Sicko

Like many people, I used to think that Michael Moore was a self-aggrandizing blowhard (though, in all candor, I totally agree with his politics). I really liked his first movie, Roger & Me, which seems like it came out a lifetime ago. I thought he nailed the gun control issue in Bowling for Columbine, but that's when my view of MM began to change. The movie took a negative turn for me in the scene where he took advantage of a clearly aging Charleton Heston. Okay, I understand that Mr. "From My Cold Dead Hands" is a big N.R.A. guy and his handsome face and celebrity have contributed to the opposition of sensible gun control in this country. But when the man invites you into his home to be interviewed and you're able to sandbag him because he's out of it and doesn't know who the hell you are, well, that detracts from the message you're trying to send. Why not devote more minutes to that prick, Wayne LaPierre? If anyone needs an extended theatrical bitchslap, it's him. Then again, maybe I'm biased because I loved Hestie in Planet of the Apes. Most of the time, you can make a point without coming off looking like a jerk, though this blog is not a good example of that.

Then there was Fahrenheit 9/11, which raised important questions, but focused too much on the wrong things, i.e., the Bush family's relationship with Saudi leaders and businessmen, rather than our real Achille's Heel: the involvement of our oil and military-industrial corporations in third world countries, which strips those countries of their resources and wealth, extends and deepens poverty, creates big-time resentment among the population, and ultimately contributes to the Blowback that smacks us in the face years later. 9/11 was one of those Blowback days in my view, and every sign, such as recent events in Britain and Scotland, points to it getting worse. I wish Mr. Moore had done what John Perkins did in his book Confessions of an Economic Hitman, and paid much more attention to the activities of MICs and their agents, rather than the Bush-Saudi relationship. Maybe the latter sold more tickets, but it did nothing to raise public consciousness of what is REALLY going on when we go to war in places like Iraq and Vietnam.

I also hate it when celebrities use a platform like the Oscars to start ranting their political views. There's a time and a place for that shit, and even though yes, many of the points Moore raised in Fahrenheit 9/11 turned out to be accurate, he should have showed a little more class and alluded to it, rather than sticking it in everyone's face onstage. Yeah, yeah, you're preaching to the converted and pissing everyone else off, so take your little gold man and move along.

Well good news, people. I saw the movie Sicko last week, on this nation's birthday, July 4th, to be exact, along with friend K., and Michael Moore, you have been redeemed! It's by far his best movie to date. I don't expect any conversions among you Republicanos and Fox News lovers, but even Moore haters will think it's less partisan than his prior movies and raises some important issues.

The bottom line of Sicko is that we have an embarrassingly bad health care system in this country, a profit-driven one that is run by insurance companies, not doctors, and certainly not by us. Our health care system is ranked 37th in the world. We're right behind Slovenia. The movie is an attempt to explain why we are stuck with such a shitty system, and why we are being put to shame by countries like Canada, Britain, and France, who have universal health care programs that work very well.

First, let's put aside the millions of Americans who aren't covered at all, since they're basically screwed no matter how you dice it. Let's assume that the biggest Christian country on earth, who sports a Bible Belt with a huge Jesus buckle, promotes prayer in school among the youngins, and builds monuments to the Ten Commandments and to stand outside public courthouses, doesn't care about these pathetic people at all. So we'll take that off the table. What is truly scary about our health care system, besides the millions of uninsured it doesn't cover, is that even people like me who are pretty well off, and who have good health benefits, are in big trouble if we get sick. Why? Well kids, the main reason is that our health care system, except for Medicare, is driven by P-R-O-F-I-T-S. Good old-fashioned capitalism! This means that in the hopefully very distant future, when you or I get sick with something really bad, a disease we really don't want, our doctor will give us a plan for treatment that may involve an operation (or several), new drugs, or innovative therapies. Can we then march right in and get treated for our problem asap? No, my sick friend. FIRST, our doctors will need to call our INSURANCE COMPANIES (assuming we're lucky enough to be able to afford insurance in the future) to see if they will cover the cost of treatment. I stupidly used to think that insurance companies would rubber stamp anything that my doctor deemed necessary, particularly in life-threatening situations (cancer, kidney transplant) or in an emergency (chain saw accident). I mean, what was I paying all those expensive premiums for my whole life, right?

The sick thing explained in Sicko is that because insurance companies are profit driven, they are looking to cut costs and increase shareholder value at every turn. People who work at these companies, everyone from the CEO to the research analysts to the people who talk to you on the phone when you call, get paid more if they save the company money, or add more to the company's bottom line. What does this mean for you and me? That these companies will do everything they can to deny us coverage if we get sick because all they care about is profits. They will look for loopholes in our insurance agreements. They will try to argue something was a pre-existing condition, even if it was hereditary and you just found out about it yesterday. They will hire investigators to pore over records and lawyers to litigate your case against you. All while you are probably facing some of the worst pain, mental and physical, of your entire life. So you will either pay for the treatment out of pocket yourself and likely go bankrupt (good doctors and hospitals ain't cheap), or get worse from the condition and maybe even die from it, if it's serious enough. God Bless America.

The movie explores just how we came to acquire this fucked up system in the first place (thank Richard Nixon) and how the insurance companies and their thousands of lobbyists keep it in place. Besides spending a lot of money on lobbyists and politicians (including Hillary Clinton, who is now one of many politicos taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance money), the powers that be try to scare us with a very bad word: SOCIALISM. Oh. My. Goodness! Hide the children! We are almost as afraid of the word "socialism" in the U.S. as we are of the words "terrorist" and "anthrax."

My fellow Americans, be not afraid. Here are a few things that are already socialized in these United States:

1. Our military. The one we're spending billions upon billions of tax dollars on right now.

2. Fire departments. So we don't have to deal with this scenario: Yes hi, I'd like to report a fire at 555 Evergreen Lane. Yes, it's right next door to my house. No, I don't have $50,000 to pay the firefighters to put it out, but I DO have fire insurance. Yes, I have grass and trees on my lawn. What? What do you mean grass and trees are pre-existing conditions? What do you mean I'm not covered? Shit, I have to go, my porn collection is on fire!!

3. Police departments. Same as above, except insert robber, rapist, molester, or murderer as the culprit.

4. Medicare. An example of how we already accept socialized medicine in this country.

5. Social Security. Bush wanted to privatize this too, the moron, something that's worked for decades. Not to say that it doesn't need to be updated, now that we're living longer than we did in the 1930s and 40s.

6. Water. Everyone gets some. [EDITOR'S NOTE: It's been pointed out to me by K. that in fact, we pay a fee for our water use. Okay, so it's almost free, i.e., heavily subsidized.] Ironically, most people would prefer to pay for it now. But imagine if you had to pay a private corporation every time you wanted to take a shower, do your laundry, drink acqua, brush your teeth, or flush the toilet? Actually, given the way the planet's drying up, don't be too surprised if this becomes a reality one day soon. Clean, available drinking water is the oil of future generations.

So, to sum up, we entrust our government to manage the things that threaten our lives the most -- war, terrorism, crime, fires and other disasters -- but we won't do it with health care. We'd rather pay our own way, litigate with insurance companies, and bankrupt ourselves in the process. Oh and again, as a purportedly "Christian country" with all the moralizing we do in the world, we don't seem to care too much about millions of uninsured Americans, who include recent college graduates, the unemployed, underemployed, the poor, and the elderly, who cannot afford health insurance, much less health care. In fact, right after college, I was uninsured for three years myself, until I began law school. I was very lucky something bad didn't happen, or my parents would have been on the fast track to the Poor House.

I haven't even mentioned the health care costs involved in caring for your parents when THEY get sick. Know how much a decent long term health hospice/nursing home costs per month? Ask my friend P., who recently had to look into it for a relative who was very sick. He told me that a decent place costs $11,000 per month. How long would it take for his family to go bankrupt at that cost? The other option? Put your mother or father in one of those cheaper places. You know, the ones you see on t.v., where old people sleep in their own shit and urine, and are covered in bed sores because they haven't been turned over for three days. The places that smell like cooked cabbage. Where elderly patients are ignored and sometimes abused by the staff. How would you like to put dear old Mom and/or Dad in one of those places, just so you can avoid going bankrupt and can maybe save some money to send one -- but only one -- of your kids to college? (Don't even get me started on that deal!)

Does all of this make you sick? Me too. Capitalism is nice, warm, and fuzzy. It incentivizes and motivates people. It creates opportunity on a large scale. But it's not perfect. There are things it cannot do. There are important things like health care that cannot be left to a profit motive. Nixon created this fucked up system but we can end it. It's time to do something about it, everyone. Let's start with our next election.

In the meantime, here's something to make you feel a little better: a video of Michael Moore defending his movie (and Fahrenheit 9/11) on CNN the other night, in front of a hilariously unprepared Wolf Blitzer. He comes out swinging and it's a lot 'o fun.



Go see Sicko.