On Michael Moore’s Sicko and a Reflection on Health Care in America

Michael Moore in an independent film maker from Flint, Michigan, and has made several documentaries such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine . Sicko is a movie created about health insurance in America from the perspective of the customer (or insured). He explores the healthcare systems of other countries including France and Canada, which is known for having free universal health care.

To deny that the U.S. Healthcare System needs MAJOR improvements is to deny a blatant truth. As a former insurance agent for one of America’s insurance giants, I saw what really went on with people that needed healthcare urgently. They would get their claims denied, after all the main purpose of the claims adjuster is to deny the most possible amount of claims and reduce payments to those claims that are paid out. Insurance companies are out to MAKE A PROFIT. Why else would they be in this business? To help people? Very unlikely. “Medical Reviewers” are licensed doctors whose sole purpose is to deny as many claims as possible and some companies offer bonuses for the doctor denying the most claims. They have a percentage that they have to deny. Health care is something that everyone needs more often than not. And with costs rising and rising, insurance companies have the market cornered. With their profit, they can afford to pay teams of lawyers to keep them on the “good” side of the law and from paying large payouts to some clients.

In the movie, he visits with people that need health care and are having trouble getting it or have had some tragic experience with the health care system in the U.S. One example is of a man that has a deaf daughter who had an ear transplant in one ear but not the other because it was deemed “experimental.” His insurance company was Cigna Insurance. He wrote a letter to the CEO saying that Michael Moore was making a movie about healthcare and asked if their CEO has ever been on film before. Cigna then called him with their tail between their legs and said that the denial for the cochlear implant had been overturned. A few things; did his daughter’s ear condition suddenly worsen since the time of the denial to the time his letter was received by Cigna? Probably not. Did the CEO of Cigna realize that the bad publicity from a powerful filmmaker would hurt the company and somehow override the system to get that surgery approved? Precisely. The people in charge of deciding what is appropriate and approved have that power but their company’s greed is the deciding power. There was no reason that little girl’s surgery should not have been approved in the first place. They hide their greed behind medical jargon and weak explanations of doctors’ twisted words.

Another example is that of a young woman who had a car accident and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. Her insurance did not cover the ambulance cost because it was not preapproved. She blacked out at the point of impact, when exactly was she supposed to call to get it approved? No one knows when an accident is going to happen, that’s the definition of an accident.

Some people were rejected when they applied for health insurance because they were deemed too skinny or too fat. I am a pro-health person that believes that every person should do their part and take care of themselves, but in reality how many people are actually going to be able to get health coverage? There was a young man that was 6 ft. tall and 135 and was too skinny to be insured, said the insurance company.

Some “preexisting conditions” will not be covered, such as diabetes and certain forms of cancer. Who else would need a doctor most than the people with these exact diseases? Is it not the sick that need a doctor? As said in a famous passage from the bible, it is the sick that need a doctor, not the well. The doctors must have a mighty fine time not dealing with the truly sick people that need them much more than their current insured patients.

How can humans treat other humans like this? It’s easy when you don’t see a face on the other end of the phone line or a face with the name written on the application. This is a key to the insurance companies’ strategy; they create a bureaucracy that masks any particular individual from accepting the responsibility for a fault or mistake. It’s easy to be cruel to someone you don’t know or see. It’s easy to tell a voice on the phone that their dying son will not get the treatment he needs because he is uninsurable. Applicants are seen as number signs only; number 24 and 65 will be turned down because of preexisting conditions, 47 and 98 will be turned down because of their weight and the other because of age.

I recommend this movie to everyone to watch, regardless of what your political views are. Everyone needs health care sometimes and has loved ones that need it also. Rent this movie today. It will make you angry and sad at the same time but it is something that every person should see and decide for themselves, especially with President Obama’s current health care plan.