Greed Will Be the Death of U.$.

We watched Michael Moore's Sicko yesterday, and his documentary was everything I expected it would be. Not long ago my brother called me saying that he had seen this film, and that he was then seething with frustration. He said that the film caused him to feel ashamed of being an American, and his hope was that if everyone would watch this movie, that viewing it would ignite the revolutionary spark that has long laid dormant in Americans. As you can probably imagine, when I popped in the DVD, I did so excited by the promises of controversial truths. I will admit that Moore has a tendency to sensationalize, and that his flair for the dramatic can often detract from the seriousness of the issue(s) he is attacking, but overall, the film was very well done, and a must-see.

Sicko compares and contrasts the American health care system with the health care systems of Britain, Canada, Cuba, and France; all of which provide universal health care to their citizens, meaning that anyone and everyone in those countries can and do receive free health care regardless of whether they have come down with the common cold, are giving birth, or need to have major reconstructive surgery. It's all free. Sure, these folks pay a higher percentage of their income towards public services, but when the time comes that they actually need help, they receive help.

Here in America the bottom line is as it has always been: about money. The big health insurance corporations thrive on turning people away because the more money that they are forced to pay out on claims, the smaller their profits become, and health care in America is not a social program, it's a business. Former insurance claims investigators have even gone so far as to detail the process, explaining that whenever someone is approved for a large procedure, (i.e. organ transplant), the company brings in what they call special investigators whose job it is to scour your background, your medical history, and in some cases your lifestyle in an attempt to uncover any preexisting conditions, or evidence that they can use to deny you access to the treatment.

Yet, the insurance companies are merely the tip of the iceberg. Big pharmaceuticals, the drug companies (within the United States) have complete control over the cost of their products, and they use this power to rob people blind. Retired couples who have worked hard their entire adult lives are having to sell their homes, and in some cases file bankruptcy due to the increasing costs associated with having to maintain the multiple prescriptions that American doctors are suggesting they take. Some of which are often redundant, and only prescribed to deal with symptoms associated with the habitual ingesting of all the other prescription drugs, which in turn creates even more negative side effects in what many would consider a vicious cycle.

To put this into tangible terms: a prescription strength inhaler cartridge that runs around $200 in the U.S. can be purchased for $6.65 euro in Great Britain, and in Cuba for $3.20 pesos, or roughly, FIVE CENTS.

Of course it is necessary to factor into this equation the nature of the incentives offered to the doctors themselves. In the United States, doctors are encouraged to refuse treatment to a certain percentage of their patients. Now please understand here that I am not indicating this to be true of all American doctors, and there may even be some who are unaware that this takes place behind the scenes, but any doctor who is in private practice, and deals directly with the insurance companies, knows for a fact that they stand to profit more, if they treat less.

In contrast, doctors in G.B. have their incentives structured completely differently by the government (which controls nation's health care system), with the emphasis being placed on the overall health of their patients. For example, the more patients a doctor can get to stop smoking, lose weight, lower their cholesterol, and so on... the more he will be subsidized, and see her/his profits increase. When asked if he was able to get by as a doctor within a system of socialized medicine, one doctor noted that he owned a million dollar home in Greenwich Village. He went on to say that he was quite happy with his current means, and that only those doctors who seek $3 million dollar homes, and 5 fancy automobiles, will find it necessary to practice medicine in the United States.

50 million people within the United States have no health care of any kind. 18,000 of them die annually of treatable causes. Of the 250 million Americans who are insured, many of them struggle to pay the escalating costs of their drugs and treatments. Others, never receive the treatment they need, even though they are insured, because the insurance companies find exploitable loop-holes in their medical histories. We are the most prosperous, wealthy nation on this Earth, yet we do not have universal health care.

In a country well governed poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of. -Confucius

A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members. -Mahatma Ghandi