Michael Moore has taken a lot of heat and praise for his documentary works. This one will be no different. But in SICKO, Mr. Moore has taken the message up a notch. No longer is a political party, specific politician or business leader a major focus. Now the finger of reproach is pointed at all of us – us Americans, that is. Because for seemingly practical and innocuous reasons, we have let the delivery of health care in our country become yet another vehicle of greed, inefficiency and basic lack of common sense.
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I daresay that the average American on the street cannot even begin to fathom the depths to which our “non-system†of health care has reached. And that same American is brainwashed into believing that any approach as rational, economically sane and compassionate as a single payer, universal health care system is ultimately “bad medicine†if not an outright communist plot. (Communist plots are rare these days, so I thought I would start the trend again.)
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To what high level must our national cost of medical care and low level of effectiveness attain before we finally will say, “Stop – there must be a better way!â€
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I don’t know the answer. I’ve supported positive measures, primarily the legislation developed by Sen. Sheila Kuehl in California, SB 840 (see post below); but our notable governor, for reasons only he can know, vetoed the measure when it passed in the state legislature last year and will, no doubt, do so again this year. Placing the issue before the California voters would only mean more wasted dollars – in the multi-millions – that would be spent by the “health planâ€/insurance industry to preserve their grip on the veritable gold mine they continue to run.
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One can only hope that enough intelligent people will see SICKO and take the action necessary to educate our leaders and citizenry in general and get us into the modern world of organized health care delivery for all – a right, not a privilege of working status.