give a wrong impression.
Strangely he take examples which I think are some of the worst within Europe.
Secondly the better working examples tend to have more and more problems to finance the whole thing and in fact we face the following situation:
Every citizen (who has a better income) gives a big part of his pay for social insurance. In return he gets medical care with standards worsening from year to year. So he is left with the choice of having an additional health insurance to guarantee a high level of medical care.
But then people ask themselves: Why do I have to pay 600 or 700 $ of my 4000 $ a month for health care I do not want and pay another few 100$ for my private health insurance, while poor people, a high percentage of them immigrants, pay nothing and get medical care provided from my money.
It’s not against the poor, but against a system which allows the big companies to use immigrants for cheap labour, but neither the rich (who are taking advantage of this situation) neither the poor (who are the victims in this respect and can’t afford medical care) pay for it - it’s the middle class that pays.
So in this years we see the European systems of health insurance change - we live in a globalized world and Europe will be forced to follow the US system more and more…
I agree with many of your points about the picture of europe being too rosey and one sided but the film makes me feel a lot luckier that I have some kind of a system even though it may not be perfect. The idea that doctors have to even choose not to treat people seems just crazy from my value system.
Michael Moore and youtube are probably not the best sources for ‘truth’ on any subject. Here’s another point of view…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/30/AR2007063000293.html
Good article. I’m yet to see the movie but I think with every documentary such as this one there should be the same from a defending viewpoint. The article doesn’t REALLY blow Moore out of the water - ok, so his facts are 10% or so exagerated…but still…to debate you must provide 100% on ALL sides of the table which in his previous movies he hasn’t reaaaaaaaaally done.