We’re watching Michael Moore‘s Sicko in class to finish out the week, and to answer some questions that arose about health insurance, and the demand for it in the United States. Below, you’ll be able to follow the comments students make during the next few days, as they provide feedback, leave thoughts, and commentary regarding the movie.
Students: Please leave at least one comment per day for the rest of this week about the movie. It can be anything related, but make it substantial, informative, and intelligent. And try not to offend anyone. Leaving comments on other people’s comments is encouraged, and will count toward the assignment, as long as they meet the above criteria!
Scoring: Your comments will be scored every day. That is, I’ll go through them in the morning, so make sure to leave your comments the day of…
UPDATE:
I tweeted Michael Moore about what we’re doing (@MMFlint), and here’s what I got back:
Andreas,
Just wanted to let you know that Michael M. has seen your tweet and webpage about teaching Sicko. He may or may not be able to jump in — sometimes he’s hesitant because people love to use him to attack teachers or even students. But in any case, we wanted to be sure that you’re aware of this new site he’s started:
http://www.mikeshighschoolnews.com/
We would love it if you could let any students who you think would be interested in this know about it. We think this has a ton of potential and welcome any kind of student involvement. The only limits are really their ambition and time.
Best,
Jon Schwarz
Dog Eat Dog Films
So far I’m really enjoying the movie. It’s opening all of our eyes to a concept that we’ve all heard but not fully comprehended. I like how Michael Moore made the movie to get to peoples’ emotions to truly make them understand the pain the health insurance industry has inflicted on many individuals and families around the country. It sure made me not agree with the way things are handled and made me scared to ever have to deal with being denied for a medical procedure that could be life changing for me or a loved one.
This is a pretty good movie that explains how health insurance companies try to save money or avoid helping people. It’s a shame that America has come to everything revolving around money. It used to be people helping others any way they could, now it’s about, how can I save the most money. It’s a crime that health insurances deny people of insurance and don’t care about how it might affect people.
I completely agree with Josh. It used to be that America was about helping the middle class American however they could. From the movie today, it seems as though America is one of the only countries that doesn’t have socialized healthcare. I think this new way of health care is much better than what we have. We pay thousands and thousands of dollars because the needed an M.R.I., but Canadian and in Europeans pays nothing at all. Someone also said we don’t have socialized health care because the doctors get paid so much less. Well, in my personal opinion, if the only reason you go to college to be a doctor is for all the money, then you won’t be a very good doctor. I think you should go for a career that you are intersected in and can see yourself doing for the rest of your life, not money!
Today during the video, I thought it was very interesting. I knew that some people fought against it to help them win the argument. When the one guy wrote to the company about his daughter with deaf problems, I didn’t think that he would get a response from the company. I was shocked when he got a call saying that she would get the other one happen to her.
i thought that he would have just got a letter saying o we are sorry for your child’s deafness and we can’t do the operation because its already a preexisting condition or something along those lines
I like the documentary so far, it seems like its pretty interesting. It is so sad to see all these people who need the insurance getting denied. Watching this documentary so far has given me more knowledge of insurance companies that I hadn’t known before. From what I’ve seen, I think insurance companies deny too many people. But I understand where they’re coming from to a point; they need to make money. Seeing the 79 year old man working was upsetting though, I felt bad for him.
I think the movie “Sicko” is a very interesting documentary. You always hear on the news how doctors save someone’s life by perform an emergency, unplanned surgery, but you never hear about all the people who die because they can’t afford life insurance, so the hospital doesn’t even get a chance to save them. They never talk about this because they don’t want to have a negative connotation when someone hears about hospitals from the United States. I think it interesting to hear the stories from the patient’s point of view.
I think it is horrible that people have to choose between life and being bankrupt. I don’t understand why insurance companies deny treatments for people that need them just because they don’t want to spend money. They only want to make money. This fact is even worse considering these companies claim to be there to help people and to keep people healthy. These companies are just out there to make money and I think that toying with people’s lives and telling people that they won’t be able to live because they are denied a treatment is the worst way to go about earning money.
This documentary is a real eye opener. One fact I heard from this was that about 18,000 people without health insurance will die. It also shocked me that some companies deny insurance if you’re too tall or if you’re overweight like the two people shown in the movie. It shows the reality of the world we’re living in. It’s crazy that if you have cancer and doctors want to try chemo, insurance companies won’t allow it because they think it’s experimental. It’s definitely not fair.
The American health-care system is a mess, and only Moore is doing anything to explain the situation.
The movie is pretty bad. A person choosing to keep his ring or middle finger because he didn’t have life insurance. Also, people being denied is pretty bad too. But what do you expect. Insurance companies are just that, A COMPANY. They are looking out for themselves like any other company would do. The things that some companies would do don’t surprise me anymore.
Do you mean the stuff described in the movie is bad, as in unfortunate, or do you mean that the movie itself is bad, is in the directing, etc?
Also, he wasn’t denied his finger because of life insurance, rather regular health insurance. Life insurance doesn’t kick in until you die…
I agree with your last point, that companies do a lot of stuff, and remember, just like you say, insurance companies have pretty much only one goal: to make money / profit!
I guess by bad I mean that it shows the truth. It shows the cold hard truth that no one wants to hear about. Its not the movie or directing. I think the movie is actually every informational. Shows that health insurance isn’t as “covering” as I, or other people thought. From what the movie said some things they say they just can’t do but like I said, its a company.
And sorry that was my bad I meant health insurance and not life insurance.
So far I think that the movie is really interesting and I’m surprised because honestly I thought that it was going to be a lot different. But I like the direction that it’s going in. At the beginning when they were showing the older people who were jobless or who were too old to be working such manual jobs it kind of broke my heart. Also I can’t believe these stories they’re showing about health care companies. I understand that in order to survive in this economy and in this world you have to be able to make a profit, but isn’t there a line between making a profit and serving your true purpose? I feel like that line has definitely been crossed, and I don’t see why there isn’t some sort of a health care company that has formed that is actually serving its true purpose of helping Americans, and prioritizing this purpose instead of that where a huge profit is the only benefit. And if that hasn’t happened yet, why hasn’t the government put restrictions or passed laws where health care company’s actions are more closely monitered? I know that I don’t know too much about this topic so maybe it has happened or something and I dont know it, but so far the health care system seems completely unethical.
I agree – I feel terrible for the old gentlemen having to sweep and pick up garbage. He should be able to sit back, relax, after having worked his whole life already. What’s the solution, if any?
i feel like he could go to the government or something and complain that hes working and all his drugs are sky rocketed and say that he is however old and still working we he could end up worse while working and ending up more in debt
I like the beginning of the movie. I love all the information and stories presented, however I do have one issue with the movie. I understand that insurance companies are businesses and their objective is to make money, and I’m not disputing any of the evils of the health care industry, however I would like to have seen more from the side of current (or as current as possible) insurance executives and employees, as it is very important when choosing a side to know both sides of the argument. Overall I think the movie will be good to watch to learn from.
I like the movie so far. The only thing I have a problem with os deciding what sid Moore is on when it comes to healthcare. When they show the people without healthcare, you feel sympathy and want to be the person with healthcare, but directly after, he shows how the healthcare industry is corrupt. They deny people their own health because they don’t want to pay. I personally think that is disgusting. I definately am on the pro-healthcare side, but at the same time, I wis there was a way that we couldnot be messed with and cheated out of payments and needs that should be fulfilled by them.
I personally think it is terrible people are turned down to get health insurance because of health problems or pre-existing problems (weight, height, diabetes). I think the people with pre-existing issues are the ones who need it most, not saying that everyone doesn’t need it because freak accidents happen, but these would be the people who would be a higher risk of having something health related happen to them. But insurance companies are out to make money so from an economic stand point I understand. The entire system seems corrupt, people who are insured can still be turned down, and that’s ridiculous. Another thing I found interesting is that workers can receive bonuses when they deny people insurance because when people are denied the company saves money, that fact left me speechless.
The film so far also made it seem like health insurance companies don’t like to give people the insurance/safety they are searching for. And the companies search with a fine point pen to find a reason why someone should be turned down, or even to repeal someone’s coverage. But as I have said before the insurance companies are a business and are out to make a profit, and not actually helping the people like the film suggests. “You aren’t denying care, just denying payment”.
Devil’s Advocate: Would you insure someone you know has a problem already, or a teenager who has had 5 car crashes? What does that mean to your bottom line for the company’s profit?
I think that this movie is biast towards the negatives of insurance. I’m sure there are positives towards insurance, but this movie is making want to make sure that my insurance will cover everything that is necessary and i will be extremely careful at which company i choose to go with. Everything has positives and negatives, but some things are not worth the risks.
I agree with Heather. It seems like every time you turn around there’s another problem with the way America operates when it comes to healthcare. I know it ha its flaws, but at the same time there has to be some good that comes out of it. At the same time there has to be some negatives to the “perfect” healthcare system in Europe. I don’t think that their healthcare would work in America because, like you said, aroung 40% of their income is taxes, and people in America, for the most part, spend too much as is to have more of their income turned into taxes.
While watching this video I have come to realize how blessed my family and I are to have a good health plan. When I was listening to the story of the couple who had to move into their 20 year old daughter’s house because of doctors appointments copays building up, I realized how just a few years ago I was in the same predicament with my family. I mounted up a huge bill that without our health plan would have forced my family out of our house.
Honestly, I really don’t care for that movie. It seems to me that Moore is just exploiting the issues that people have with health insurence to further increase his fame as a movie director. Yes, there are people out there dealing with the issues he is showing in the movie, but if you think of the U.S as a whole, these people with the problems are small troubles compared to the nation as a whole. I’m not saying who cares about those people who are suffering, I’m just saying the health insurers can’t be bothered with a small percent of the world’s population. It needs to focus on the nation as a whole.
This documentary was kind of depressing today. It was so sad when the wife was talking about how the insurance company denied her husband the bone marrow tansplant, something that would’ve saved his life, and then he died shortly after.. It was really shocking, but true, how the companies do everything they can to deny someone the healthcare, it’s just not right. The beginning of this documentary was really an eye-opener about how stingy these companies are with their money, and don’t care one bit about the health of Americans.
From what I have seen of this movie so far, it really upsets me. It made me really sad seeing that the man with kidney cancer died because he wasn’t covered by health insurance. And also I didn’t think it was fair that the one lady’s surgery wasn’t covered because she had a previous yeast infection. It seems like these health insurance companies are cause a lot more damage than good.
It makes you wonder how much you should share with your doctor, and it makes that relationship, the patient / caretaker relationship, strained, because stuff you reveal to them may at one point down the line be held against you. Wait, that sounds familiar…? “Anything you say will be used against you in the court of law / or when checking your medical history, and denying one of your claims.”
After watching the first part of Sicko, I have a whole different opinion about health insurance companies. I mean I knew that companies tried to cut corners when approving or disapproving a claim but I had no idea about the extent they go to. I couldn’t believe that the one healthcare company claimed that the bone marrow transplant for the one lady’s husband was experimental, even though his younger brother was a perfect match. That could have very easily saved his life but instead he ended up dying, which surprised me that a company that should be devoted to helping people would also be responsible for people’s deaths as well.
As I watched the movie in class I actually became disgusted with America’s health care system. Thinking the people at the health care system purposefully haven’t saved people lives because they rather personally benefit from the money instead. I could never imagine living with the fact that I killed someone because they had previous health problems. I couldn’t believe how many tiny errors in your past could really affect you from getting approved for health care. Our health system isn’t dependable at all.
Health care is truly a lucrative business. There is great money to be made, between the denial of payment, denial of coverage, and other tricks, the health care industry really cashes in. This is my second time watching this movie, and after another look, I can truly see how well health care performs.
I mean, it’s a perfect system. The industry buys out Republicans, and in turn, they strive to keep health care as private, exclusive, and profitable as possible. Sure, you might have to pay a few thousand here and there and everywhere, but it’s incredibly beneficial to lower and middle class citizens for two main reasons.
First, the huge profits from the health industry are guaranteed to trickle down, straight to working Americans! Our greatest president in history, Ronald Reagan, would give that reason himself, along with the other truly important points he gave against the evil, evil “socialized medicine.”
The second reason is the freedom from bureaucrats mandating care, and deciding this and that. Sure, it’s cheaper for you, or possibly free, and the lower costs would allow you to keep your home and security, but your civil liberties would be violated! Imagine, going to a hospital and having them give you everything for free. Those bureaucrats might not even let you refuse care! For richer Americans, imagine a hospital where you would have to deal with poorer people having the same medical priority as you!
The system works incredibly well as it is, with patients that cannot pay clogging lobbies, instead of getting care and getting out. I think our healthcare at the moment is really becoming great, and picking up great ideas. Hey, the the only way for innovation to happen is with the best form of capitalism, through obscenely well-paid CEOs and exploitative companies, right?
I see what you did there.
The movie really makes me question why we don’t have universal health care in the United States. I understand the movie is somewhat biased, but it just seems that there are so many positives to it that they would simply outweigh the negatives. Like waiting a little longer or having to pay higher taxes. Both of those don’t seem too bad to me if it means saving a person’s life or not putting them in debt for the rest of their life. To me, this movie makes our way of living with the health care system pretty twisted. Money is more important than lives is a point of the health care industry that the movie seems to keep referring back too, and it bothers me a lot. Our country needs to help its people like all the other countries that seem to be doing fine with universal health care do.
After seeing the movie today, I think that America robs people of health insurance. In France, Britain, and Canada they get to go to the hospital for free and have so many benefits thats unreal. These countries are great representatives of the old saying that people come first. I dont think its right to rob people of health insurance and maybe their lives just to save money. America has changed a lot in the last 50 years and maybe for the worst in the field of healthcare and caring for other people.
Okay so what I really don’t understand is how if our health care system is willing to and can afford to spend nearly 800,000 dollars on a single person as a bribe for them to support them and their ways, and they most likely bribe at least hundreds of people, then why can’t this money be used to actually serve the purpose of the health care system by helping Americans pay for their medical needs? We can’t just be throwing around money to buy a person. Priorities need to be decided, and I feel like these priorities are being decided by incredibly selfish people. I think that’s the reason why we can’t have a health care system like Britain or Canada. As a whole, our country is selfish. We need to be the best at everything and even though we don’t have the best health care system, it’s because the people in charge and the people of this nation are selfish. It’s like noone wants to be there for each other, it’s every man for himself and everyone needs to make as much profit as possible and deal with any costs or obstacles that hit them on the way. It was even said that we’ve already socialized a lot, like public schools, libraries, the mail service, and fireman and police forces. We already depend on these things for our education and safety, so why can’t we socialize medicine? We use medicine and health care for our safety.
Today in the documentary, we saw how the medical centers work in Canada, Britain, and France. None of the people there have to pay for anything of their operations or hospital stays. And they only have to pay a very small price for their medicines. I think this is a much easier and better way to insurance and hospitals. Everyone is able to be helped and cared for no matter if they are old, young, rich, or poor. It makes no difference and I think that is how it should be everywhere. I don’t think insurance companies should be out there to make a profit, I think they should be there to help the people that are sick.
This movie is really cathching my attention. I never knew anything about out health care and how bad it can get. It makes me a little bit nervous for the future when I have to get my own health insurance. Another thing, after seeing the free health care in France and Canada, it makes me wonder why America doesn’t do that. I know they only showed the positives, but it seems like a good idea.
I also believe that free health care in a great idea for the United States. I don’t understand why we don’t do it. It’s like they said in the movie, so many things are socialized in our country today, such as the postal service and the road construction. If we had socialized health care, we wouldn’t have to worry about how much our insurance company would cover and if we are able to pay for the rest. Americans could also have a lot less debt if we didn’t have to pay for health care, and everyone would be accepted.
I agree with Katie where she says if it works for Canada and France why don’t we do it as well. They seem to have minor problems in their system and their life span in longer than the average American’s. Also, it caught my eye in the movie today that they recieve many extra benefits like more time off work and most importantly a free college education. Sure, they pay more taxes, but I think I’d prefer to pay higher taxes out of my paycheck than to be in debt the rest of my life just to get an education. I agree with the woman from Cuba in the video who said their systems work for those countries because their government is afraid of the people and in the United States, the people are afraid of the government. I believe that to be verye true and an extremely good point.
I prefer the way other countries handle their health care compared to the U.S. and there are no long waits with the service. They made a point in the documentary by questioning Canada saying “why can’t you just take care of yourself?”. I thought that was ironic because the United States likes to get involved with many other issues (such as intervening with other countries) we can’t seem to just try to only take care of ourselves; yet when it comes to health care we are very on our own. I wish the health care in the United States would be more similar to other countries.
After seeing more of Sicko, we end up traveling to Europe and Cuba for another hour, coming to the same, repetitive conclusion about other nations’ health care at every stop. He poses France in particular as a kind of paradise, where government employees wait on your every need.
He overlooks entirely any of the recent skepticism towards France’s poor economic performance, or the social tension that is tearing apart the poorer urban sections of the country. Moore doesn’t address any of the risks of the socialized system, focusing instead on lengthy interviews with attractive young people chatting happily about the long vacations they’re able to take.
I feel that if we are going to give a large amount of our tax money to health insurance then it should mostly benefit us instead of denying people money that could potentially save our lives. They shouldn’t make up excuses just to save money which is what I feel the insurance companies do sometimes so they dont have to pay. The people in Canada get free health care which, I think, is a great idea even if it takes a little longer to get what you need because, in the end, you will still get what you need to make you better. The doctors don’t have to make life altering choices that could potentially kill someone. Also, people don’t have to choose between which finger they are going to keep according to how much money can afford to pay because insurance in places like Canada, pay for everything. The insurance companies acctually do their job in those countries. I think that if one thing in the United States is based off of socialism, it should be health care.
Today’s movie clip was really interesting to me today. I think that having free health care like the people do in France, Britain, and Canada would help the people living in the United States. What I mean is that everyday in the U.S. someone has to die because they do not have any health care to make them live. But people in France or Britain can have a stroke or heart attack and after a few hours or even days, they walk out like a brand new person. If this would happen in the U.S., I think that less people would die and more people or every kind would have free health care to take care of them.
Well first off this film is very eye opening, I didn’t like to hear that there are acts that are supposed to help our seniors but in reality they might not help them at all, 2/3 can still be paying $2,000 a year. How much does that senior act actually help? I know my grandparents don’t have the most money, and personally I think our seniors deserve to be covered, these people have lived through countless wars including WWII. In my personal opinion they have done more than enough to get aide, and if we help our seniors it will be like that for generations to come and it will just become a custom.
Also I think as a whole Americans don’t like change and fear it. We say there are so many problems with a socialized society but Canada, England, and France are doing just fine. In many ways we have socialist aspects to our society, such as the fire and police departments, public libraries, and even out postal service. The video made it sound as if in Canada, England, and France people don’t wait any longer than we do to get medical help. Also it said that Americans don’t live as long statistically as people from these other countries, I wonder why? I did like to hear that in these other countries people aren’t denied they help they need because they can’t pay, or even removed from the hospital like her in America. I would really like to see our society change over to the “socialist” way because in the long run it seems to benefit our citizens more. The last thing is that I think it’s great to hear that doctors get paid when they get people to stop smoking, or when they lower their cholesterol, that is I great thing doctors seem like they actually care about us, rather than our insurance agents who get paid when they turn people down.
I am really enjoying this movie. It’s showing me how many people get denied medical attention everyday. What I’m questioning is if everyone is France, Canada, Britain, etc. love universal healthcare and have nothing bad to say about it, why haven’t we gotten it yet? By the way people in the movie talk about the universal healthcare, they seem to love it and think it’s the greatest thing in the world, even the doctors! So I just wonder why America is so against it if everyone else around the world loves it…
For day two of this movie, it shocked me even more than yesterday. Canada, England, and France all have health care that is free. Patients never have to pay a cent if they’re hospitalized. What really shocked me was that England started this back in 1948, right after getting out of WWII. England knew the people were hurting and suffering, so they made sure everyone was okay and helped. I also liked what Mr. Johansson said at the end of class that these countries have debt just like the U.S., yet still every citizen has a health care plan and insurance. Their taxes may be higher, but they never have to worry about if they’ll be denied treatment for cancer, or if they’ll be able to pay for their medication.
Looking at the healthcares in different places like Britain, France and Canada, they seem to have a better healthcare system compared to the U.S. I thought it was sad that the one couple from Canada wouldn’t even come into the United States for a couple of hours without health insurance and that in other countries you get free healthcare without getting checked for any preexisting conditions and that medication costs about ten dollars. I don’t really understand why we in the U.S. don’t have our healthcare set up like Canada or France, it sure seems to make more sense than what we have now.
I enjoyed today’s portion of the video, as it allowed us to view the health care all around the world. I think it’s shocking that doctors in other countries are doctors because they genuinely want to help people, but in the U.S., people are doctors because they want to make as much money as possible. But what I find is especially shocking is the insurance companies. They’re supposed to exist to help us, however they do the most harm to us. I think it’s horrible that insurance companies serve as middle men, but they make the most money out of the relationship. They’re supposed to help us, but instead, they do the most harm. We pay them to take care of our bills, but they take our money and refuse to pay for our treatment. It’s really disgusting
As we watched the movie today I began thinking that maybe it is possible that America could do something like this. Maybe something like this could benefit us in a greater way then it will harm us. There would be less deaths because people would be getting the help that they need, more jobs because we would need more doctors who could perform these operations and help paitents, and even prolong lives like they have in Canada and Britain. Then I realized this idea had a lot of flaws that came along with it and it might not be as successful as it’s planned to be.
I definitely agree with Veronica in wanting to have a system like this in the United States. I’m wondering what type of potential flaws this plan could have. I believe that we could (over time) work this out in the United States because the system works fine in other countries. We as Americans already have a lot of debt, and I think doing something about our health care systems would be a good start in lessening our debts.
Day 2 of the movie and I think the movie itself is getting worse, in my opinion. As Moore is going to different countries to compare health care with the U.S he is trying to say something about our health care system. But he even says he is offended about what some of the people say about the U.S. If he makes a movie to show the horrors about our own health care, then he should know that other people will have a nasty opinion of us so he is contradicting himself in a way which is pointless. Honestly I understand that people are suffering because of our health care and I also understand that people are benefitting from it too. So instead of making a movie and complaining about our health care, just let it go its course. Whats life without tagedy, it does happen. And it is how we overcome adversity that defines us as a country. I’m not tyring to sound cruel, but I’m just telling it how it is.
While it is your opinion that Moore is evil, and I respect that, I believe that you are missing some key facts. First of all, when you say Moore was offended by what people say about the US, you are missing out on Moore’s joking style, where he takes a satirical shocked interviewer attitude. He’s not really offended, he’s just doing that to point out the way some people act. If you were making a movie criticizing your own country’s effectiveness, one would think you’d be prepared for the negative responses.
Referring to your previous comment, you say that Moore is just exploiting unfortunate people to increase his own fame. While he did gain acclaim from this movie, you can’t say that someone is exploiting the people they document for fame. Take Rachel Carson, writer of Silent Spring, and Upton Sinclair, writer of The Jungle. Do you think they were exploiting the people/birds they documented? They were trying to expose problems, and both books served that purpose very well. It is implied, and even said by Moore that he wants to see better care here.
Your use of “small percentage” and “small troubles” I also find issue with. Do you recall the number of uninsured Americans that Moore mentioned. As I remember, it was around 50 million. That’s not including those people that are denied payment after being accepted into a health car plan. I wouldn’t consider 15+%, just the uninsured, a small percentage, but maybe that’s me. Also in my opinion, I’d say it’s slightly more than “small troubles” that people are forced out of their homes, out of hospitals, because of our faulty health care situation.
Moving back to your latest comment, I’m curious as to who’s benefitting[sic] from our current health care? The company executives themselves, who make money through denials of care (or, denials of payment)? The super-rich who don’t have to care about the poor, unlike the taxed rich in other countries? Even if many do benefit, it it great that we have a very low-ranked status worldwide relating to health care? You’d think if everyone else has a better plan, we’d look at them to fix our failing system.
Once again opinion, do we really want to let a system like ours, one that is constantly decreasing in quality, run its course? And I believe that while tragedy happens, there are certain tragedies that can not happen with a proper system in place. As for overcoming adversity, wouldn’t that be stopping the exploitative system that is causing the adversity for the poor in the first place?
I do not mean to offend with this comment, I merely want to fact-check on a few things, and insert an opposing view.
I found the movie very informative. I was very suprised today when Michael Moore compared American health care and universal health care of other countries. Other countries such as Canada use universal health care to help those that need to be treated and not just those who can afford it. I found it very disturbing that here in the US some hospitals will not even help someone who cannot afford the medical bill. I don’t think it is right to turn down patients who need help.
Today i found myself wondering if the reason we do not have the health systems like France and every other country is because people in America do not take care of their health until they are in the emergency room. One example I have is how America is considered the country with the most obese people. It is not healthy to be overweight yet our country is overwhelming with Colorado is the only state with less than twenty percent of the population underweight (http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html). I am not questioning so much the government as I am questioning Americans and the way we treat and take care of our health.
I would agree with you and even go so far as to question the insurance companies. Sure there’s a lot more the government can do, and American’s should be more responsible, but the true culprits here are the insurance companies. They spend millions of dollars lobbying to stop universal health care, because if they weren’t providing the half-ass insurance that they’re famous for giving, they would make little to no money at all. The worst part is that the insurance companies are supposed to help us, but they actually end up doing the most harm and the government, which is supposed to be protecting the citizens of the country, do nothing to stop the financial abuse, because their pockets are being stuffed with the blood money of insurance companies who win bonuses by seeing who can potentially kill the most people.
After seeing today’s segment, I must say I’m glad I don’t live in other countries. All that government run garbage is horrifying, between getting paid for transportation costs, and moving quickly in hospital lobbies. I’m glad we currently live in a system where we don’t (at least at the moment) have to accept care by the government. I bet those anti-Americans were just putting up fronts to make their care seem so much better. If somebody like Bill O’Reilly says that the Canadian health care is terrible, I listen. He must have done his research, unlike Moore, who just asks people actually dealing with health care day to day. Today’s segment just made me appreciate our current system even more.
Paul I agree. Moore isn’t a professional. But he actually visited many other places to prove that its not that bad. Don’t get me wrong I don’t like universal health care, but in those places it seem like it worked good. Of course that is there and here it is a completely different thing. I just don’t like the government being in charge of that. Just one more step closer the government has to socializing everything.
I would have to agree with Paul on some of his ideas. If Moore is just a person who goes around and asks people different questions, thats not really being part of the system. Now If someone else, like Bill O’Reilly, told us something. I would listen to him.
I agree with Paul. Whoes to say that people in other countries are lying about their health care. Moore gets his info by asking people from other countries. As good as a source that is, people could easily lie. You don’t know if they are telling the truth. Researching for facts is a good way of approach. But here is a thought. If other countries’ health care is as good as they say it is, that means more people are going to go to that country which means something is going to change to attend to the increase in population.
The movie is quite interesting and really makes me think. I’m sure it makes most Americans think. Why don’t we have free health insurance? I can’t believe how many people, who should be retired, are still working only because their job provides them with health care. I’m sort of disgusted by the fact; I mean how do people not have any sympathy. It’s ridiculous how bad health insurance is in the United States, that it has people driving across the border, flying to a different country, etc. just to ensure that they will get the treatment they need, without being denied and with little to no cost at all. While watching the movie today, I found myself thinking, why doesn’t everyone just live in London, or Canada? I know it’s not as simple as that, but if so many countries around the world are able to provide free health insurance and still are well off, then why can’t America do the same? I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the movie.
So after watching Sicko, i’m starting to think that America is not the land of oppertunitys. I mean a place were if you have cervical cancer like that one girl, and denyed coverage because she was to young. Thats just messed up. Not to mention, that places like France and Great Britian were if your sick, your not only taken care of in a hospital for free, your also guaranteed enough time to recover. Your also being paid by your emplorer, and the goverment. Till your back on your feet. They accually care about everyone their, were as here i feel like we dont care enough.
I think its really sad how hospitals just kick extremely sick and injured people out because they dont have insurance. I find it horrific that Al Qaeda people get better medical treatment then the people who helped save a lot people and bring peace to many families at ground zero after 9/11. Its disturbing to me that United States citizens sometimes have leave our country in order to get medical help because they cant get it here.
So now that I’ve seen the whole documentary, I can’t really decide how I feel about our health care system. I definitely know how I feel about what I saw today, though. Why are terrorists being treated with such a high standard of health and nutrition care when good people in America are suffering from the lack of support from their health care company? Not to come off too strong, but I’m not sure if the terrorists should even be treated humanely, let alone be treated with a better health care system than American citizens are. The people turned down by their health care companies have committed no crime except for being sick and in desperate need of someone to reach out and help them. I know that terrorists can’t honestly say the same thing about themselves, so remind me again why we’re helping them? Also, today in the video it showed how cheap pharmaceuticals are in other countries and how the health care is free and yet the doctors are still making a nice profit. How is it that a prescription costing $120 in America only costs $.05 in Cuba? I think there should be limits placed on how much profit a health care company is legally permitted to make and how much they are allowed to charge. Just the other day we had that reading on rent control. The government is clearly already involved in preventing business owners from taking advantage of their customers and charging too much just for the sake of making a profit. They should step in now, take control of the health care system. Set limits. Maybe we don’t need a socialized health care system (although I’m sure it wouldn’t be a bad idea,) but if we don’t have that, then I think we definitely need a government that isn’t so easily won over by the persuasions of health care companies. Isn’t this country supposedly built off of the foundation of establishing justice, promoting the general welfare? Isn’t our government supposedly making sure every person has his or her rights secured by the government and that every person is shown equality and fairness? I don’t really know what it is, but something has to change.
I think that the movie was very good. It showed that the U.S. is one of the only countries not to give free healthcare. In Cuba, the one lady got her medicine for 5 cents and in the US, it would cost her over $100. The US’s healthcare companies whole priority is too get the most money for themselves. Even in Guantanimo Bay where criminals are held, they get free state of the art healthcare and in the US, that would cost us thousands for the same healthcare.
I talked to my dad about this movie and about how upsetting it was that so many people got denied for different procedures or medicines and about how good the health are was in places like France or Canada or even Guatanamo Bay for the inmates. He made a really valid point that I agree with. Even though there are a lot of people in the United States that get denied medical care from insurance companies and there are a lot of insurance companies that do shady things, there are also a lot of people that get really really good medical care in the United States. For example, my family. We barely have to pay for any of our medicine, most of them cost us $5-$10 and we don’t have to pay medical bills. We don’t have to pay to go to the dentist or get braces or go to a yearly check-up. So not everyone in America has the horrible health care and health insurance that Moore is portraying to us. Some insurance companies actually do a very good job of helping people get the medical attention they need.
I really liked this movie, it was very eye opening. Our country really needs to change our ways and be more like the rest of the western hemisphere. There isn’t reason to fear universal health care; it works elsewhere it could work here. I was a little angry when I saw people we call heroes didn’t even get the right help because they were covered, that’s horrible those people deserve the help. And the fact they had to go to Cuba to get the help they needed. Times in this country need to change and people need to care not just about “me” but rather “we”.
I enjoyed the last part of the movie. It really surprised me that the captives on Cuba seem to have better hospitals and services than we do. It just doesn’t seem right. It also bothered me that the 9/11 heroes couldn’t get the help they need, but when they went down to Cuba, the Cuban hospitals and doctors treated them as they were like Cuban citizens and the 9/11 heroes got the treatments and medications they deserved. The fact that Cuba is supposed to be our enemy, but doctors helped U.S. citizens in need says a lot. After seeing this, I don’t think U.S. doctors would’ve done the same. This movie was a real eye opener of how unfair, unjust, and almost corrupt our health care in the U.S. is. I really enjoyed watching this.
This actually made me think. While watching the movie, I felt sympathy towards those who aren’t given care because they simply aren’t able to afford it, and in return, so many Americans lose their lives. But when I think about it more, it many cases, Americans have some blame to be put on them as well. If they had taken care of themselves better from the beginning then many of them wouldn’t be denied health care. I know this doesn’t apply to every American out there, such as the citizens that helped with 9-11. When I saw today’s segment, I was extremely hurt. These citizens came together to help out the country when it was going through a tragedy. They knew that their health was at stake, but they wanted to make sure that no one was left behind. They wondered if there was still anyone they could find, alive. But in the end, when they needed help/a favor in return from the government, they were denied. It makes me think, how brutal can people be? It amazes me how our government can provide free health care to those whom have potentially been the ones to cause the tragedy in the first place, but they won’t help the ones who are our own citizens; those who are in bad condition because of the tragedy that was put upon us. I’m glad that those citizens got the treatment that they deserved, but of course, it wasn’t from the United States government. It was from Cuba, a place that America talks down about. That place helped our citizens, and they too have universal health care, just like Canada and France. If so many countries are able to provide universal health care and it’s citizens are able to live a normal life-style and are happy; why can’t America do the same for it’s citizens?
Watching this movie made me disgusted with the American healthcare system. It also mde living in Europe, especially England, seem very promising. It’s interesting to see how Americans have moved to Europe because of our lousy healthcare and how happy they are now. It really put a smile on my face when I saw how nice the people in Cuba were to us. They didn’t seem hesitant at all about helping those people, and they, hands down, changed all of heir lives.
I have really enjoyed watching this movie the past 3 days. Michael Moore did a really good job with it. Seeing this really opened my eyes up to the idea of universal healthcare. Before everyone always had something bad to say about it, but after watching this movie it seems like the right way to go. It makes me jealous of the countries around us because they have free healthcare, free college/education, etc. All of these things we spend tons of money on and are in debt our whole lives because of it, it seems like it’d be a lot easier if it was given to us by the government. All in all, i really enjoyed watching this movie and I hope one day we will have universal healthcare too.
The movie was good and it didn’t really show how much taxes people were paying for the free universal healthcare it would have been nice to see the figures over a certain period of time and compare it to ours without universal healthcare
Today the part of the movie that got to me the most was the 9-11 rescue workers. I find it so heart breaking that the government would not even help those who risked their lives in one of the country’s most difficult and hardening times. I am glad that they went to Cuba and got the attention they needed before it was too late but I feel America should help those that risked their lives for the safety of others. I also found the cost of medicine and medical equipment to be so low and affordable. They would not have to worry about not being able to get medicine because of not having alot of money.
The movie today made me very mad when I saw how the heroes of 9/11 were denied healthcare while the members of al Qaeda were given top notch healthcare for free when it should be the other way around. I thought it was disturbing to see that in order to get decent healthcare that was free we have to travel to a third world country 90 miles away from the U.S. It made me see that the healthcare in the United States robs you even after you have checked out of the emergency room. The one lady living in her daughter’s storage room was on nine medications and the doctors in Cuba took her off five of them. The same goes for the woman who wss paying $120 for one inhaler that is five cents in Cuba. I understand that the medicine in these countries with socialized healthcare are higher than in the U.S. but seeing that the one average family was living very comfortably, it makes me wonder even more why we don’t have socialized healthcare.
I rather be taxed heavier with free health care , cheap medication, and government help and support like other countries. When I look at america compared to the other countries now I feel like they’re better off than us. I feel like the govt has more respect and realistic ideas for other countries then america does. I believe we are just to scared of our country to stick up for ourselves and we are too used to traditional ways of doing things so we are afraid of change. This free health care helps in so many ways and we need to just see that. The higher taxes may sound bad now but anyone who is paying medical bills, tuition , and medication bills will finally get a break.
So after the movie, it has really opened my eyes that america isn’t all that great. Its kinda horrifing that some hospitals with just put a suffering patient in top a cab and just leave them somewere. Thats just so not right. It also bothered me that the people who volunteer to save people and risk their lives doing so get better care from Cubains then they do from the US goverment. And weres as the US terrist and people who fought to destroy the US in guantanamo bay get better health care then most american. I don’t even see how they can do that. This movie was very interisting and an eye opener on american health care and how they treat their fellow Americans.
I thought that the end of the movie was very interesting. I found it shocking that the only place in the US that has universal health care is Guantanamo Bay prison. It’s sad to see that every other country puts their people’s health first and the US sees health care as an opportunity to make money.