Sicko

Micheal Moore's new movie "Sicko" is causing all kinds of controversy about the state of the American health care system. We all know it is screwed up, but a lot of us don't want to know how screwed up it is or what we can do to fix it. Michael Moore shows us in this movie that out of the top 25 industrialized countries, 24 of them have national health care. The one that doesn't is us. Something needs to change.

Last night Moore and Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN argued it out on Larry King Live. I watched this argument and I agree with both of them. In the movie, Moore states that in countries like Canada and Great Britain, health care is "free". Dr. Gupta took issue with this because it really isn't free if you account for all of the taxes they pay in order to have their health care. True. But Moore countered with the fact that, while we do not call them taxes, we pay more than they do in our co-pays, deductibles and our premiums in the long run. True.

Moore also stated that while we pay our deductibles and premiums, for those of us who actually have health insurance, we still sometimes have to wonder can we afford a hospital visit or a major illness. And then there are those of us who have no insurance at all who can never afford any kind of health care. His point was that with the higher taxes paid in the other countries, at least the citizens of those nations know that if they get sick, they do not have to find a way to pay a deductible or whatever percentage they need to pay in order to get treatment. They know they can walk in to any hospital or doctor's office and get the care they need.

Dr. Gupta didn't think that Moore made this point well enough for anyone who saw his movie to understand it. I think I would have understood. I think any sane, rational person would have. I think this actually sounds like a good idea. But Dr. Gupta took issue with Moore wanting to entrust the government with this responsibility since he has in the past tried to prove how untrustworthy the government is.

Then Moore made another really good point. He said that in the past our government has done really good things. It just depends on who is in control of the government. The Bush administration has proven that they are untrustworthy as far as the war in Iraq is concerned and as far as the Vice-president's office is concerned. But this is just his administration.

He pointed out that in the past, for example, our government has put a man on the moon in 8 years and FDR defeated the Nazi's, Mussolini and the Japanese in less time than our troops have already been in Iraq fighting Al-Queda. Our government has done a lot of good things. He also pointed out that the government gets our parents and grandparents their social security checks each month on time without fail. Why can't they handle healthcare as long as the right person is at the helm?

I think this is a subject that definitely needs more attention.