Go Watch Sicko!

Today is Saturday, June 24, 2017. As we wait for the CBO to score the Republican Senate's new Health Care Proposal and watch what changes the Republican leadership will make to attempt to convince a majority of Republican Senators to vote for this proposal, it's a great time to remember what American medical care was like just before the ACA (Obamacare) was passed and compare that with what medical care is like in other countries around the world. I chose to do so by watching Michael Moore's movie Sicko. Filmed in 2007, the movie compared America's for profit Medical Insurance and Pharmaceutical systems in comparison with the free medical systems of Canada, Britain, France and Cuba.

I warn you, it will make you cry. It will make you cry that Americans have more expensive health care, live shorter lives, and have higher infant mortality than any of those countries: Canada, Britain, France and Cuba. American infant mortality in 2007 was poorer than El Salvadore. Sicko will make you cry when you find out that citizens of all four of those countries, Canada Britain, France and Cuba pay nothing for their medical, dental and vision care.

The standard response of conservatives in the US is to assail socialized medicine as practiced in those countries. I warn you, when you watch Sicko, you will find out that you have been lied to, because all the standard replies about government interference, long waits, poorer care, rationed care, etc. are all lies, and Moore refutes those lies well.

There's the lie the AMA puts out about doctors not being able to work where they want or being poorly paid. Moore interviews a late 30-ish London family practitioner who shows off his £550,000 ($700,000) house and his brand new Audi, who is paid about $200,000 salary and pension. Of course, that London doctor talks about how a physician might not be happy with British National Healthcare is he wishes to have 4 or 5 million pound homes.

I won't talk further. Just be prepared when you watch Sicko for the feeling that the only people benefitting from American Health Care are the Insurance Companies, the Lobbyists, and the Congress members bought and paid for. Certainly not you.