| Let me start by saying I've never been a Michael | | | | give to three American volunteers at the 9/11 |
| Moore fan. Being a libertarian Conservative all my | | | | WTC site. |
| voting life, I've always been opposed to | | | | While one knows that "Sicko" was made with a |
| "Socialized" medicine. However, firsthand | | | | bias in favor of a universal health care system, |
| experience in the healthcare business for the last | | | | Moore makes the valid impression that the |
| 17 years has shown me that our system of | | | | system is broken and, like Humpty Dumpty, can't |
| health care (much like our tax system and | | | | be put back together again. As a healthcare |
| education system) is broken beyond repair. | | | | provider, I've dealt firsthand with the Managed |
| Michael Moore's latest movie "Sicko" should be a | | | | Care nonsense. The movie is not far off, at all. |
| wake-up call for insurance companies, the | | | | As I mentioned earlier, I'm not a fan of big |
| pharmaceutical industry and the AMA. The movie | | | | government solutions to market problems. |
| starts out showing what can happen to working | | | | However, the free market does NOT govern the |
| class Americans without health insurance, citing | | | | American health care system. Between the AMA, |
| the story of a man who cut off the tip of two | | | | the pharmaceutical cartel and the insurance |
| fingers in a work accident. Because he had no | | | | industry, access to health care is limited. Not only |
| insurance and would be paying cash, he was given | | | | does that put upward pressure on prices, but |
| the choice of having one fingertip replaced for | | | | lends itself to market manipulation. The higher |
| $12,000 or the other for $60,000. What kind of | | | | prices go the more consumers are forced to buy |
| choice could that possibly be? Of course, he | | | | health insurance EVEN with ever-increasing |
| chose to save the less expensive of the two. | | | | premiums and routine reductions in coverage. It's |
| The movie went on to show the fate of a couple | | | | a spiral that feeds on itself and will eventually lead |
| who had worked all their life, bought insurance | | | | to collapse. |
| through their employers. Three heart attacks and | | | | For those who would say, "We can't afford |
| a bout of cancer left the couple bankrupt and | | | | universal health care", it should be noted that |
| virtually homeless despite their insurance | | | | between Medicare and Medicaid we ALREADY |
| coverage. | | | | have (almost) universal health care. The only |
| The movie goes on to compare American health | | | | group left out of America's government funded |
| care systems and those in Canada, England and | | | | health care is a large percentage of the working |
| France. And while I was somewhat put off by | | | | class and the self-employed. Conservatives should |
| Moore's veiled support of socialism, the viewer | | | | take another look at a single-payer health care |
| can only come to the conclusion that our and their | | | | system for a variety of reasons. Rising health |
| health care systems don't compare very well. | | | | care costs is a major reason American business is |
| Almost any American health care consumer will | | | | less competitive in the global marketplace. Further, |
| relate to the hassles of dealing with insurance | | | | the aging baby boomer generation will soon be |
| companies, exclusions and long waits in the | | | | eligible for Medicare. When that happens, |
| Emergency Room and wonder if there isn't a | | | | subsequent generations of Americans will demand |
| better way. Even respected medical journals | | | | either relief from the burden of paying for that |
| report that Americans' have shorter lifespan, | | | | extra care OR be included in the system |
| higher infant mortality rates and more cancer, | | | | themselves. My guess is that it will be both. The |
| heart disease and diabetes than the rest of the | | | | party that resolves THAT problem will probably |
| industrialized world. The final comparison of the | | | | rule the political roost for decades to come. |
| care rendered to Guantanamo detainees and that | | | | |