Michael Moore has been known to create films in which in my opinion has shown how liberal-minded and bias he can really be, a truly unsatisfying quality, when you think of the issues that are covered in his films and the power he has to carry out real change. However, in this film “Sicko” he has really grown from the Michael Moore we all have grown to dislike, the film is very insightful, generating quality thoughts and questioning, why do we not fight more to advocate for a better health care system? Mr. Moore gave some exceptional facts with exception towards the end of the film, when he uses sarcasm and clearly political propaganda to show war enemies receiving the best of care, while hard-working Americans receive subpart care. I guess the old saying rings true that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
This film focuses on one of our nation’s biggest issue, The Health Care System. At every presidential election debate, the topic is brought up to gage on how each candidate will, during their presidency, rectify or even improve the current system that is already failing thousands of Americans. Mr. Moore has tried to exposed the industry for what it truly is, a profitable billion-dollar business, with well-paid CEO’s and Doctors that get paid more based on how many surgeries the perform for ill patients and not by how well they’ve treated patients with preventive care to avoid diseases.
This film seemed more pathos, even with the addition of some facts and figures on
However, this system has been a part of a never ending healthcare debate. Many argue that this system underperforms habitually as the deliverables are in no match to the amount of spending. The discussion has largely been based on government-mandate of universal health coverage plan and the costs of the healthcare in the country. This structure has repeatedly been questioned on it access, efficiency and quality. Several feel that the beneficiary is not the average American but insurance companies and health care lobbyists. Like everywhere else, where there is refute; there is reform. In the year 2004, the First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s attempt to reform the healthcare scene by criticizing its basis and offering remedies was defeated by the Congress. In 2007, filmmaker Michael Moore’s, Sicko; denunciated the American healthcare system and how it affects its people.
The CMS states “In 2014, national health spending is projected to increase to 7.4 percent, or 2.1 percentage-points faster than in the absence of reform as the major coverage expansions from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are expected to result in 22 million fewer uninsured people” ("Public Health Care Needs," 2012, p. 1). The complexity of health care spending and funding is a hot topic in the federal government, the media, and consumer. In this students experience many patients are aware that changes are coming, but the patients are very opinionated by their like or dislike of the President of the United States. This student has found through daily
All around the globe, in places including Britain, Canada, Cuba, France and many other countries the mere thought of pulling out a credit card and paying for health services in hospital seems ludicrous. This is because these countries all have free universal health care, meaning that the majority of health care cost are covered by the government. In other words it is free! However, this is not the case the United States of America, where healthcare is privately funded and covered by insurance companies. Michael Moore, in his documentary Sicko explores the flawed US health care system comparing it to countries with universal health care and resolves the current system is corrupt and full of injustices. Throughout the film interviews that the audience can empathize with are conducted making the viewer feel certain emotions leading them to believe that the American health insurance companies are full of is corruption. In addition, images of past events that viewers can resonate with stir up strong emotions and plant the seed of how flawed the health industry is. Furthermore, Moore literally casts himself as the lead character and is able to manipulate certain scenes in order to convey his message because he is able to guide the flow of the scene. By using several cinematic techniques such as good casting, relatable images and personable interviews Moore is able to construct his version of the American health industry, leading the viewer to believe
Imagine a nation where one did not have to worry about deductibles, high monthly insurance rates, and being denied health care. Is this possible? Can the United States (U.S.) have this or is such a nation fiction? Michael Moore, known documentary filmmaker, set out on a mission. This mission was featured in his documentary, Sicko. The mission consisted of multiple rhetorical strategies to disclose the positive and negative effects of socialized health care. The great thing about this topic is that it’s applicable to a wide audience. From teenagers just starting to get health insurance, to people midway through their life that may have been burned by the industry, to seniors that need to still work in their eighties to pay off their health care bills. Moore gives good insight to both sides of the argument, and allows the audience to examine all factors. Through many accounts of Moore’s credibility, emotional connections, and pure facts; the audience is strongly convinced that the U.S. should move to a socialized health care system.
The major problem with the health care system in the US, according to David Goldhill, is the system of incentives that puts most of the purchasing power in the hands of insurance companies and the government, while cutting patients out of the equation. From a business point of view, according to Goldhill, the current healthcare system is costing the patient a lot of money and is “killing us”. Goldhill deliberates a much needed healthcare reform after witnessing many errors during his 83-year-old father’s hospitalization and death due to hospital acquired infections. Goldhill’s personal tragedy compelled him to fight for a radical solution for health care reform.
The Michael Moore movie pointed to a myriad of issues relating to the American healthcare system that are both startling and interesting. The movie was produced before the Obama Administration signed the Affordable Care Act into law, but Sicko reports that nearly 50 million Americans do not have health insurance. About 18,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance. The system is clearly broken, and politics seems to have been the reason that insurance companies keep a strangle hold on consumers. For example, Sicko reports that there are nearly four times as many lobbyists in Washington D.C. pushing for their clients' agenda as there are members of Congress.
Healthcare in the contemporary United States emerges from a long and sordid history that began in the late 1800s when the fight for universal health care came on the heels of the formation of systems that ranged from rudimentary to comprehensive in various European countries including Germany, Norway, Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands (Palmer, 1999). Most of these programs were formed as “a means of maintaining incomes and buying political allegiance”, as conservative governments, primarily in Britain and Germany, worked to stem the flow of the burgeoning socialist and labor parties (Palmer, 1999). During this same time brought a greater transparency of the experiences of industry workers and the “nightmare” conditions they were enduring
The paper is broken up in to three sections. In section one, we will discuss the problems with the American Healthcare system and we will try and clear up some of the often misrepresented facts about the healthcare problems and solutions to fix them. In section two, we will present some of the solutions being put forward to fix the healthcare system, including plans by both Presidential Candidates
“We will pass reform that lowers cost, promotes choice, and provides coverage that every American can count on. And we will do it this year.” The preceding is a powerful statement from the newly elected President Barak Obama. One of the main aspects of both political campaigns was health care reform. The above quote shows passion and encouragement, but the quotes about health care do not end there. Georgian republican gubernatorial candidate and health care policy maker John Oxendine expressed: “Their proposal would virtually devastate the private healthcare sector in this country along with competition and patient choice, by replacing it with bureaucratic planning and government control. The result of this plan and its one trillion
The latest health care reform has done what few policies manage to do – sicken both republicans and progressive democrats. While we can all agree that a reform of the health care system is sorely needed, we must also acknowledge that “Obamacare” is not the cure-all we so desperately require. Rather, President Obama, like a medieval barber, prescribed a health care reform that treated the symptoms of our flawed system rather than the actual disease. The subsidization of health insurance providers has proven ineffective at providing affordable coverage for all. Certainly one is likely to hear the various incendiary talking points of both the proponents and opponents. Whether it’s the republican candidates blaspheming Obamacare as socialism, or the administration praising the success of health care for all, it is difficult to actually find constructive dialogue. We are purview to many sound bites, but few actual solutions. We have witnessed heated debates, but rarely do we witness intelligent discourse. If beneficial reform is to be crafted and implemented, we must first acknowledge the issues and inconsistencies of the current system and begin to explore alternate methods of providing health care to the American people.
In recent years, health care has been a huge topic in public debates, legislations, and even in deciding who will become the next president. There have been many acts, legislations, and debates on what the country has to do in regards to health care. According to University of Phoenix Read Me First HCS/235 (n.d.), “How health care is financed influences access to health care, how health care is delivered, the quality of health care provided, and its cost”.
U.S. health care reform is currently one of the most heavily discussed topics in health discourse and politics. After former President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform in the mid-1990s, the Bush administration showed no serious efforts at achieving universal health coverage for the millions of uninsured Americans. With Barack Obama as the current U.S. President, health care reform is once again a top priority. President Obama has made a promise to “provide affordable, comprehensive, and portable health coverage for all Americans…” by the end of his first term (Barackobama.com). The heated debate between the two major political parties over health care reform revolves around how to pay for it and more importantly, whether it
Michael Moore’s Film “Sicko” is a documentary that examines the state of America’s health care and how it effects its citizens in comparison to those in other countries. You’d think that Americans would have the beast health care to offer but in hinds sight the complete opposite is true. I will discuss and comment on many of the points presented by Michael Moore in his video documentary. I agree that the state of the United States needs to change. Our insurance companies must change, the treatments of our HEROs must change so that we may one day become like the countries that surround us.
I think Michael Moore’s movie Sicko educates audience on not to take too kindly, not to look too positive on notorious America’s health care system. I think it reveals that America’s health care is market-driven, profit-oriented health insurance and health providers where as in Canada, United Kingdom, Cuba, and France, health care is free. But, I also think that the movie overall looks too much negative aspects of USA health care system and too positive on health care system in other countries, UK, France, Cuba, and Canada. In USA, health care is not basic fundamental right, not social justice. For instance, the film shows audience that a group of September 11 heroes, who are suffering from devastating and debilitating ailments, have been denied medical care or denied treatment by health insurance companies that they require in America. The documentary also reveals the defective, unreliable, cruel America’s health care system that has been so subscribed to and fixated on making huge profits and large sum of money out of the sick and injured patients rather than saving their lives. For example, the movie shows that America insurance process claims not to pay beneficiary’s ailing claims or the medical claims but dismiss them as evidenced by confession of a former employee of an insurance company. This does not only impact uninsured but also insured people who are covered by insurance whether through employer based or self-purchase.
Sicko is a 2007 documentary produced, written and directed by the American filmmaker Michael Moore. The film investigates the United States health cares system, focusing primarily on health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. Moore does not in fact pose questions as to how America should reform its health care however it does suggest many solutions.