Low Cost Health Insurance and Sicko

Low Cost Health Insurance and Sicko

Sicko (or SiCKO) is a 2007 documentary film by American filmmaker Michael Moore that investigates the American health care system, focusing on its for-profit health insurance and pharmaceutical industry. The film compares the non-universal and for-profit U.S. system with the universal and non-profit systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. Sicko cites the United States as the only industrialized nation that does not provide universal health care to its citizens, highlights cases in which insured individuals were denied care, and condemns for-profit health care for maximizing profit at the expense of patient care.

Sicko opened to positive reviews, but also generated criticism and controversy. Policy specialists, especially those on the political right, criticized the film for its negative view of health care in the United States, and for its positive portrayal of the publicly funded health systems of Canada, the United Kingdom and Cuba.

Sicko debuted in the U.S. on June 22, 2007, earning $4.6 million in 441 theatres and achieving the second highest opening weekend for a documentary, after Fahrenheit 9/11. A pirated copy of the film was leaked onto the Internet just prior to its release.

Synopsis
Sicko opens in 2006, stating that almost 50 million Americans are uninsured, and those who are covered often become victims of insurance company fraud and red tape. Interviews are conducted with both types, including former employees of insurance companies who describe cost-cutting initiatives that encourage bonuses for insurance company physicians to deny medical treatments for policy holders.

Moving to Canada, Moore then describes the case of Tommy Douglas, who was voted the Greatest Canadian in 2004 for his contributions to the Canadian health system, and interviews a microsurgeon and people waiting in the emergency room of a Canadian public hospital.

The history of health care debate in the U.S. is explained, with the stance against universal health care systems set against the backdrop of 1950s-style anti-communist propaganda. A 1960s record distributed by the American Medical Association and narrated by Ronald Reagan is cited, which claimed universal health care could lead to communism. Moore cites examples such as the American police, fire service, postal service, public education and community libraries, which are said to be "socialized" services, which have not led to communism. Further evidence of the origins of the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 are presented using a taped conversation between John Ehrlichman and President Richard Nixon on February 17, 1971; Ehrlichman is heard telling Nixon that "...the less care they give them, the more money they make." This led to the expansion of the modern HMO-based health care system. Connections are highlighted between Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the lobbying arm of the largest drug companies in the United States, lobbying groups in Washington D.C., and the United States Congress. Hillary Clinton, who once championed the Clinton health care plan, is cited as the Senate's second-highest recipient of health care industry campaign donations.

Moving to the United Kingdom, another country with a comprehensive free healthcare system, Moore interviews patients and inquires about in-hospital expenses incurred by patients, only to be told laughingly that there are no out-of-pocket payments. Moore visits a UK pharmacy, where pharmaceuticals are free of charge for persons under 16 or over 60, and subsidized in many cases for everyone else; only a fixed amount of £6.65 per item is charged (about $13 U.S.), irrespective of cost to the NHS. Further, NHS hospitals employ a cashier, part of whose job is to reimburse low-income patients for their out-of-pocket travel costs to the hospital. Interviews include an NHS general practitioner, an American woman residing in London, and Tony Benn, a socialist politician and former Member of Parliament. Benn compares any attempt to dismantle the NHS with reversing women's suffrage and says it would result in a revolution.

In France, Moore interviews the head of Obstetrics and Gynecology in a French hospital, and a group of Americans living in France. He also rides with "SOS Médecins", a 24-hour French medical service that provides house calls by physicians. According to Moore, the French government provides exceptional social services, such as day care for $1 an hour, and neonatal support that includes cooking, cleaning, and laundry services for new mothers.

Returning to the United States, interviews disclose that 9/11 rescue workers who volunteered after the September 11, 2001 attacks were denied government funds to care for physical and psychological maladies they subsequently developed, including respiratory disease and PTSD. Unable to receive medical care in the U.S., the 9/11 rescue workers, as well as all of Moore's friends in the film needing medical attention, sail from Miami to Cuba on three speedboats in order to obtain free medical care provided for the enemy combatants detained at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detainment camp. The group arrives at the entrance channel to "Gitmo" and Moore uses a megaphone to request access, pleading for the 9/11 victims to receive treatment that is on par with the medical attention the "evildoers" are receiving. The attempt ceases when a siren is blown from the base, and the group moves on to Havana, where they purchase inexpensive medicine and receive free medical treatment.

Providing only their name and birth date, the volunteers are hospitalized and receive medical attention.

Moore then addresses the audience himself, emphasizing that he feels people should be "taking care of each other, no matter the differences". To demonstrate his personal commitment to this theme, Moore sends an anonymous US $12,000 cheque to Jim Kenefick, webmaster of MooreWatch, which Moore describes as "the biggest anti-Moore website on the internet." Kenefick was forced to close the website because he needed US $12,000 to pay for his wife's medical treatment. Moore explains his contribution to these costs by saying he doesn't want the health care system to trump the first amendment. Upon receipt of the anonymous cheque, Kenefick calls the unknown donor his "Guardian Angel".

Release
Sicko premiered on May 19, 2007 at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, receiving a 15-minute standing ovation[6] from 2,000 people at the Grand Theatre Lumiere. The North American premiere of Sicko was held in London, Ontario at the Silver City movie theatre at Masonville Place on June 8, 2007, with Moore in attendance. It also had an early premiere in Washington D.C. on June 20, two days before its North American release, with Moore appearing at a Capitol Hill press conference to promote the film.

Box office
Sicko earned $4.5 million on its opening weekend. In 441 theaters, it took in an average of $10,204 per theater, the second highest average gross of the weekend. As of September 7, 2007, Sicko has grossed $24,152,770 in the United States. It has been named the third-highest grossing documentary since record keeping began in 1982.

Critical reaction
 
Sicko at the Cannes Film Festival receiving a standing ovationThe movie received a 92% "certified fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and was rated 8.5/10 by votes on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). After its Cannes release, Variety described Sicko as "an affecting and entertaining dissection of the American health care industry".

In an early review a week before the premiere, Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips gave the film two thumbs up. Roger Friedman of Fox News called the film a "brilliant and uplifting new documentary" and praised Moore for the way in which he lets "very articulate average Americans tell their personal horror stories at the hands of insurance companies" and "criticizes both Democrats and Republicans for their inaction and in some cases their willingness to be bribed by pharmaceutical companies and insurance carriers."

British film magazine Empire praised Moore's filmmaking and personal artistic vision, exclaiming "Sicko is the film that truly reveals Moore as an auteur."

David Denby of the New Yorker called the film "feeble, even inane" while film critic Stephen Schaefer of the Boston Globe described Sicko as "a very strong and very honest documentary about a health system that's totally corrupt and that is without any care for its patients."

Sicko production facts:

Directed by Michael Moore
Produced by Michael Moore
Written by Michael Moore
Starring Michael Moore
Distributed by The Weinstein Company
Lionsgate (theatrical)
Release date(s)  June 22, 2007
Language English, French, Spanish
Budget $9,000,000 US