Sicko diagnoses our sick political system
Saturday, June 30th, 2007What is it to be “sick”? According to Merriam-Webster, there are two definitions:
1 : affected with disease or ill health
2 : spiritually or morally unsound or corrupt
This afternoon I viewed “Sicko.” I was one of the many audience members at the theater who applauded at the film’s conclusion. Sicko will serve provoke much-needed discussion regarding the American health care system. Sicko invokes the second definition of “sick” as well. My hope is that Sicko will also provoke desperately needed conversation, as well as substantive changes, to the American political system, where money acts as a virus and where the equivalent of white blood cells–the Media–has long gone into hibernation.
I am not optimistic about any self-instigated change in the American political system, but perhaps Sicko will provoke the media to start digging into the millions of health care injustices in America. These compelling stories are there for the taking. Perhaps these many cases where health care is being unfairly denied to Americans will at least occasionally start showing up on the front pages of America’s newspapers. Before Sicko was released, the undeniable fact that America is having a health care crisis was not considered newsworthy by the corporate media. Nor has any real healthcare conversation occurred in this country since Hillary Clinton was bludgeoned into silence on the issue thanks to more than $100 million spent by healthcare corporations more than 10 years ago.
Our political system is wretchedly sick. Moore makes this clear when he shows us a large room full of members of Congress, complete with little green tags superimposed to show how much money each of them has taken from big healthcare corporations.
Sicko is not just about the uninsured. It is also about those who have insurance. For that reason, this film should be of interest to both the 50 million Americans who don’t have health insurance (18,000 of them die each year because they are uninsured) as well as the quarter of a billion Americans who do have insurance.
Our health care insurance system is horribly sick (again, in the sense that it is spiritually or morally unsound or corrupt). American health care insurance is based upon the idea that you become highly profitable by denying claims to people who deserve reimbursement and who often happen to be dying. They can always go to court, of course. Then, when the jury renders a large judgment against the insurance company, the relatives of the now-dead insured person can enjoy the money. How do those numerous healthcare claims get denied? It’s easy. Doctors hired by the insurance companies stamp their names onto denial letters that are cranked out en masse by insurance company computers.
Keep in mind, that no insurance company executive needs to go around with horns or a pitchfork telling doctors to deny claims that they shouldn’t deny. No one has to tell anyone else to screw the sick people. All the insurance companies need to do is to put the right incentives in place. In Sicko, Moore makes it clear that the insurance companies have implemented carefully crafted schemes along those lines.
As you might expect in a Michael Moore film, you will find some imaginative and effective ways of portraying complicated issues. I don’t want to spoil the film by detailing any of these here. Suffice it to say that you will get your money’s worth if you go to see the movie. (more…)
This post was written by Erich Vieth
