I don't usually do movie reviews, but I have to say something about Michael Moore's latest documentary--Sicko. I want to join in with the rave reviews and recommend this movie to everyone.
Sicko has already become one of the top five grossing documentaries of all time, despite its small initial release. This movie should be mandatory viewing for all members of Congress, who have not only ignored America's healthcare crisis, but have actually made it worse during the Bush years.
• "You would have to be dead to be unaffected by Moore's movie. [ It leaves audiences feeling] "ashamed to be...a capitalist, and part of a 'me' society instead of a 'we' society."-- BlueCross Vice President of Corporate Communications Barclay Fitzpatrick, in a talking points memo for employees to use against Sicko.
Sicko begins with sampling of the plight of Americans who do not have health insurance, but moves quickly on to the plight of Americans who do have health insurance. You know--the ones who work hard, play by the rules, and think they are safe from health-related financial ruin because they are "covered" by health insurance. Then, when they get sick or injured and expect their insurance to pay, they are introduced to health insurance's fine-print terms such as "pre-approval", pre-existing conditions, preferred providers, experimental procedures, and any one of the thousand other reasons that the Healthcare Industry uses to deny payment. (My personal favorite from Sicko is the twenty-two year old woman whose health insurance refused to pay for her treatment for cervical cancer because they said she was too young to have cervical cancer. How can you argue with logic like that?)
Sicko delivers a not-stop barrage of inconvenient truths, comparing American's healthcare system (or lack of a system) to what is offered in some other nations. In the process, Moore demolishes all of the standard excuses for why Americans would not want a government sponsored "universal" health care (like every other industrialized nation in the world offers its citizens).
According to Sicko:
• There are nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance.
• 18,000 Americans will die this year simply because they're uninsured.
• The United States is ranked #37 as a health system by the World Health Organization even though we spend a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country.
• There are four times as many health care lobbyists as there are members of Congress (2084 health care lobbyists for 535 members of Congress).
• The Drug industry gave $14 million to the eleven members of Congress responsible for negotiating Mr. Bush's Medicare prescription drug plan, which will hand over $800 billion of our tax dollars to the drug and health insurance industry.
• The elderly could end up paying more for their prescription drugs than they did before Mr. Bush's Medicare prescription drug plan was passed.
• The standard charge for a prescription in England is £6.65 (about $10), and it doesn't matter what the prescription is, or how long it is for.
• In a study of older Americans and Brits, the Brits had less of almost every major disease. Even the poorest Brit can expect to live longer than the richest American.
• A baby born in El Salvador has a better chance of surviving than a baby born in Detroit.
• Canadians live three years longer than we do (Canadians: 80.2 years; Americans: 77.5 years).
Mick Youther is an American citizen, an independent voter, a veteran, a parent, a Christian, a scientist, a writer, and all-around nice guy who has been aroused from a comfortable apathy by the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush Administration.
A concise and well-stated review of both the movie and the urgency of the problem. Thanks, Mick, and keep writing.
Speaking of health care, I've been reflecting recently on some of the more callous quotations of history and literature:
"Are there no prisons? And the Union workhouses, are they still in operation?" said Dickens' Ebeneezer Scrooge, who was "very glad" to hear that both were still very busy.
"Let them eat cake", said Marie Antionette, though this attribution admittedly carries considerable historical doubt.
"People have access to health care in America. After all, just go to an emergency room" said George W. Bush, on July 10th. This attribution carries no doubt whatsoever.
"People have access to shelter in America. After all, just go to an underpass. Are there no cardboard boxes? And the subway stations, are they still in operation?" also said George W. Bush.
Well, no, not really. But he may as well have.
by
Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments)
on Saturday, July 21, 2007 at 3:23:32 PM
Thanks for the kind words. I meant to use the Scrooge quote in this piece because it was so appropriate, but somehow it got left on the cutting room floor.
mick
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Mick Youther (83 articles, 3 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments)
on Saturday, July 21, 2007 at 10:33:21 PM
- The upper 20%, those with at least a couple of million bucks in the bank, are enjoying the best health care in the world. They are not complaining.
- The lower 20%, those who got their $1000 limit credit cards cancelled, are working very hard for a living. Too hard to complain. So let’s not worry about them.
- The doctors are happy, with their quarter million dollar income. (See CNN reports on the 'best professions - 8 out of 10 are medical professionals). They are enjoying life saving people - no complaints.
- The hospitals and HMOs are doing just fine. They are well run by business executives with fancy MBA degrees. These execs know how to bring in big revenue, cut costs, and spit out the kind of profits that make Wall Street notice. Hay, with X-rays and administration outsourced to India, virtual reality beds could be next. They know the really important thing in hospital is all the fancy equipment for the doctors to play with. Applying high tech to hospital is so much fun, they're not complaining.
- The insurance companies - what can you say. Revenue up, profits up, stock price up, exec bonus up. Their only complain is need to hire those damn lawyers to figure out a thousand arcane fine print to deny payments. Why do people have to get sick and force us to play these games to protect the business??
- The drug companies - well they have nothing to do with health care. They make pills and make money. And they are making money. Hell, if the regulators give them a hard time they can always export. Not complaining.
- The lawyers. They are the innocent third party here. Lawyers are always making money and always happy. It's like the stock broker, they make their commission whether you win or loose. In the health care business, the lawyers feel their services are just as important as the brain surgeon. Not a thing can happen without their facilitation. They are very happy. They enjoy the health care system very much.
- The politicians. The importance of health care in America is of primary concern to many politicians. Every politician has on staff experts on the subject, working hard every day to ensure campaign dollars from 'industry representatives' are forthcoming. The know the importance of a healthy profitable health industry. So far, there's no need to pass further tax breaks to key industry players. Not complaining.
So what's the problem?
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TomK (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 217 comments)
on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 12:20:45 AM
*No primary care physician makes a quarter of a million dollars, unless practicing in a privileged enclave such as Beverly Hills or Upper Manhattan. What you are quoting is an average across all specialties. Most physicians are primary care physicians (internists, pediatricians, family physicians), who make usually in the neighborhood of $100-140K annually. Nothing to sneeze at, definitely. A comfortable living, to be sure. Never mind that the average physician comes out of medical school with over $120,000 in debt to pay off in ten years. Never mind that the average physician does not even begin earning a paycheck until the paltry sum he or she receives in residency, which begins usually around age 26 or 27. Then, at the age of 30 or so, a physician finally stops delaying gratification, and begins to earn an income, while most of his fellow high school and college graduates are married, with children, and climbing up the ladder of society. No, no pity is at all desired or deserved...physicians make this lifestyle choice. We make a decent living. But don't forget that we work 60-80 hours a week making life and death decisions hour in and hour out, get paid pennies on the dollar for seeing Medicaid or Medicare patients, get paid nothing (not a dime) for taking your phone calls about your itchy rash or sniffles at 2 am, have mounds of paperwork day in and day out to complete between patients thanks to our overbloated health care system, make rounds every day (and sometimes two or three times a day) at the hospital, and, on top of all this, have to run an office and hire staff and keep them happy. So, yes, there are specialists who earn huge bucks and work predictable hours and don't take after-hours phone calls. But realize that they skew the average.
*The doctors are not happy with our health care system, either. Most physicians support some form of UHC. Most physicians detest the pharmaceutical industry. Most physicians (all?) detest the private insurance industry. All of the national primary care physician organizations (AAP, AAFP, ACS) have called for UHC. Only the AMA opposes UHC, or, at the very most, supports incrementalism...but few primary care physicians belong to the AMA. Only about 25% of US physicians are AMA members, mostly specialists who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
Okay, I'll stop my rant.
Thanks again, Mick, for a good article.
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Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments)
on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 10:03:14 AM
Dr Todd - somehow I expect only the physicians to come back at me and I'm pleased you did. $1/4m is of course earned only by the minority, mostly high specialists and those who own and operate private clinics. Vast majority are those you mentioned. You'll find 99% of folks consider since medical doctors heal and save lives - they should earn whatever a good living the system can pay. The doctors and associated health professionals are not the problem. I only claim they're happy with the system.
However, I don't expect others to get back at me. They have little in defense. But then, what's to defend? US is proud to have the mightest, most efficient, most innovative, some say most brutal capitalist economy in the world. Barely a day goes by without some official, academic or businessman preaching that to the world. Health care is part of that system, overwhelmingly supported and defended by the population for decades. US pundits took every opportunity to snipe at other's universal health care systems - socialism, inefficient, evil of government bureaucracy, inhumane, no innovation, doomed to failure. So live with it and stop complaining. 100 millions without insurance? I'm sure the wisdom of raw market force capitalism will find the most efficient solution to that. Just like the wonders of subprime loans so efficiently found the American Dreams for so many millions of new home buyers.
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TomK (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 217 comments)
on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 4:53:33 PM
As for the others, I cannot speak for them, of course, but I suspect that you are largely correct in your synopsis.
Sorry for the rant...I just tire of physicians being demonized as part of the problem, or as resistant to the solutions. Most physicians would gladly make a little less money if it meant not dealing with fifty different insurance companies with who knows how many different sub-plans, if it meant not having to scratch and claw to get patients on assistance programs for medications they otherwise would not be able to afford and without which they would not be able to live, if it meant not having to provide free care to more and more patients all the while paying higher and higher insurance premiums for our employees and malpractice premiums for ourselves.
But as for attorneys, insurance company executives (and, don't forget, stockholders), pharmaceutical executives (and stockholders)...yes, they all have a vested interest in the status quo, and are willing to pay through the nose for K Street lobbyists to keep it. And, unfortunately, there are also a small minority of rich physicians who, mainly through the auspices of the AMA, are doing the same.
Thanks for responding, Tom.
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Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments)
on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 6:06:48 PM
Hi Mick , good article but I am sure you could even do much better, why keep on comparing the US with Britain ? they are dead beat as well. Maybe you would love to visit Norway, Denmark, France even Spain and Portugal and perhaps you would realise that Sicko could become a real basher, and wake up your fellow Americans. Regards from old Europe.
by
Jessiana (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 9:07:24 AM
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