June 22, 2007
Michael Moore's Imperfect Diagnosis
The New Republic: "Sicko" Has Its Flaws, But Is Also A Compelling Indictment Of U.S. Health Care
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Play CBS Video Video Moore, "Sicko" In Cannes ShowBuzz RAW: Michael Moore held a news conference at Cannes Film Festival to launch his new project "Sicko," a film that examines U.S. health care services.
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Director Michael Moore appears on the stage at a gala during Toronto International Film Festival, Sept. 8, 2006. His latest film, "Sicko," looks at the U.S. health care industry. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)
The warnings went out in a 2004 company newsletter: Watch out for "a scruffy guy in a baseball cap." The scruffy guy was Michael Moore, and the company was pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, whose executives had gotten wind of Moore's new project: a documentary about the health care system called "Sicko." The executives figured it was only a matter of time before Moore showed up on their doorstep, camera in hand — if he hadn't already. "We have six business centers nationwide," a Glaxo official confided to the Los Angeles Times, "all of which report sightings."
Earlier this month, when I got my first glimpse of "Sicko," I felt similar trepidation, though for rather different reasons. My bias in watching Moore's film is that, in the broad sense, I agree with him. I've been writing about the flaws of the U.S. health care system, and the need for universal health insurance, for nearly a decade now. (And, yes, I recently wrote a book with almost the exact same title as Moore's movie — "Sick" — although I'm pretty sure I thought of it first.) But Moore has not always been the most intellectually rigorous storyteller — or, for liberals, the most useful ally. "Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore's attack on the Bush administration and the Iraq war, may be wildly popular among Bush-haters and the most financially successful documentary ever. But a lot of people think it also ended up helping Bush win reelection, by trading in unsubstantiated conspiracy theories and firing up the Republican base. As Jon Feltheimer, the CEO of Lion's Gate Films, told Vanity Fair, "I've been told a number of times [by Republicans], 'Isn't it great what you've done for the party?'"
As "Sicko" rolled, it did little to allay my fears. I spotted plenty of intellectual dishonesties and arguments without context — enough, surely, to keep right-wing truth squads (and some left-wing ones) busy for weeks. Moore also couldn't help but stick in unrelated jabs about the Bush administration's efforts to fight terrorism and insisted on hyping Cuba's medical system — an awfully poor way to counter the generations-old slander that universal health care is tantamount to "socialized medicine."
Still, by the time the final credits ran, it was hard to get too worked up about all of that. Because, beyond all the grandstanding and political theater, the movie actually made a compelling argument about what's wrong with U.S. health care and how to fix it. "Sicko" got a lot of the little things wrong. But it got most of the big things right.
When Moore was filming "Sicko," he frequently told people that he was filming a comedy about the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance — people who represent the most glaring failure of U.S. health care. And, in fact, the opening sequence of his movie portrays two people in precisely that situation — one of whom is Rick, who accidentally sawed off the tops of two fingers while working at home. With no insurance to pay the bill and limited funds at his disposal, he has to choose whether to have the hospital reattach his middle finger for $60,000 or his ring finger for $12,000. (He chooses the ring finger.)
But, as Moore quickly explains, uninsured Americans aren't the primary subject of his film. Instead, he announces to the backdrop of 1950s music and newsreel footage, he's chosen to focus on the rest of America, the people who do have insurance and the hardship many of them go through anyway. He does so primarily by telling the stories of hapless victims, deftly weaving farce and tragedy. We hear both from a woman who gets stuck with an ambulance bill because she didn't clear the charge with her insurer before losing consciousness during a car accident, and from the widow of Tracy Pierce, who died after his insurer denied a potentially life-saving bone-marrow transplant for his kidney cancer.
Moore isn't aiming for balance: Officials defending the health care industry don't get any airtime. Instead, Moore gives us the views of former insiders turned whistleblowers — like Linda Peeno, former medical director at the HMO Humana. Peeno stopped working there in the late '80s after becoming disgusted with pressure to deny coverage — including for a heart transplant for a man who otherwise might have lived. Moore also introduces viewers to Lee Einer, whose job at a major insurance carrier (Moore doesn't say which) was to pore over insurance applications retroactively, focusing on people with large claims in order to find evidence that they had hidden previous conditions. As Einer explains, it was widely understood that intent to mislead was irrelevant; the companies just wanted excuses to avoid paying bills. (To illustrate what this means in practice, Moore also tells the story of a woman whose carrier pulled coverage after an operation, because on her application she didn't mention a past yeast infection.)
By Jonathan Cohn
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| If you like this article, go to www.tnr.com, which breaks down today's top stories and offers nearly 100 years of news, opinion, and criticism. |
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 96 CommentsDoes that mean I should move to Cuba if that bothers me? No, as a patriotic American it means I should expect our leaders to fix that, and be willing to sacrifice to help make the change. The status quo should bother any caring American.
If you are an American who doesn't care about that, maybe because you don't have a personal issue accessing quality healthcare, than I say you have the problem. It shouldn't be a dem or repub issue, it is just common sense.
Many conservative columnists will just attack the messenger here (Moore), but the message is unchanged, the healthcare delivery system in the USA is terribly and obviously flawed and unless you are cashing in on the current system you should want to change it.
where have this world gone??in terms of improvement every since these misguided bleeding heart liberals had taken charge??where are we in africa??any better??
where is bono and goldof and moore financially since they had taken over??any better??
Then, ask if the same people who handled the Katrina FEMA disaster should handle healthcare. I'd rather take care of my own healthcare or at least have my state take care of this. If I don't like the way my state's doing it, I could move to another state. It's harder to just move out of the country.
Till death do us part or dump them like Newt did his wife when her cancer became his inconvenience.
Meanwhile from the right wing neo con fascist gullet comes forth the mantra
me,me,me,me,me,me,me,me...
Rejoice in some hopefulness in the fact there are people who are successful fighting for the human cause instead of the cause of multinational corporatists who have a vision of oppression instead of a vision of progression for the human condition. Um, that's a little of what comes to mind.
An appropriate title for an appropriate "man"Posted by processor2
Someone call 911 for this poor soul - seems he is having a seizure.
Wait! First make sure he has insurance and "Republican" tattooed on his a$$.
During the last ten years over 1 Billion dollars have been spent by Big Pharma lobbying the American Government. Last year alone Eli Lilly spent 3.7 million lobbying politicians. Any sane and sensible taxpayer should be asking the following questions, 1, are they exerting unlawful infuence 2, are their products so bad they have to pay to get them approved and 3, Just who recieved this money. The latter I believe is the most important. With such enormous sums of money floating around in Washington how can we the public be assured we are getting the best available drugs and that health is being best served.
Moore was right to make his film but he should have gone much deeper.
Courage to speak the truth - and in these days, it's rare.
Keep it coming dude -
Posted by processor2 at 07:43 AM : Jun 23, 2007
Are you trying to say that you think the American health care system is perfect, and therefore Michael Moore is an idiot for wasting his time?
I doubt that statement very seriously. We have a country full of dumb people who are easily fooled and aren't any brighter than one like Bush! Look at Processor 2 he can't even work his computer right! It takes a lot of effort to hit the 'publish' button once and wait!
An appropriate title for an appropriate "man"
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An appropriate title for an appropriate "man"
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An appropriate title for an appropriate "man"
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An appropriate title for an appropriate "man"
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As a person who got laid off by outsourcing to India, and was without health insurance, I think Moore's on the right track, no matter how much bribe money the AMA and the orthopedic surgeons contribute to the neofascists.
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