Sicko

11 comments

11 Comments

at 1:14 PM  ragamuffinminister said...

This movie will definitely make you angry. Lower level countries have gov't supported health care and we're giving bonuses to deny coverage to people who might die if they don't get help. I'm not sure what Jesus would do, but I know that the Christian right isn't making one bit of noise about this. And that surely doesn't seem right.

Things like this have really caused me to question a lot about the country I live in. I don't like to admit that, but it's true.

 

at 2:10 PM  Shane said...

When I saw this movie I thought to myself, "Why can't we have healthcare just like Britain, Canada, France, and Cuba." Then I realized it was a Moore Movie and there had to be something missing.

Moore kept throwing around the word "Free". There is no such thing as free, espceially when it comes to healthcare. Someone has to pay. There are plenty of problems with the countries Moore touts in this movie. They are different problems, but problems none the less.

I know that Moore has used as many "tricks of the trade" to skew things in Sicko as he did in his other "documentaries". To me it cheapens a very important subject and makes a mockery of a valid point of view.

The US healthcare has huge problems that need to be fixed, but I don't think handing it the government is a good idea. They've screwed up enough things.

I wrote a review for this movie that you can read here.

 

at 3:17 PM  jason said...

Sorry for this LONG comment, but here's what I wrote about it after seeing it in the theater back in July...our view are quite similar:

Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Sicko - An Angry Review

Last Friday night my wife and I saw the movie Sicko, by filmmaker Michael Moore. I really did not know what to expect from this movie. I only know that I really enjoyed Bowling for Columbine and Farenheit 9/11, and was willing to see whatever new movie he released. In fact, from the billboards and the title, I really thought this movie would be another "Bush Bashing" or "Administration Bashing" type of movie.

I was surprised to see it really focuses on an incredibly important issue...healthcare. The movie is not about Republicans or Democrats, nor does it delve deeply into who's to blame for our nation's healthcare debacle. It simply makes a very strong point...many other countries in our world provide FREE, universal healthcare to ALL of it's citizens. Why can't we?

I don't care if you personally don't like Michael Moore. This is one documentary you need to see. It's gotten consistently strong reviews as a movie. You can check out this one from Rolling Stone magazine, or this one from EOnline, or this one from the Boston Globe. What you'll find in most reviews are people saying this is probably Moore's best overall movie to date. He tones down the political rhetoric and really focuses on the issue at hand. Sure, he over-emotionalizes a little, and stretches a point or two a little to far. But the movie is funny, maddening, serious, emotional, and somtimes truly unbelievable.

Here's the hard part. The movie really, really has got me ticked off. I don't want to give up too much subject matter, because you need to see it for yourself. But here's the kicker: Canada - FREE healthcare for everyone. Great Britain - FREE healthcare for everyone. France - FREE healthcare for everyone. Cuba - FREE healthcare for everyone. Moore shatters some preconceived notions that Americans have about the universal systems. "Doctor's make little money in universal healthcare" (wrong). "The quality of care is just not as good" (wrong). "You have to wait forever to get anything taken care of" (wrong).

In probably the most talked about part of the movie, Moore actually takes a group of sick Americans - some of whom are suffering because of their involvement in the 9/11 clean up and rescue missions - to Cuba. While there, these people receive totally free healthcare services and free prescription medications. One women breaks down crying when she receives several boxes of a respiratory medicine for free....the same medicine she has to pay $100's of dollars for in America.

So why am I ticked off? (I hope no one from some secret government search engine reads this) I'm ticked off because this movie has really added to my dislike of the country in which I live. I've begun to wonder (and not only because of Sicko) whether America is really the nation in which we are expected to believe it is. It's the "land of the free", but there are many free industrialized nations in our world now. Is America really that much better of a place to live than Canada, England, France, Italy, or Australia? Would it not be a stetch to say that in many industrialized nations, people probably actually have MORE freedoms than we do?

Capitalism used to be a term that would invoke pride in Americans. We all have the opportunity to do well in life because of the opportunities capitalism provides. But isn't capitalism now polarizing and in some ways destroying our nation? Every year, the majority of Americans who declare bankruptcy do so because they cannot pay their medical bills.

In Sicko, Moore goes to a pharmacy in Great Britain. In Great Britain, at every pharmacy, no matter what medicine you purchase, it costs 6 pounds, or roughly $10.00. ANY medicine. Doesn't matter if it's 30 pills or 90 pills, ibuprofen, viagra, or amoxicillin, the prescription costs $10.00. A heart medicine that would cost a senior citizen $200.00 to buy here....$10.00 there. How's that for capitalism? Here's a country we consider to be an ally, possibly even a contemporary. And if you live there, you pay NO medicals costs (ever), and any prescription you need costs $10.00. Here, hundreds of thousands of people go bankrupt each year because of these same needs.

As you can see, I'm mad. I often joke with my wife about moving to Canada. I'm always half-joking and half-serious. Of course, it would be difficult to do, since ALL of our family are in the Kentucky/Tennessee area, and we would have no jobs lined up. But there are so many times when I wish we had the courage to just do it. It seems to me that America has devolved into a place controlled by egotistical power, political polarization, greed, money, fear, endless laws, and even manipulative suppression. It's where I live. I'm pretty confident it's where I'll always live. But it's become almost impossible for me to take pride in that fact, and Sicko is just a small part of it.

 

at 5:09 PM  Greg Adkins said...

Shane,

You raise some good points I probably should have mentioned. I agree that Moore is absolutely a manipulative filmmaker... that's what makes them popular and enjoyable. They're funny and often over the top simplistic. If he really dug really deep into the issues, no one would watch them. So yeah... you have to know that going in.

And while I am NOT any kind of an expert on universal health care, I would agree with you that the rosy picture he paints isn't the whole truth. But, after spending the last hour researching and reading, I think I've determined this much at least:

In France, if your fingers are chopped off, they will reattach them.

In England if your baby is dying and you show up at the hospital, they will help you... not send you to an in-network hospital across town.

In Canada if you have cancer, they won't ask you for $100,000 when you're halfway through your chemo program and if you can't pay it cut you off.

Are there problems with it? Sure... the people do pay more taxes and there are other issues as well. But, I'm talking about sanctity of life here... we as a nation have put profit and capitalism at a higher value than human life and that is offensive to me on a deep, deep level.

If anyone here knows a lot about this, I would be interested in knowing what the specific problems are with universal health care in the countries that have it. I know they pay more in taxes... what else is wrong with it? I don't know but I'd like to.

I agree also that the government has screwed up a lot of things but removing the for-profit model in the healthcare industry would be fine with me and if it takes government involvement, I'd be okay with giving them a chance. They couldn't do it any worse... could they?

 

at 9:35 PM  Jessica said...

I think we all know that it is not 100% accurate, but if even a small portion of it is true, and I ABSOLUTELY know it is because of issues with my own family, it is too much. I know that it would be scary to turn things over to the government, especially considering how corrupt it has become. What are the other problems that these countries with universal healthcare are having? Are they problems that are causing people to die, because if they're not, I think it might be worth the trade!

I think it is absolutely sinful what this country is doing regarding healthcare. We are NOT taking care of each other. It is out of control and we should all be furious.

 

at 8:24 AM  Nord said...

I had a great aunt who had duel citizenship here and in Norway (where they have universal healthcare). When it came to healthcare, she would travel to the States and pay for it rather than accept the free care.

It's obvious that the current system in broken. But their are no simple solutions. I favor major health insurance reform that severs health insurance from employment. Insurance companies need to do deal with individuals not impersonal employers and individuals need to be less reliant on insurance to cover certain medical costs like office visits.

I also think providers need to be shielded from frivilous malpractice suits. Americans need to take more personal responsibility for their health (begining with diet). People need to pay for healthcare if they are to take responsibilty for their healthy or not so healthy lifestyle choices. If the government's paying, then why shouldn't I eat monster thick burgers for every meal?

The government's role should be minimal - offering a safety net for the destitute. The church should take a greater role in funding and staffing charitable care.

I'm still working through my thoughts on this topic and don't pretend to have it all together in a post like this.

 

at 10:27 AM  Shane said...

First I would like to say that I enjoy Moore's movies for just the reason Greg said. The problem I have is that most people don't go the extra mile to research. The fact that someone can say that it is common knowledge that Moore's movies are not 100% accurate should give him 0% credibilty. We don't need a movie to tell us that there are problems with our healthcare. That is obvious. Moore takes advantage of this, plays our heart strings and we march to his beat.

People DO wait for healthcare in those countries. People DO die from the problems that universal healthcare causes.

I found this site that has links to legitimate new stories on the failings of universal healthcare. It does have an agenda, so take it for what it's worth.

Instead of just blindly handing over our healthcare to the government, we need to see what other countries are doing wrong and what they are doing right. I have no doubt that the government can screw things up worse.

We should be outraged at the state of healthcare in the US. But I personally cannot see universal healthcare solving all of the problems.

 

at 11:51 AM  Anonymous said...

Hey, Greg....

No, I haven't seen the movie, but wanted to comment...only knowing two specific instances...my sister-in-law is married to a Canadian...the stories he has about family, friends, etc. waiting FOREVER for healthcare are a tad bit disturbing...YES, they will treat your cancer...and a lot of times it is discovered when it's treatable....but you don't actually get care until you're in the last stage of the disease...because there is a backlog and huge waiting periods..sure, free healthcare is would be great...but I have to wonder...if I had a treatable cancer and had to wait months, even years for treatment...would it still be treatable when they got around to treating me? We have a family friend who is Canadian as well and married to an american doctor...her family comes to the states as well for care and pays out of their own pockets for it. These are only two examples from two people from two different parts of Canada...it's the only information I can offer...I have to agree that our system is broken and something should be done...but I can't tell you what should be done...and I don't know if universal healthcare is the answer. Like i said, I have not seen the movie- He probably hit the nail on the head regarding our healthcare..but did he really portray the other countries systems the way it really works? Or the way they are supposed to work? Free is great..and if God forbid I were diagnosed with cancer tomorrow and could walk into a clinic somwhere and immediately begin treatment that would be wonderful...I just don't think it's that cut and dry in the other countries...maybe it is...and maybe the issues the two people I know had were isolated ones...but I really don't think so. And I know I keep bringing up Cancer; probably because my cousin is currently dealing with it so that's in my head...according to my two sources of informtion non-life threatening illnesses also get backlogged and can turn into life threatening issues...I personally feel the grass isn't really always greener...anyway, just my opinion...based on conversations and minimal research. :) Sicko may just be something we get to watch in the next few weeks.... Wendy Stands

 

at 6:11 PM  Meriam said...

I haven't seen the movie, but I have a friend who's husband is in the military and she has a blood clot in her brain. It's operable, but a risky procedure the government doctors don't do. She got sent to a specialist, but then the government funded military insurance refused to cover it. If that's what we would face with universal health care, I don't want it. Something needs to be done, though, because our insurance is going up in January to $600 a month with a $5000 deductable we have only met once (we are self-insured). We have no choice but to cancel because we can't find anything cheaper, I've tried. A doctor's visit costs about $90 and we only have to take a kid in about every other month. We would do better to put $600 a month in a savings account.

 

at 12:37 AM  Nick said...

Hi Greg. Thanks for posting about this. My wife and I watched about 80% of Sicko tonight based soley on your reccomendation (it was the first Michael Moore film I'd seen). I found it very interesting, as did my wife, who is a nurse at a VA Hospital (i.e. free healthcare for veterans).

I guess the one question I have that has not been addressed well in the film (not yet anyway) is how much free healthcare actually costs, tax wise. I am going to do some of my own research on this, but it will be interesting to see.

Perhaps the best point he made in the video was when he said essentially, "Why are Americans so afraid of govenment funded public services? The firemen, police officers, librarys and post office seem to work fine. I thought that was a great point."

Thanks again, Greg.

 

at 9:54 AM  surrytops said...

Greg,
I have read quite a bit of your blogging and I want to recommend to you an author for you to read. His name is Jim Wallis. He is a Christian and a political activist who founded Sojourners. I belong to this organization and I think you have many of the same values.
I know of a teacher in Knox County whose husband was on life support. During his illness she passed away. He was unplugged from the life support because he was covered under her health insurance and upon her death, he was no longer covered. They had a double funeral.
My former pastor's three-year old granddaughter has cancer. I read their blogs about on Carepages about insurance companies deciding with hospital adminstrators which treatments will be beneficial for that beautiful little girl. We all need to consider how we would feel if that little girl was ours, who would we want to make those decisions and would we want her life to balanced with their profit margins? You're right. We have failed when it comes to realizing where we hold up sanctity of life.
Don't forget that Pat Robertson is one of the richest men in the world and that he endorsed Rudy Giuliani for president. Come on People! What do you think it means,"Thou shalt not use the name of the Lord in Vain"? Let's love our neighbors. Let's heal the sick. Let's feed the hungry. Let's stop believing what we hear and study to show ourselves approved. Way to go, Greg!

 

Post a Comment