Sicko

The last movie I saw on the day it opened was Fahrenheit 911, and now today I saw Sicko on the weekend it opened. I'm not actually a big Michael Moore fan. It's just he keeps making movies about the things I care the most about.

I liked Sicko, as much as you can be said to "like" a movie that makes you cry from the minute it starts until the minute it ends. Even when my mind was going, okay, I KNOW there's another side to this story he's telling, my heart really didn't care.

As a journalist, of course I think it's important to dig deep into your story and be careful not to give a false impression. And as a documentary filmmaker, Moore is also, at least to a certain extent, a journalist.

But I'm not sure I really care that there's "another side" to some of his stories, primarily because the health insurance companies and drug companies are telling their "side" all day, every day, with teams of laywers and advertising agencies and PR hacks. I don't need Michael Moore to tell "their side," I want to hear "his side." Then I'll decide what exactly it is that I believe.

All that said, even if only 30 percent of what he says is incontestably accurate, this is as devastating a smackdown of the healthcare system in this country as I've ever seen.

Oh, and I so want to move to France.

Comments

[Karoli]

I've been doing a lot of reading and writing about Sicko. Michael Moore does a great job of deconstructing our current system, but he's a little glossy on the systems in France, Canada, the UK, et al.

I wrote a post here about some of the issues in those systems. It drove me crazy to keep hearing him say they were 'free'. Of course they're not.

With that said, I'm not sure anyone has a great solution to the problem of widening access to health care. It seems to me that there are so many issues converging on one point that if we can't figure out how to separate and work on them one at a time, I don't think much will get accomplished.

I give big props to Moore for bringing it to the fore of public dialogue. After the Hilary smackdown I figured we wouldn't see another meaningful discussion in my lifetime.

[Lisa Paddock]

I can't wait to see SICKO, having recently lived some of the truths it espouses. After being diagnosed with cancer three years ago, I discovered that the worst part of the disease was dealing with the insurance companies. I guess I can only say as much because I have survived thusfar, but honestly, after spending one day every week attempting to wend my way through the insurancer maze, I have often felt catatonic. And this experience made me realize just how horrendous our so-called healthcare system is in this country. I am covered by the most insurance available through my husband's employer, but because I chose to use some surgeons who do not participate in the managed care system that constitutes the first line of our package (call me picky: when someone is cutting on me, I want an experienced surgeon, not a recent medical school graduate), I will be paying for my disease--literally--for the remainder of my life (remember, medical expenses are--or were, until the laws were revised--the primary reason for bankruptcy in this country). But this fact is far from the more egregious one gleaned from my experience: The very worst part of being sick in this country is that when you are at your most vulnerable, the system can--and does--takes advantage of you in the most despicable ways. I was not in pain, I had my wits about me, I am not aged, and as the holder of both a Ph.D, and a J.D., I consider myself an educated person. Still, I was jerked around to an astonishing degree by my four insurers, and it came as a profound shock to me to realize that many citizens of this wealthy country must simply fall through the cracks when they are incapacitated and unable to speak for themselves. I can't begin to tell you what a national scandal I think our healthcare.

[KathyF]

I had my first experience with the dreaded NHS yesterday, having been referred by my local optician after I complained about my spotty vision.

The NHS hospital called within an hour of receiving the faxed referral. They had an appt for me that afternoon, but I wanted to go to the beach, so I tried to talk them into a future appt. She went all nanny on me, and encouraged me to come today, and since it was about to rain, I went ahead and took the appt, dreading the paperwork I'd have to fill out.

I brought my passport and visa, and a letter from the water company addressed to me to prove I lived here. Plus plenty of my American attitude, which has worked well in the past when I needed to be served a meal, for instance.

But I didn't need any of it, not even a form of ID. She'd asked for three things over the phone, which enrolled me in the NHS: my phone number, DOB, and address, plus my name. When I arrived, all I needed to do was go to my clinic, where I was treated in short order.

So incredibly simple, and from now on, if I have future eye problems, I'm told to call them directly--no need for a referral.

I've never had such an easy time at a medical appt. I'm thinking about going back, just to see if it really is that easy.