SICKO

I was ambivalent about seeing SICKO, Michael Moore's documentary, full length film on the health care system in the United States. Maybe I thought there wouldn't be anything I didn't know, or maybe I just didn't want to be depressed. But friends chose the movie, and I tagged along. I'm glad I did. It was not boring. It moved right along. It was touching, tear provoking, anger stimulating, disgust generating...especially when a woman talked about having three jobs (to pay all her bills) and President Bush looked at her with his signature grin and said "Oh, three jobs, why that's so American!" not having a clue about what it means to work for a living, and get small compensation for it.

The bottom line is that our system is set up to fuel the bank accounts of the rich and the medical and pharmaceutical companies, not to serve the medical needs of our citizens. That's the immorality of it all. The woman who Kaiser put in a cab and sent 16 miles to be pushed out onto the sidewalk in front of a shelter, a woman who needed medical care. The man who only had one finger tip put back on because he couldn't afford both decapitated fingers to be fixed (the middle finger would cost $60,000). The woman whose cab ride to the hospital after a car accident in which she was unconscious, was not reimbursed because she did not call ahead to get it approved first....the little baby who died because their insurance was only good at another hospital...

What was striking was how the cultures of France, Britain, Canada and Cuba have set up their system to adequately compensate their medical personnel, and provide excellent care to all for free.

The bottom line was that our system in America keeps us in fear and demoralized so that we don't rise up to change it. It is a democracy, don't you know, but demoralization keeps each individual depressed and lacking in any hope. All we need to do (a big ALL) is realize our power as individuals to vote, and select a candidate that understands moral priorities of basic life needs for our people, not the siphoning of the corporations now given personhood by the courts.

I did not come out of the movie depressed. I came out grateful that here is a man (Michael Moore) who risks his life to state the truth. He is powerful, and his values are all in the right direction. I came out knowing that there is hope, if we can get enough people to feel their power. Go see the movie. You'll be glad you did.

Be well (don't get sick!)
Peg