Sicko

I finally watched Michael Moore's film Sicko for the first time. There can be no dispute that his comparison between the health care systems in the US and in other prosperous countries is accurate.

I've lived in two countries; one in which the goal of the health care industry is to make money (U.S.), and one in which the goal of the health care sector is to...uh...deliver health care (Slovakia). It is enough to say that the stories shared in the film, on both ends of the spectrum, do not surprise me at all. I won't bore anyone with my personal stories. The issue is so black-and-white that there is no honest moral argument that can be much different from the one made in the film. What is more interesting is that this situation actually exists and that all of the candidates running for President tell us we need to accept, more-or-less, the status quo.

It occurred to me, watching the film, how deeply fucked the USA is. How on earth have we been tricked into not just tolerating, but even oftentimes defending a system designed to exploit the ill and dieing? How are we perfectly alright with a system that refuses treatment to children and allows a distant corporation to approve or disapprove treatment even to those who have played by the rules and paid them large amounts of money for coverage? How can we leave the spouse of a cancer victim with a bill so large that his overwhelming grief is only made worse with the enslavement to a hospital bill that can never be paid off? This is very personal to me. I have family in exactly this situation.

If only Americans knew how life can be they would never tolerate what is. Yet without time to travel the world, and without a media system that brings the world to them in an honest way, we have no way of knowing. And even traveling on vacation isn't enough because it doesn't tell us anything about the conditions, beneath the surface, which allow for the beauty we might see on a culture's surface.

I'll be very clear, Americans have no way of knowing that our lives are shit. Ours are lives of worry, fear, uncertainty, intimidation, enslavement to debt, and employment instability. We are scared of our government, while in better countries the government is afraid of the people.

When Michael Moore takes us to the UK, to Canada, and to France, he's not exaggerating. He's just showing the plain reality. We say that people come to America to live the "American Dream". I left America because I knew that I could not live my dream there. My dream was not of more stuff, but of a life full of experience, pleasure, relationships, enough leisure, and freedom in the truest sense of the word. Over the past few years I've begun to find all of these things, but it doesn't mean that I no longer care about my country...the one I left behind. I simply want the best for it, and wish its people had the common sense and courage to demand the best for themselves.

To look at a country's health care system is to look plainly at the country and what it stands for. We Americans are, indeed, sicko.

because they know I don't have health care. I tell them I've watched Sicko and ask if they can assure me that their plans won't deny me coverage or refuse to pay. They always hang up.

Can't have that, can we? So pay up your good'ol American Insurance Company!

Every time you dig deepr, you should smile wider, Citizen!

I would add that until corporations are seen for what they are, personal fiefdoms for a few executives at the top, who are allowed to reap the bounty and not share with the workers, the shareholders or the community, things will not improve.

Corporations program Americans how to behave through advertising. They hold out the carrot of a nice paying job with benefits, but always keep it out of reach for the many, so that the few who are employed feel thankful to have a job. Such employment instability and the threat that they could outsource to India keeps wages depressed. Next, they set up credit gimmicks out the ying-yang to get more and more people enslaved to debt.

Only in a corporate culture such as this could health insurance become a viable industry. Where insurance used to be a quasi-socialist "from each according to his risk, to each according to his need" concept, American corporations have morphed it into a slot machine with a very poor payback. Need a jackpot to cover your medical bills? Just keep on feeding dollars into the slot and maybe you will hit one!

But Americans still don't see it. And what gives me the same perspective as you? Why I'm just on the other side of the Beskidy from you. Czesc sasiad! :hi:

Fiefdoms for a few psychopaths, so they can suck the life out of everyone else .Ceo's deserve nothing,and hate is all a corporation deserves.I hope one day corporate culture dies and it never comes back.

and keep forking it over to the insurance companies and they keep f*cking us over.
(Actually, I don't. I am currently w/o any health insurance.)

I know of too many horrible stories right here in my small town. There is no excuse for America's lack of health care. None beyond the fact the insurance companies don't want to lose all their juicy profits.

One of the reasons I stick with Kucinich.

Get a copy of it and start sharing it. Relatives, friends, co-workers.

In this suburban sprawl, with no car,and I couldn't afford one if I had one anyway,No way to get around but my feet and a crappy bus that has a two hour cycle,with too few stops and shuts down at 5, I wonder how wonderful it would be if american suburbs were designed around people and life instead of cars? Like towns in Europe where everyone walks, bikes or busses?

I hate this american nightmare. I dream of moving somewhere else where people can live their lives,and have time to relate to explore to enrich themselves and each other,and be instead of all this insane workaholic panic, all this pointless compeating against each other,worried,arrogant,insecure, scared and to do much else past survival.

I'd love to find a place to live without so many assholes ,less business dominated with less strife and more life.

<SARCASM HEAVILY ON> Don't you know that health care is a "PRIVILEGE," not a "RIGHT?" That's what's wrong with people in the US, they have this "ENTITLEMENT MENTALITY" when it comes to health care. I mean, it's like owning a Lexus. If you can't afford one, you got no business driving one.

------------

Grrrrrrr, it pisses me off to no end that the right is framing the health care issue this way now. I even heard this line of crap from my own daughter's mouth the other day, and you'd better believe I set her straight.

Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness -- HEALTH CARE IS ALSO AN INALIENABLE RIGHT!


Thanks so much for posting. K&R.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/121207dnbushealthcredit.299ccc0.html

System being designed to help hospitals figure out whether you'll pay them.

Mortgage lenders aren't the only ones showing more interest in your credit score these days – the health industry is creating its own score to judge your ability to pay.

The new medFICO score, being designed with the help of credit industry giant Fair Isaac Corp., could debut as early as this summer in some hospitals.

Healthcare Analytics, a Waltham, Mass., health technology firm, is developing the score. It is backed by funding from Fair Isaac, of Minneapolis; Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp.; and venture capital firm North Bridge Venture Partners, also based in Waltham. Each kicked in $10 million for the project.

The score is already raising questions from consumer advocacy groups that fear it will be checked before patients are treated. People with low medical credit scores could receive lower-quality care than those with a healthy medFICO, they argue.
_________________________________________________

But maybe you are saying, "Hey, I pay my bills and have a good credit score."

Ever heard of Identity Theft? If someone steals your ID and causes your credit to suffer, you might not get the medical attention that you need.

Many have already been turned down by insurance companies for pre-existing conditions, but what happens when you get turned down because of an old student loan?

Now the medical industry says that this will never affect your level of care. Do YOU believe them?