Moore’s SiCKO! alludes to a much larger problem
Citizens from England, Canada, France, and Cuba appeared in Michael Moore’s latest documentary, SiCKO! and all shared one striking commonality: When Moore approaches them in their local hospitals and doctor’s offices to ask, “How much will you pay for this healthcare?” they all immediately laughed in his face, and said, “Nothing.” They continue laughing when Moore inquires, “Well, someone has to pay for this; surely your taxes are astronomical?” and they nearly come unglued when he asks, “What do you think of the American healthcare system?”
These people were laughing because America is one of the world’s richest countries, but its citizens enjoy healthcare that ranks 37th, behind notable “economic equals” Portugal and embattled South American country, Colombia.
The reason for this grim reality is the fact that the United States is the only country in the industrialized world that does not provide a nationalized healthcare service to its citizens. In fact, under the American system, it is to the benefit of health insurance companies to deny care to the very people they are supposed to protect.
After all, health care is a business, so the approval of any kind of treatment by an insurance provider equates a financial loss for the company - an abomination in the eyes of stockholders as well as a deviation from the organization’s top priority, turning a profit. Quite simply, American healthcare providers make more money by giving less care. These ugly realities, among many others are just a few of the chaotic but glaring crises of the American healthcare establishment brought to light by Michael Moore’s film.
The focus of SiCKO! is somewhat surprising in that it deals much more with middle-class people who have health insurance than the nearly 50 million Americans who are uninsured. By doing this, Moore points out that people often develop a false sense of security once they obtain insurance through an employer or other means.
SiCKO! highlights the fact that health insurance companies actually battle tooth and nail to discover loopholes and legal formalities that will allow them to deny care to their policy holders. For instance, Moore interviews a woman who has developed cervical cancer. Like most people with health coverage, she expected her insurance company to cover the costs of her treatment which included chemotherapy. The woman was shocked to discover that her treatment had been denied on the grounds that she had failed to disclose a “pre-existing condition” in the initial insurance agreement. Confused and distraught, she contacted her insurance provider to see exactly what pre-existing condition made her ineligible for coverage. Almost laughably, her insurance company said she had failed to disclose that she had once had a yeast infection.
Michael Moore also interviews several people who are employed by health insurance companies in an attempt to shed some understanding on the above situation as well as several others. One man who works as a claims adjuster says that it is his job to examine health insurance contracts to discover loopholes exactly like the one previously described. He goes on to explain that insurance companies employ thousands of people to do exactly the same thing. Others admit that these companies offer incentives such as promotions and bonuses for a satisfactory percentage of denied claims. One woman even breaks down, admitting her feelings of shame for participating in a system designed to exploit people.
Possibly the most disturbing portion of SiCKO! unfolds as Moore interviews several volunteer fire and rescue personnel, all of whom have dedicated time to rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center. While each has a unique medical condition, all have been denied care after developing conditions that directly resulted from their efforts at ground zero.
Because they had volunteered, none are eligible for health coverage through their employers. Determined to correct this absurdity, Moore takes his interviewees to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the one place on American soil that actually offers free healthcare ... to suspected terrorists. As it turns out, the American citizens are turned away from the detention center. So Moore takes them to a hospital in downtown Havana, where they are treated with no questions asked. One woman who suffers from a respiratory ailment is provided with a suitcase full of inhalers for five cents each - the same inhaler she had been purchasing in the United States for $120 each. In addition to all of this, the Cuban people welcome these volunteers as heroes, long after their own country had forgotten about them.
In the past, Michael Moore has been harshly criticized for his liberal bias and much of his work has been simply written off as “extreme-left” anti-American propaganda.
Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 incited a huge media backlash in which he was labeled an extremist by most every major news organization. Interestingly, most of the claims made in Fahrenheit 9/11 have come to pass including the fact that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction and was not involved in 9/11 and, true to Moore’s claims, the Iraq war has since turned out to be a quagmire, rife with corruption and profiteering. Nonetheless, the predominating effect of Fahrenheit 9/11 was to further intensify the liberal/conservative split at a time when America needed desperately to unify.
In the case of SiCKO!, Moore’s typical sermonizing is mostly absent, and in its place is the testimony of common American citizens. Unlike Fahrenheit 9/11, SiCKO! is not an invective against Republicans. For the most part, it’s a bipartisan examination of a serious issue that has been equally neglected by both parties.
Skeptical conservatives will be glad to hear that SiCKO! even takes a shot at Hilary Clinton. Nonetheless, the true message of SiCKO! alludes to a much deeper problem with the current state of politics in the United States. Whether it is his intention or not, through SiCKO!, Michael Moore points out that the government has become a far too expensive game for the common American to play. With powerful lobby groups contributing millions to political campaigns, only the needs and wants of big business can be heard.
With this in mind, go see SiCKO!, but be skeptical. Don’t give all of Moore’s information a free pass. Keep an open mind, and when it’s over, research healthcare for yourself. You may be startled to find that the system has been designed to care more for the wealth of stockholders than the health of citizens.