Sicko

"If people ask, we tell them Sicko is a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on Earth." - Michael Moore

I went to a sneak preview for Michael Moore's new documentary, Sicko. But it's not about the people who don't have health coverage. I found it to be eye-opening regarding the Americans who do have health coverage, and how much is actually "covered".

The film basically covers 3 parts. The first gets into horror stories of how insurance companies deny coverage, try to cancel policies once people need expensive treatment, and lobby their way to keep the system in place. One example was a woman who was approved for an operation, had the operation, then had the money revoked because they claimed she didn't properly disclose all of her medical history on the insurance application. Her omission: a yeast infection.

The second part is Moore's trips to Canada, England and France to see their Universal Health Care. To see everyone repeatedly laugh in his face or just look confused when he asks how much it costs to go to the emergency room or have a baby or get prescriptions.

In the third part, Moore takes 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba to get free healthcare. And you see that they are providing high quality care to their citizens, and they don't understand why America can't do the same.

This is Michael Moore's best film. The strongest part was not the gut-wrenching stories, or the political grandstanding of trying to get access to the healthcare at Guantanamo Bay...the strongest part was where he didn't have to confront anyone...the strongest part was seeing how happy and normal everyone in Canada, France and England was with their free coverage. How they were able to choose their doctors and they didn't even have long waits--common criticisms that we hear of UHC.