Okay, I pirated the movie before it was supposed to come out. So sue me (please don’t).
Anyway, I’m not the biggest Michael Moore fan. I don’t dislike him as much as many people do, and I admit I’ve enjoyed watching his movies in the past, but I think sometimes he puts a little too much spin on the facts he presents. Sicko, however, I really liked. It succeeds in its mission of getting you pissed off and motivated to change something, and there isn’t really anything I can object to in this movie, bias wise. It’s a bit sensationalist, especially the part at the end where he goes to Cuba, but doesn’t seem to be as polarizing as his previous movies.
Moore tends to go for the emotional appeal, and Sicko is no different. I’ve been very fortunate that my mom’s health insurance has paid for all of my costly operations and medication recently, but many people aren’t so lucky. Health care workers tell stories of denying vital operations to save the company money. A woman shares the painful story of her husband who was denied a potentially life-saving operation and died. Stories of pain and death due to corruption in the health insurance industry pervade this movie, all of it contrasted with other countries that have universal health care paid for by the government, providing even the poorest with full medical coverage. The whole thing really made me want to go out and do something.
My AP English teacher brought up the idea of government-funded health care during class, and when a few students disagreed with her she asked them: “do you think everyone deserves health care?” I think that question fits the movie perfectly. To all those who disagree with this movie’s premise, I challenge you to answer that question.
just watched it myself, and I don’t know what to think about it. it made me pissed off at the medical industry, to be sure
I watched this movie last night. I really liked the part about Hillary because they show just how 2 sided she has been. Healthcare, the war, she is paid off and America sucks. Corporations take our tax dollars, out-source their jobs, impoverish us, keep us sick and we are still thinking America is number one. We are owned. I am moving to France or England if I can, geez. You guys won’t every elect anyone who can fix this problem because nobody will.
donnie: america doesn’t suck. im asian born in a foreign coutnry and have lived in the US for roughly 14 years. there isnt a country that doesnt have any problems. we are no different.
we have good values and this gives me hope that we are gradually moving in the right direction: “we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed..with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” we should appreciate and respect our country for all things we take for granted.
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Did some research as far as taxation in the countries more used as examples , lots of people screaming that they are paying more because of socialized medicine.
Here are the facts.
Canada 15-29%(Federal)
France 10%-48.09%
U.K. 0-40%
U.S.A. 0-35%
So with these comparisons I am not sure why we can go to Universal healthcare. The U.S. spends twice as much as other industrialized nations on health care, $7,129 per capita. Yet our system performs poorly in comparison and still leaves 46 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered.
This is because private insurance bureaucracy and paperwork consume one-third (31 percent) of every health care dollar. Streamlining payment though a single nonprofit payer would save more than $350 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.
Its a no brainer. How rich do these insurance exec’s need to be? Does the money fill the holes they have where there morals and ethics once were?
Its a cycle we are caught in. Jumping off will be very painfull. We (Americans) fill our days with things that are of interest, ingnore the boring and not immediately relevant ‘stuff’ (for the most part). We are USED to being this way..living life in our click…trying not to make waves. Those few that feel wronged by something and do something about it stand out as either Heroes for a cause or Villans to logic. Every aspect (system) of this country is tied together with another aspect. If we think to change one.. then there may be a chainreaction to the whole system. If one way of doing something (system) is found to hinder overall life quality and productivity was successfully replaced with a better way altogether….then found that other systems have a core logic simular to the previous…..there is your chainreaction. The FEAR OF CHANGE is prevalent and is sometime backed by FEAR OF FAILURE.
Not wanting to change the subject from the movie critic, but how do you expect a populous that is slowly being steared with chemical doses (via diet, medical treatments, enviromental exposure) -that- reduces mental aggressiveness and affects clarity of thought, making them susceptible to authoritative control…to suddenly grow a backbone and risk losing everything– knowing that the success will only be felt by future generations. (many great people who died for change come to mind)
Im scared. Deep down I refuse to believe that if anything happens to my family there is a small chance that immediate care may be refused or delayed. I do not think that we should do what other countries are doing, however, I think we can do better. I love Democracy. It is liquid. It is made to change and grow with the available wisdom. I was raised to think “be more successful then the guy beside me”. I do not remember much about the topic of ‘helping others help themselves’ much, unless I delve into my brief stint in a local church. Family yes….neighbours maybe. Beyond that your on your own.
If we had full health care along with education on lifestyle…..wait, that won’t work. If we did that we will be smart enough to eat better. If we had the knowledge to reduce our overall ailments then how could those lovely companies that are geared towards reactive health-care maintain their stock share prices. Companies will have to change the way they grow and process foods. People will demand even greater disclosure in more and more areas of life. Soon this will cause people to look outside their families, outside their neighbourhoods, outside their cities. Soon they will feel the need to speak out when they see something in the ‘system’ that is inplace to take advantage of them (populous) rather then to help.
The Government, our Government, is alive. Like any entity it will try to protect itself when threatened. Now think, our Government is a tool that can sometimes be used by those with means. It should be solo’y by ballot but this is not the case. The Government is a business. If you threaten its babies (other businesses) it will bite.
As for M. Moore, this is the only ‘documentary’ I found visually enjoyable. Now should I be critic’ing this on content? If so it was lacking by not showing some REAL cons to those other systems. Even with the cons… there could be a point made. Leaving them out only made the arguement for one sideness easier to defend.
My personal hero:
“If Caesar had been as virtuous as he was daring and sagacious, what could he, even in the plenitude of his usurped power, have done to lead his fellow citizens into good government?… If their people indeed had been, like ourselves, enlightened, peaceable, and really free, the answer would be obvious. ‘Restore independence to all your foreign conquests, relieve Italy from the government of the rabble of Rome, consult it as a nation entitled to self-government, and do its will.’ But steeped in corruption, vice and venality, as the whole nation was,… what could even Cicero, Cato, Brutus have done, had it been referred to them to establish a good government for their country?… No government can continue good but under the control of the people; and their people were so demoralized and depraved as to be incapable of exercising a wholesome control. Their reformation then was to be taken up ab incunabulis. Their minds were to be informed by education what is right and what wrong; to be encouraged in habits of virtue and deterred from those of vice by the dread of punishments proportioned, indeed, but irremissible; in all cases, to follow truth as the only safe guide, and to eschew error, which bewilders us in one false consequence after another in endless succession. These are the inculcations necessary to render the people a sure basis for the structure of order and good government. But this would have been an operation of a generation or two at least, within which period would have succeeded many Neros and Commoduses, who would have quashed the whole process. I confess, then, I can neither see what Cicero, Cato and Brutus, united and uncontrolled could have devised to lead their people into good government, nor how this enigma can be solved.” –Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1819. ME 15:233
“Reformation in government follows reformation in opinion.” –Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, 1789. ME 7:366, Papers 15:138
“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” –Thomas Jefferson
This is exactly the kind of dicussion that led me to create the website: http://www.healthcarepromise.org
If you want to help change our system, this is a great way to start.