Watch Sicko!!! A++++

By: relawson
Published On: 6/30/2007 10:15:28 PM

This movie should inspire a major change in our nation's healthcare system.

Tell the fear mongers who say "socialized medicine will lead to the goose step and communism" to take their red herring arguments and go jump in a lake.

John Edwards did say one thing during his stump that really just resonated with me - "Our lives depend on a change".  I can't recall if he was talking about health care or not, but he is right in more ways than one.  The health care crises impacts everyone - this isn't some plight reserved for just the poor.  That must be said given the lack of compassion for people down on their luck.

I've got to go and convince my wife once again that it is safe for our family to remain here in the United States.  She is from Japan - and she watched the movie.  I will be lying.

I'm trying to figure out just what to say about Hillary Clinton - who ranks 2nd in contributions from the health care industry.  The only thing I can come up with is a simple question: why is she, who once lead a fight for universal health care, now taking their blood money?  I would like Senator Clinton to answer that question herself.


Comments



Kucinich (TurnVirginiaBlue - 7/1/2007 1:50:09 PM)
Honestly I don't know why so many blow him off for he often has the best policy positions.  I mean I agree with that "new age we'll all be peaceful now" ala Jimmy Carter stuff bothers me ...for I fundamentally don't believe that's how the world works, but in terms of domestic policy he plain has a lot of "right" positions and I can't say that about the field.

Michael Moore rocks as usual.  There was one thing in this movie I didn't realize...that contracts are renewable...
so in other words, I'm paying for health insurance and obviously if I actually get sick, no only are they going to try to deny the claim, they don't have to renew the contract on a yearly basis.

That's probably the most frightening thing in the film where people think they are covered and guess what, they are not.



I agree with him on domestic policy (relawson - 7/1/2007 10:29:42 PM)
His foreign policy positions are mind boggling.

Although he was clearly right on Iraq, his position on OBL and Afghanistan is startling.



Sicko is a masterpiece (Don Wells - 7/1/2007 3:11:00 PM)
This film by Michael Moore is even better than his earlier masterpiece "Bowling for Columbine".  "Sicko" is not a partisan political movie -- rather, it is really about problems caused by some cultural attitudes that all Americans share to greater or lesser degree.  I strongly urge that all RK readers see "Sicko", and that they follow up on it by urging all of their fellow Americans to also see the movie.

I too noted Moore's implied criticism of Hillary Clinton regarding her alleged acceptance of commercial health care campaign contributions, and I too would like for her to respond to this implied criticism of her.  Anyone who sees "Sicko" will probably react by regarding such contributions as blood money.  If Moore's allegation is correct, Clinton can no longer have moral standing to advocate health care reform.  More generally, we (all of us) should insist that our political leaders and candidates no longer accept *any* political contributions from the health care industry.  We should raise this standard as a fundamental populist issue in our country. 

I would like to see Jim Webb and other progressive leaders make universal healthcare be a part of the populist fairness agenda.



I liked the reaction of Canadians and Brits (relawson - 7/1/2007 10:34:13 PM)
They laughed at the concept that they would be forced to pay out of pocket for health care.  "How much did that baby cost?"  Answer: "This isn't America".

What Moore didn't do enough was explore the numbers.  How much does a national health care system cost - say per capita?  Now, compare that with our health care system's cost per capita. 

I don't know the precise numbers, only that we pay more.  I also know that we have higher infant mortality and shorter life spans.  Given that we are paying more, one would think we would be healthier.  Why aren't we?



I saw it last night.... (ericy - 7/1/2007 10:02:56 PM)

and thought it was really good.  I hope something good comes of all of this - gradually as time goes on, our healthcare system gets worse and worse, so some form of change will be required.


Film didn't do so well at the box office (Lowell - 7/2/2007 8:41:31 AM)
According to USA Today:

The only other newcomer in wide release, the Michael Moore documentary Sicko, was No. 9 with a middling $4.5 million, about $3 million less than expected. Playing in 441 theaters, the film did a solid if unspectacular $10,200 a theater.

Apparently, "Sicko" is no "Fahrenheit 911" at the box office.



Suggest that the film is handicapped in having come (Catzmaw - 7/3/2007 6:25:29 PM)
from Michael Moore, who is widely reviled and suspected of a certain amount of flimflammery and exaggeration in his films, whether fairly or not. 

Second, there's a great blind spot in this country that refuses to let us see past it to the core problem.  Only people who've had problems with the health care system seem to care about the situation.  The rest of the American public walks around with its collective fingers jammed into its collective ears while yelling "na, na, na ... I can't HEAR you!"  No one likes to hear the unpleasant truth of how precarious the line is between relative good health and economic well-being and a sudden descent into poor health and eventual bankruptcy.  No one likes to think about how unfair it is to deny coverage to people for "pre-existing conditions" or to link it to their employment, thus making their access to insurance directly related to their continued employment and the well-being of the companies for which they work.  Just look at the recent Delphi deal.  The reason the union went for the substantial drop in hourly wages was because the company was threatening to go under due in large part to health care costs. 



Attitude towards universal health care is changing (Quizzical - 7/4/2007 4:50:52 PM)
This article suggests that 51% of Republicans are in favor of universal health care, according to a recent study.
http://preview.tinyu...

(above link via A Healthy Blog http://blog.hcfama.o...)

Trouble is the politicians remember that Clinton tried to do something about health care in his first term and had a couple hundred million dollars of negative advertising dropped on him.  (Remember those actors that played the couple in all those ads back then -- I wonder how they are doing these days, health-wise.)

So it will take a lot of political courage to try again.



This is how health care reform was killed last time around (Quizzical - 7/4/2007 5:14:32 PM)
A brief history of how they killed health care reform:
http://www.sourcewat...

The actors Harry Johnson and Louise Caire went on to star in an ad in 2002 in favor of stem cell research or cloning, or something like that.



We Just Saw It Today (Susan P. - 7/4/2007 6:26:22 PM)
because it just opened in our area.  (There was also only one theater here showing Michael Moore's previous films.)  Very, very well done.  I know from my work that these stories are dead-on accurate.  I see so many people whose health insurance is tied to their job, and it's available, of course, until they get sick.  And don't get me started on COBRA. I did think the Cuba thing needed a little more caution and analysis re: propaganda value from their viewpoint.  But Michael Moore did a great job of proving his main thesis, that health insurance does not guarantee medical care when you need it most.


Watch Sicko (sherry - 7/4/2007 11:56:12 PM)
Even without Sicko, people are ready for national health care.  For the second year in a row, we promoted John Conyers' HR 676, Medicare for All, at the 4th of July parade in Staunton.  We had maybe 15 people walking with signs like "Healthcare for All" or "Support HR 676, Healthcare for Everyone."  I'm surprised how few negative comments we get and how many positive responses:  sometimes just a solidarity nod or an "Amen to that" or a thumbs-up but more often applause and cheering.  We were very popular, and people are so grateful we're out there.  I think too many Democrats have made a mistake in running from this issue, and now Sicko will put them on the spot.

In the 6th district we're lucky because we actually have a candidate, Sam Rasoul, ready to run for Congress in 2008 who supports the bill, and today he was right behind us walking with our 2007 Democratic candidates.  If I get any pictures I'll send them along so you can see Sam dressed up as Uncle Sam, but in the meantime you can find out more at www.SAM2008.com, if you haven't already met him.  He's incredibly energetic and busy so you may know him already.

We have plenty of work to do with only 73 Congressional Reps signed on to 676 (and only one Virginian ---- why don't we have 10 more Bobby Scotts in this state?). But that's what we have to produce, one congressional district at a time a Bobby Scott or a Sam Rasoul.  I've been working with Healthcare-NOW for almost two years, an organization focused on just this one bill, and talking with people all over the country who are working on it too.  Check us out at www.healthcare-now.org --- we're a little excited about Sicko and glad to be working with Michael Moore.

We have no idea how we got lucky enough to have Sicko open in Staunton, but we're taking advantage of it.  I've been passing out flyers at almost every showing----certainly the most political fun I've ever had. 



watch SiCKO! (unionman - 7/5/2007 11:06:16 AM)
I have seen SiCKO twice since the opening day and plan to watch it at least one more time before it leaves my town. I am amazed at the reaction of the audience and have observed people wiping away tears,clapping,muttering curses under their breath and voicing comments like "that's not right to treat people that way"..." can't we do better?"... "yea, that happened to my brother". Needless to say it was one of the more noisy films I've been to in a while due to people talking. The owner of the cinema allowed us to put single payer healthcare Q&A literature on a table near the exit, and we have been replinishing the supply on a regular basis.While this issue of single payer insurance (preferably like HR 676)in the United States may face an uphill battle, I think this could be a great time to push the issue forward. Thank you Michael Moore for SiCKO!


Part of the problem is the inept media (Quizzical - 7/5/2007 1:24:25 PM)
as explained by Bob Somerby here:
http://www.dailyhowl...