Sicko

One thing can't be argued about Michael Moore--he knows how to push buttons. Whether you love him or hate him, after seeing one of his films you're likely to be angry. Since I am of the same political bent as he is, my anger, after seeing his film Sicko, was at the insurance companies and the politicians who are in their pocket. I was ready to storm the nearest HMO with a torch and pitchfork, until I had time to calm down a little bit and examine just what Moore was trying to say.

Unlike his earlier films, Moore doesn't perform many pranks in this film. Instead, he just piles up evidence. Person after person who has full health coverage but was either denied benefits for a variety of reasons, or the co-pays were too large, display their hard luck stories. A retired couple with health problems lose their home, file for bankruptcy, and have to move into their daughter's home. A woman who rushes her daughter to the hospital with a fever is told to go to a different hospital, and by then the baby dies. A woman with a brain tumor is told she has a non-life threatening condition, and she dies of it. A woman is denied treatment for cancer because it is "experimental." And on and on. Moore also examines the policies of insurance companies, interviewing those who used to work for them, and finds out that they encourage employees to deny claims for the flimsiest of reasons--medical directors are rewarded handsomely for denying the most claims. A woman is denied a claim because she had a yeast infection years earlier, which they say was a "pre-existing condition."

Moore then takes a look at the health care systems of Canada, England, and France. All of these countries have a universal, single-payer health care, the payer being the government. Moore finds plenty of people who are quite happy with this and puzzled at the American system. During this segment Moore expands his point and examines the purpose of government. He is of the belief that government is supposed to take care of its citizens, and argues that we already socialize some things in this country, like fire and police, schools and libraries, why not health care? Of course the simple answer is that insurance companies aren't likely to want to be dismantled, and pay off politicians (even Hillary Clinton, who tried to topple them fifteen years ago) a pretty penny to keep them viable.

Moore has an interesting conversation with a former British parliament member who crystallizes the issue--governments rely on fear and demoralization to keep their people in line. And in France, an American expat explains it this way--in France, the government is afraid of the people, and in America the people are afraid of the government. In France, people get almost free day care, they even get doctors who make house calls, and nannies who will do laundry while you are sick. It seems they will do anything but wipe your ass. I'm sure this utopian vision of France is overblown, and the people of Western Europe pay taxes like nobody's business (even if they do get unlimited sick days and five weeks of vacation). I'm also sure that there are medical horror stories from Canada, England and France, but Moore wasn't about to present them.

The only stunt Moore pulls is the last half-hour of the film. Rescue workers from 9/11 who were not city employees (but worked on the pile nonetheless) and were denied health claims are rounded up by Moore and taken by boat to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where imprisoned members of Al Qaeda are getting the best health care the U.S. can offer. Of course Moore's flotilla is repulsed, so instead he takes them to Havana, where they get wonderful health care. I think this segment, illustrative as it is, is fraught with pitfalls. Maybe you can get asthma inhalers for five cents, but there must be some reason Cubans take to the sea on rafts made out of truck tires to get out of there and come here, where the same inhaler costs $125. To make Cuba look like such a paradise is pretty irresponsible of Moore, but it certainly is part of his game.

This is clear from what we learn from this film: the health care system in this country is broken and needs to be fixed. I'm not sure of the answer, but removing profit from the equation is key. Hopefully Sicko will fuel a movement to get that accomplished.