HW25- Sicko Response

Precis of movie (at least as much as we watched in class): America is a land of freedom and equal opportunity- until you take a good look at the greatest equalizer of them all: illness and dying. There are millions of Americans who cannot afford or qualify for Health Insurance, and as a result they unnecessarily suffer from mutilation, deformation and humiliation (excuse the alliteration!). As if this were not unfair enough, there are people in this land of opportunity who have Health Insurance and STILL cannot receive adequate care for their illness. Like many other "lovely" qualities of the US, Health Insurance is simply another victim to capitalism; the rich get the greatest care and they themselves are often in control of picking and choosing who gets covered and who doesn't. Why not follow suit like other successful countries' healthcare programs? Because Pat Buchanan is afraid of communism of course!

One piece of evidence that Moore used to bolster his argument that I found quite shocking was the 79 year-old man sweeping bathrooms at PathMark. This may not have been the grandest or strongest use of evidence he made, but it disturbed me nonetheless. The reason why he continues to work turning on 80 is because his employer supplies him with adequate health coverage, something he could in no way attain himself in retirement. Moore is relying on the sympathy of the audience to strengthen his argument that Health Insurance in the U.S. has become long astray to exclude such an elder, and it succeeds.

Although it's general, I was curious to see how much the number of people with health insurance has changed. This does seem to be the first and foremost of Moore's pieces of evidence, after all. Upon some research I found this number to be mostly unchanged. However, I did come across some interesting statistics regarding the reasons for those who do NOT have insurance. It is estimated that there are about 46 million people in the U.S. who do not have HI in total. However, it should be noted that at least 10 million from this sum are not officially U.S. citizens. I found it interesting that on July 22nd, Obama claimed that 14,000 people will lose insurance every day. I am not entirely sure where HE got his source, but coming from him I suppose most people (excluding how ever many people Rush Limbaugh counts as) will take his word for it. I also found out that over 18 million of the uninsured are younger than the age of 34, which I find to be disturbing. Why Moore omitted some of these pieces of information is beyond me, but maybe it was because these facts came from http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/medicarehealthinsurance/a/insurancestats.htm.

Overall I think "Sicko" is an entertaining and informative movie, but I do get a feeling afterward that I have just watched a cartoon. While Moore's witty and sometimes aggravating commentary keeps the "average Joe" type viewer following along, and as I look deeper into his arguments and overarching thesis I have a hard time considering the credibility of his film. After thinking about other movies having to do with illness and dying that actually take the viewer into the hospital scene to leave them with only their own thoughts and no narrator "Sicko" feels kind of like a Quentin Tarantino movie (something that is undoubtably fun to watch but on a grand scale somewhat irrelevant). I find myself agreeing with Moore and seeing him as "one on our team" but having gone through intense experiences of I&D I am skeptical about his decision on what to show the mainstream audience. He seems to be preoccupied arguing about money, not the moral of the doctors themselves. I will certainly be sure to watch "Sicko" again, maybe with a more critical eye know that I know about other films.