Movie Review: Michael Moore's "SiCKO"

Michael Moore has a secret to share with U.S. citizens. The executives who control the health care industry don't actually care about the health of American citizens.

In Moore's latest documentary, "SiCKO" he utilizes the personal stories of insured Americans who wound up in financial ruin due to outrageous medical bills because their health care providers refused coverage. The most tragic stories show how insured Americans died after being denied health care through their very own insurance companies. Viewers will see a teary-eyed mother who tells the story of how her young daughter died because her HMO refused to pay for services at one hospital, resulting in the little girl getting denied emergency care and was then transported to another hospital that is endorsed by Kaiser Permanente, her HMO, just in time for the little girl to pass away upon arriving at the second hospital where she was to finally receive emergency care. An equally heartbreaking story is told by the wife of a man who died because his insurance provider would not cover the bone marrow transplant needed to save his life. There is a hair-raising sequence where an L.A. hospital dumps a dazed patient at a homeless shelter because her health insurance reached its cap.

Moore uses his documentary to present problems with American health care, but he also shows a solution. The solution is a simple one: free health care for everyone. Moore presents viewers with insight into those countries which operate with free health care systems. Canada, Cuba, Great Britain and France provide free health care to all of their citizens. The World Health Organization ranks France as number one for their health care. The United States comes in at number thirty-seven.

One of the most interesting scenes in the film is an archived White House conversation between then president Richard Nixon and his aide, John Ehrlichman. Moore allows the footage to show us that this is when our health care problems began. In the February 7, 1971 recording that is part of hundreds of hours of Nixon's secret White House tapes, Ehrlichman explains, "health maintenance organizations like Edward Kaiser's Permanente thing." Kaiser Permanente is now the nation's largest HMO.

"Edward Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit...All the incentives are toward less medical care," Ehrlichman says to Nixon according to the transcript. "The less care they give them, the more money they make."

Moore also documents the revolving door of Capital Hill aides and industry lobbyists and the huge sums of money that insurance and pharmaceutical companies use buy politicians. Although the film opens with a George Bush speech, the film is not partisan. Moore shows the early efforts of Hilary Clinton lobbying her idea about free health care for everyone and then notes that she no longer speaks of health care in these terms. Moore cleverly inserts a dialogue bubble over her head showing how much insurance and pharmaceutical companies have paid her for her silence, as well as, the silence of most of the elected political officials, including George W. Bush as the highest paid-off official of them all.

In the documentary's most controversial sequence, Moore travels to Cuba in search of medical care for ailing Americans rescue workers who worked at Ground Zero in the wake of 9/11. The workers are unable to receive care at home because of bureaucratic complications and injustices within the U.S. system. Moore loaded up three boats of these brave citizens and headed off to Guantanamo Bay prison. Guantanamo Bay is holding hundreds of "enemy combatants" receiving top-notch medical care according to widely publicized footage showing Republican lawmakers boasting of the prison's free medical treatment that is available to each and every prisoner.

"They don't want any more than they're giving the evil-doers, nothing more," Moore shouts through a bullhorn as they approach Guantanamo.

The group is turned away and then seeks treatment in one of Cuba's hospitals. Each American receives tests, treatment, and medication that they were unable to afford in the United States. Cuba provides free health care for all of their citizens and gladly treated the Americans because they believe that all people are deserving of health care.

SiCKO wins with its straight-from-the-heart approach. Rather than Moore using his trademark move of jumping out of the bushes with microphone in hand ready to ambush his target, in this case the insurance and pharmaceutical executives, he allows the stories of insured Americans who have been failed by the health care system to prove the point that health care should not be a money-making business. Moore's usual sarcasm is present throughout the film, as he is the narrator, and he is only occasionally visible on camera unlike his previous films. SiCKO is a brilliant film that every American should see - and then hopefully talk about. SiCKO will make its way to theaters on June 29. The site for the movie is www.sicko-themovie.com, where you can read the smart words, and a harsh truth, about the American health care system; "If you want to stay healthy in America, don't get sick."