Barely a few minutes into Sicko, Michael Moore’s latest
documentary, Moore pulls the rug out form underneath me. When I first sat down
to watch this film, I figured it would be about the several million unfortunate
Americans who did not have any health coverage whatsoever. And Moore does deal
with them to an extent; mentioning a man without coverage in the opening who
accidentally sliced off two of his fingers--and who was later forced to choose
which of the two sliced off fingers to have put back on; the middle finger,
which would cost him sixty thousand dollars, or the ring finger, which only cost
twelve grand (he wound up choosing the cheaper finger). Yet despite this
appalling opening story, Moore makes it very clear up front that Sicko isn’t
about the uninsured--it’s actually about the millions of us who are insured.
Those Americans who have health coverage feel very lucky, as if they’ve dodged a
bullet. But as Moore points out, everything is usually hunky-dory with those
with health care--until they wind up getting sick. A young Detroit woman, who
had health care coverage, was diagnosed with cancer at the tender young age of
22, and then her insurance promptly dropped her, forcing her into debt. Sadly,
she’s not alone. Moore shows case after case where the same thing happens--a
person who dutifully pays for his/her health care coverage who abruptly gets
dumped once they wind up getting deathly sick or chronically ill. What makes the
situation even more infuriating is when Moore goes on a tour of countries with
universal health care: Canada, England, France and even Cuba. In all of these
countries, health care is not only free, but the basic attitude is also that
free health care is a right. When someone is sick--especially with such a
serious illness as cancer--they shouldn’t be charged an arm and a leg in order
to get better. In fact, Moore even finds a cashier in a British hospital who
gives refunds to patients for travel expenses!
The Michael Moore who narrates Sicko is overall more subdued and solemn than in
his previous films. And while he still uses humor here and there to great
effect--watch his shocked reactions to the health care benefits that people in
Canada, England and France enjoy on a daily basis--Sicko will make you more
angry than anything else, as the realization slowly dawns that Americans don’t
enjoy universal health care not because of an oversight, but as a result of pure
greed. The scenes of hospitals dumping ill patients who can’t pay on the streets,
or on the doorsteps of homeless shelters, is a clear sign that, in America, our
health care system desperately needs to be cured. Hopefully, if enough Americans
see Sicko, they will also be sickened enough at what they see to want to effect
change.
--SF
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