Every American Should See The Film Sicko

I just got home from watching Sicko. I had not been to a movie in about 3 years. Mostly because the movies that have been coming out lately have been lame...and they did nothing to "move" me to want to see them. And it's also because I basically hate to go out. Also, my favorite movie theater in Richmond Heights (inner ring St. Louis burb) has been pretty much destroyed...so I had to cut down on my trips to the show. But when I do go, I now have to drive to a burb (a quieter one) farther out.

Anyway... I had an idea of what Moore was going to cover based on all the reviews and the publicity. But that still didn't prepare me for this one. I will offer no spoilers...but I will say that this film should be required viewing for all Americans, regardless of social/economic status (teens on up). And unlike Fahrenheit 9/11, this film has no political bent.

If anyone wants to know why the Angry Independent is so angry.... go watch the film Sicko. This film sums up quite a bit of my frustration. There are so many things that the film touches on...that I won't attempt to do a review. But it goes beyond healthcare and flirts with the wider questions of how we got here, who the hell are we as a nation, who are we as supposedly civilized human beings, who we are as a so-called "Democracy", and where are our priorities?

I knew of the problems with the healthcare industry, but Moore has a way of giving you a look under the rug to see just how dirty things really are. The health system in the U.S. is basically a criminal racket (like the mob) run by Corporations that are not concerned whatsoever about the best interests of patients. They are primarily concerned with profits. As a result, the U.S. healthcare system has decayed to a pretty dismal level in terms of patient care. It's now pretty much a broken system.

This is the problem with having a critical sector like public health owned and controlled by the private sector. This should have never happened. It should have become a publicly run system a long time ago. Private doctors and private insurers here in the U.S. get cudos and bonuses for cutting off your healthcare and thus protecting (and increasing) the profits of their corporations. The current private U.S. system has created a race to the bottom in terms of patient care, and has motivated health workers to focus on profit over people. This has allowed greed and corruption to take control of the system. This is the nature of private business... which is why it is the wrong framework for providing healthcare.

In contrast, national health systems in other countries focus on prevention and on the needs of the human being, rather than on the profits of a corporation. The systems are not driven by profit. Once you remove the element of private corporate profits- (Healthcare as a business)- the focus is placed on the patient. In the U.S., workers in the private healthcare industry are rewarded with cash bonuses based on the number of people they turn away (many of whom ultimately get sicker and die). They are offered incentives for making you sicker. But in State controlled health systems overseas, healthcare workers (Doctors in the UK for example) are given bonuses based on the number of people who they can make healthier. The focus of a good State run health system (People) is completely the opposite of what the focus is in the current private health system in the U.S. (Profits).

Just imagine if other critical sectors of the society were controlled by private interests instead of public interests. Could you imagine private police forces? This is already happening ladies and gentleman in certain corners of American society. Imagine a situation where private corporations offered police services to cities and counties across the nation. The private corporation would be responsible of setting standards and the concern would be to provide service at the cheapest cost. The city would be concerned with obtaining the lowest bid contract. And the company would have an interest in paying police the least amount possible to provide the service as a way of maximizing profits.

Could you imagine a private FDA? Well guess what.... we already have that by proxy. The FDA is owned and operated by the private drug industry.... they not only have the FDA and the Congress people in their pockets... these Corporations have their own people working in the government....and vice versa, retired government folks go on to work as corporate officers or board members of the companies that they regulate (something that should be outright illegal). This is why we have so many drugs making people sick...and so many drugs flooding the market in general...and at such high prices that many people can't even afford the decent (low risk & relatively safe) drugs that they need.

Could you imagine private soldiers and private militias driven by profits and accountable to no one? This is already happening as well.

Private ambulance companies??? This is an industry that has been around for a while and it is growing. Many communities are turning to private ambulance services because they are cheaper. Cheaper often = ambulance crews who earn just a few bucks above minimum wage. The city of St. Louis uses private ambulance companies to augment the small St. Louis Fire Department fleet. If something major happens in the city of St. Louis...like a 9/11 type mass casualty event... there would not be nearly enough ambulance crews to deal with it (Not even with the St. Louis Metro Mutual Aid System, which is a pretty impressive system). Such a major disaster in St. Louis would be a calamity....because again, the focus is on profits, rather than Public Safety and Health. I recall one case where a man waited over 20 minutes for one of the private ambulances to arrive. The man, a heart attack victim, did not survive. The private ambulance company continues to take ambulance calls for the city.

But the list goes on and on. We are slowly losing critical sectors or institutions to private corporate interests.... Sectors like public health should not be profit driven industries.

I give the film 4 1/2 Stars out of 5. And it should be considered for an Oscar (for a Documentary) in my humble opinion.

That's all for now....