Sicko

I’m not an expert on health insurance. All I really know is that I have it. But watching Michael Moore’s Sicko made me realize how much of a privilege that is. He surely presents some preposterous accounts of US citizens dealing with unbelievable health insurance stories, such as one man, who sawed off the tips of two fingers, who was given a choice to spend either $60,000 to sew back on the middle finger, or $12,000 for the other. I’m sure you can guess that he picked the latter, as his insurance wouldn’t cover it. It’s really an interesting film to watch, but of course Moore only focuses on the bad side of American health insurance, and focuses only on the good side of free health care in England, Canada, France, and Cuba. But nonetheless, he puts forth a topic that should be discussed, and with humorous dialogue and conversations, which is why can there be such good coverage in these other parts of the world, but a country which promotes democracy and equality can’t even provide equality for the most basic, pertinent factor in each person’s life – their health? I find it mind boggling that people have to pay for something they usually can’t help happen, like a car accident or a stroke. And then, to consider that some people get denied the right to even have health insurance is ridiculous. How could a doctor legitimately ignore a person in pain, simply because they don’t have health coverage? Unfortunately, as in Sicko, there are incidents where doctors earn money for denying patients. It is completely unethical and repulsive. The film doesn’t provide suggestions on how to fix such a problem, because, let’s be honest, the U.S. is a huge country with lots of people and it’d be too difficult to make radical changes. But at least it provokes an important discussion on something that is significant to all of us.

Directed by Michael Moore
Runtime: 113 minutes