As promised, I spent a few of my precious weekend hours watching Michael Moore’s new documentary expose (Wikipedia) on America’s health care system.

I must preface my thoughts by stating that I have not seen any of Mr. Moore’s prior films, nor am I an expert on the complex issues currently surrounding the American health care system. I also do not claim any political pre-disposition to Mr. Moore, his films, or his viewpoints.

That said, I did enjoy Sicko.

Moore carefully crafts his depiction of the problem – the commercialized health care industry is far more concerned about making a profit than providing care for people. The film begins with several emotional accounts of Americans too poor (or too unhealthy) to obtain health insurance. After providing brief glimpses into the problems faced by the uninsured populace, the film moves on to examine he difficulties faced by those who actually are insured, such as denied claims and excruciating amounts of bureaucracy – sometimes resulting the (possibly preventable) death of a patient.

After investigating the woes of our system, Moore moves the focus of his investigation to the health care systems in Canada, France, and Great Britain. Each of these countries have universal health care systems which provide “free” care and “cheap” drugs to everyone. In some instances, these governments even provide a government maid to assist new mothers with baby-sitting and household chores! After interviewing several people in each country and establishing just how miserable our system is, Moore returns to America.

Upon his return, Moore interviews a group of 9/11 rescue workers who have had medical problems stemming from their duties at ground zero, but unable to get assistance from the government. He then attempts to take several of these people to Guantanamo Bay for medical treatment (where all prisoners receive “free health care”). After this attempt fails, Moore takes the group to Havana where they receive free medical attention from the doctors there, presumably the exact same treatment that any Cuban citizen would expect.

While the movie is very one sided, I find it worth watching – if anything, Sicko will motivate you to learn more about the situation and possibly open the door to change. Even if the solutions proposed in the movie aren’t the best ones, its better to become informed about a situation then to simply let things be. While each system has its own share of problems, perhaps we aren’t doing things the most effective way. And even if you completely disagree with the views, Sicko is funny to watch!

I recommend seeing this movie. If there’s no showings near you, you can still watch via the power of the internet. A “screener” was released on several peer-to-peer networks, and is of excellent quality. If you don’t have any serious qualms about “questionable” acquirement, head over to thepiratebay.org, search for “sicko” and snag a copy for yourself. If you need further information (on bittorrent), read this. I’d recommend uTorrent for downloading.

After you watch the film, I’d love to hear your opinions – feel free to leave a comment!

PS. I don’t condone illegal activities. No not at all, not even a little bit. Okay? Of course, they’ve never actually proven that file sharing is illegal in a court of law, so…