Yesterday, we saw Sicko, the Michael Moore documentary about the health-care and insurance situation in the United States. In typical Michael Moore fashion, whether you love him or hate him, and you go in there knowing that he is going to present a very one-sided picture, he does open your eyes to what seems to be a very serious situation in America.
There are many uninsured Americans, those with insurance seem to be constantly fighting with their insurance companies to cover procedures when it is not in the insurance companies best interests to cover expensive procedures and the overall state of health care clearly seems to have some problems.
But, as far as entertainment, he did include a fair bit of humor. Come on, gathering people on a boat and heading to Guantanamo Bay because the detainees get free medical care? The guy has chutzpah!
The only problem is, there doesn't seem to be an easy solution and the problem won't go away overnight. And, just today in the Washington Post, there was an article on the candidates' positions on the topic of health coverage. So, I guess we'll just have to stay tuned...
Not much of a blogger, but I am closely connected to the health care industry as my father had to close his doors due to the insurance companies' policies.
ReplyDeleteThat said, keep this in mind when it comes to "sicko"
1. He went to a hospital for the Cuban elite, not the average community hospital where there frequently isn't even food or bedding. Common sense would tell you that if the main population of the country lives in extreme poverty, how in the world could they afford to have universal health care? There's no tax base to pull from! Medical procedures simply cost a lot of money...there's simply no logic here.
2. The number of people w/o insurance is a snapshot. People go in and out of jobs all the time, and in between, many do not have insurance. That doesn't mean that they go from cradle to grave w/o it though. There are also many people that could get jobs that offer benefits, but chose not to. Example, someone might make more money as a waiter, and so choose not to work at Starbucks because money is more important to that person than benefits. I personally know several people in this situation...and I am sure everyone else does too, but that changes the 45 million uninsured number dramatically.
3. The system is broken, but we still have the best health care system in the world. There is a reason why foreign royalty, celebrities, and countless regular folks travel to the US to get medical care. The stats he gives about infant mortality...well too bad he doesn't mention that in many countries, a child that dies within hours or even days of birth get's written off as stillborn, but here in the US, we are a little more honest about that figure. You simply cannot compare statistics like that across countries because they are calculated differently.
4. If socialized health care is so great, why is it that nearly all of Europe is trying to go away from it now? Why is it that there are thousands of black-market health care clinics popping up in Canada? It's because to get an MRI, they have to wait 6 months. Why is it that Russian physicians strike regularly...o that's right, because the government keeps costs down by paying them less. I don't know about you, but I'd like my physician to be the highest paid guy/gal around! What's more important than your health? Shouldn't there be a reward for the 10+ years of school training it takes to become a physician? Don't you want the best people in those jobs?
5. Free health care for all! What a load of crap! Just because you spread around the cost through taxes doesn't mean that it's FREE. When was the last time you remember the government spending our tax dollars wisely? Forget wisely, how about in any way that we would spend our own money?
6. Why is it that we only have choices of A or B with this? Why do we have to pick between status quo and socialized medicine? Neither is a good choice. I say we have health insurance work more like home insurance. If you want it, pay for it. If not, o well. Maybe it's not the greatest idea, but it's different than the morons on Capital Hill have come up with.
Lastly, when was the last time the government did ANYTHING well? D.O.T., where perfectly good roads get "fixed" for no reason other than to pad next year's budget, while others are a mess? D.M.V.? I could go on for days here...but the fundamental thing to remember is that the government is the largest monopoly and as such will never have a reason to do anything better, faster, cheaper because they don't have to.
Glenn Beck and (unfortunately) 20/20 (among others) have done pieces about the other side of the story that MM so conveniently left out. While I don't consider either source to be definitive, they at least provide the other side.
Sorry for the rant, but this hit's home for a guy that grew up with parents in the medical field!