Sicko

[TennCAN 1]

Our system is flawed. I work at a public health department and we mainly serve those with medicaid or no insurance. We are literally the only place most of these folks can go for care. Referring for specialty care and diagnostic tests can be extremely difficult. Our patients are often told they have to bring $200 or more to an appointment to see a specialist. Most can't afford it. I don't have to watch a documentary to see how horrific the system can be. I see it everyday and it is discouraging. Our system lacks compassion. Compassion has been exchanged for cash.

[KarenCee 3]

Just wanted to add...not all americans are against criticism. I'm the USC and quite frankly I think Michael Moore has stirred a bloody hornet's nest with his documentaries...one that NEEDS to be stirred. He opens people's eyes, whether they like it or not. This USC is not bothered one bit.

[Nancy and Ramos 0]

Michael Moore is out to make money. You don't see him sharing it with anyone. He doesn't do anything to make the country better. He just likes to report the worse case scenario and scare people. Actually, I've noticed that he doesn't have any proof for a lot of the things he's speculating on. We definitely need to make some big changes. I don't like the health care system either but it is overburdened and taking care of people who have never paid into the system. When a few people put in and everyone takes out it's gonna be crappy.

Michael More has a platform and he useses it well. He has got some results just look at what happened after Bowling for Combine. (think i spelt it wrong) His movies are to make people think. He dosn't always use the right words but he gets his point across just the same.

[misa 2]

The above is exactly the attitude to which I speak....What happened to caring for our fellow man? What happened with taking care of people when they're down? These are PEOPLE for gosh sakes. I don't care who paid what when!

Health care should be universal. It is not only in Canada, but in Great Britian and France to name a few. I would suggest that if BILLIONS weren't spent on military expenses, and money being THROWN to "friends" in the pharmaceutical industry, there would be plenty of money around to offer universal health care in the US.

Healthcare should be a basic human right (along with food and shelter), not who can pay for it. I paid an average of 40% income taxes in Canada and I never CARED if someone paid less (or not at all) into the system than I did.

[misa 2]

Just wanted to add...not all americans are against criticism. I'm the USC and quite frankly I think Michael Moore has stirred a bloody hornet's nest with his documentaries...one that NEEDS to be stirred. He opens people's eyes, whether they like it or not. This USC is not bothered one bit.

Another thumbs up here. My USC husband feels exactly the same way as you do and has plenty of criticism about the U.S.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Well, my husband and I went to see SICKO last week. He is the USC and I am the Canadian. One important consideration, Moore is not looking at the US citizens who don't have health insurance - he is examining the many Americans who DO have health insurance and still pay through the nose - or are denied coverage for basic necessities. It is an eye-opening experience and as someone who does have health insurance in the US, I am very glad that as a Canadian citizen I can return to Canada if my health nose-dives because from the personal experiences I have already had, I do not feel at all safe here in the US medical health-insurance for profit system.

The first half of the movie focuses on individuals WHO DO HAVE health insurance in the US but still cannot afford to pay for the medical treatment they require - treatment like re-attaching amputated fingers, like cancer therapy, like a liver transplant . . conditions that are treatable but who were denied for coverage by their health insurers in spite of paying massive premiums. The second half of the movie examines individuals who have similar conditions and how they are treated in other countries with universal health care . . like Canada, France, England and Cuba. The most heart-wrenching part of the movie for me was the 9/11 rescuers who were denied treatment for the medical conditions they developed directly from their work as rescuers during that tragedy. The medicine one woman uses was $150 per inhaler and she required 2 a month. In Cuba, where they were able to receive effective treatment, the same inhaler cost 5 cents. Those scenes of how these men and woman were received and treated in Cuba spoke volumes and I am sure would make many Americans ashamed of how they had been treated at home.

Having a chronic medical condition myself and having health insurance, I know that my co-pays on a number of my medicines here in the US are actually almost equal to the full purchase price of the same prescriptions in Canada - and the 'benefit' listed on the receipt is often 2 to 3 times more expensive than the prescription was in Canada. I have experienced the medical and hospital system in both countries - and I had a longer wait in emergency (7 hour wait with a 'probable stroke' diagnosis upon arrival) here than I ever did in Canada any time I went to emergency. It also took me a longer time to schedule appointments with my GP and my endocrinologist here than it did in Canada, and I have had much longer waits in the waiting room for any of the various doctors I have seen than I ever had in Canada. I feel well-qualified to speak upon this issue.

One other important part of Moore's film - he addresses the 'myths' of socialized medicine fostered by the US 'government and its pharmaceutical backers' and asks some valid questions about the US system. The movie is NOT anti-American - anything but. It is anti-the "ME FIRST instead of WE FIRST" of the highly profitable mega-health insurance industries that try to milk the biggest benefit at the expense of those who are least able to fight back- those who are in need of immediate medical attention. It finishes with a tone somewhat akin to regret - with all that the US does have going for it, why does it fail so miserably in this one area. It doesn't need to.

This leads

[KarenCee 3]

Out of my meager salary, I pay $224 a month for full health coverage. As a result, we pay $20 copays to primary care drs and $25 to specialists. Some specialists we have to have referrals to, some we don't. As far as meds go, our insurance has "tiers". One med that I take for asthma that I NEED is $50 a month because I am UNDER 17 years of age, and right now I am taking two asthma meds on a daily basis with two more that I use when I'm in distress. Another that my endocrinologist wants me to take for neuropathy (diabetes related) isn't covered at all because it's marketed as a depression med but it's also recently been shown to treat neuropathy in the extremeties. I have neuropathy in my toes (so far) but I cannot afford the meds for it. Now, if I took everything I've been prescribed the last six months or so, my med bill WITH insurance would come to about $200 JUST FOR ME. Then my husband's meds, and my daughter's seizure med. *feels sick* I'm grateful to even have insurance...but it does make me wonder what will happen if something major ever happens...god forbid it does. It took my husband a bit to get used to the way it goes down here when you're sick.

Just ask him what it was like while I was in the hospital a week from a severe asthma attack...neither of us were pleased to say the least. It was a horrible, expensive experience. Without insurance, the bill would have been $17,000 - thank god I do have insurance!!! Yes, I obviously recovered, but I was there far longer than was needed according to my asthma specialist. My opinion is they knew I had good insurance (now that is debatable) and wanted to milk my insurance for all it could legally, to maybe make up the difference for treating those who don't have insurance. Like I said...its just my opinion. One nurse told me on day 2 of my hospital stay that I was going home...it was five days total and no one could tell me why I was still there. I could have done everything they were doing at home - I have the equipment to do so.

To those who are critical of Michael Moore and his "think about it" style movies...think about the situation we're in...and quite possibly millions more. I applaud his criticism.

Edited July 6, 2007 by KarenCee

[Mephys 2]

Just wanted to add...not all americans are against criticism. I'm the USC and quite frankly I think Michael Moore has stirred a bloody hornet's nest with his documentaries...one that NEEDS to be stirred. He opens people's eyes, whether they like it or not. This USC is not bothered one bit.

Ok i had just wrote a long post and somehow it asked me to log in again and it was lost

So what I said is that I didnt mean to generalise to all americans, i should have wrote "some americans"

It was related to my husband. Now I cant remember exactly all that I wrote, but it was that we talked about all this pride to be an american and stuff liek that before I moved to the US, and he didnt seem to be caring too much about it. But then once I moved I started teasing about all the american flags ( i mean every house and every building has one ) and I had started to tell him to get one everytime we were at the store, and he then confessed me he had one before....It doesnt bother me really, I even dressed in blue/white/red for the 4th of July for the kids, its just I found out he was maybe a little more proud than I thought, maybe he just didnt want to scare me in the first place! But anyways, he never saw any of those movies (Fahreneit 9/11, Supersize me, etc) and when I told him I wanted to see the movies with him, he wasnt too crazy about the idea So thats why I think he just might not like the critic too much.

He also told me couple times that I should get used to the idea of living in that system and stop complaning about it ( not talking about the health system only, but all the differences between Canada/USA) Funny thing is when we moved he had a lot of things he didnt need anymore and got some refund at some stores, and I was shocked that even without the bill ( he rarely keeps them for small stuff) and after a long time he could get his money back, because in Quebec if you dont have the bill your pretty mich doomed, and has to be within 30 days of the purchase and you cannot do nothing about it. Then he got mad because one of the store has a policy of 1 refund with no bill per driver license per year and he had already refund a 6$ item few months ago. He couldnt drop it and talked about it all day. So I told him whats wrong with you, consider yourself lucky for most of it because in Quebec he wouldnt even have one chance. He then said it must have been a Canadian giving them tips.....I was oh whatever SO anyways Im getting off subject here

[Emancipation 2]

Just wanted to add...not all americans are against criticism. I'm the USC and quite frankly I think Michael Moore has stirred a bloody hornet's nest with his documentaries...one that NEEDS to be stirred. He opens people's eyes, whether they like it or not. This USC is not bothered one bit.

Ok i had just wrote a long post and somehow it asked me to log in again and it was lost

So what I said is that I didnt mean to generalise to all americans, i should have wrote "some americans"

It was related to my husband. Now I cant remember exactly all that I wrote, but it was that we talked about all this pride to be an american and stuff liek that before I moved to the US, and he didnt seem to be caring too much about it. But then once I moved I started teasing about all the american flags ( i mean every house and every building has one ) and I had started to tell him to get one everytime we were at the store, and he then confessed me he had one before....It doesnt bother me really, I even dressed in blue/white/red for the 4th of July for the kids, its just I found out he was maybe a little more proud than I thought, maybe he just didnt want to scare me in the first place! But anyways, he never saw any of those movies (Fahreneit 9/11, Supersize me, etc) and when I told him I wanted to see the movies with him, he wasnt too crazy about the idea So thats why I think he just might not like the critic too much.

He also told me couple times that I should get used to the idea of living in that system and stop complaning about it ( not talking about the health system only, but all the differences between Canada/USA) Funny thing is when we moved he had a lot of things he didnt need anymore and got some refund at some stores, and I was shocked that even without the bill ( he rarely keeps them for small stuff) and after a long time he could get his money back, because in Quebec if you dont have the bill your pretty mich doomed, and has to be within 30 days of the purchase and you cannot do nothing about it. Then he got mad because one of the store has a policy of 1 refund with no bill per driver license per year and he had already refund a 6$ item few months ago. He couldnt drop it and talked about it all day. So I told him whats wrong with you, consider yourself lucky for most of it because in Quebec he wouldnt even have one chance. He then said it must have been a Canadian giving them tips.....I was oh whatever SO anyways Im getting off subject here

Lol. Memphys... It sounds like we have similiar hubbies My husband is VERY patriotic (spent 7 years in the Navy), and I do a lot of "grumbling" and "complaining" about life here on my end... We see COMPLETELY different on the political spectrum - He calls me his little hippy tree hugging socalist lefty.. I guess we'll always be so far apart, but the one thing we've done is talked a lot about why we feel the way we do. I have heard his rational for the war in Iraq, the capitolistic health care system, how things would be different if the US did things the "Canadian" way. In it.. I guess I see his point. There is a point to the way things are (albeit somewhat broken), and if we're honest things are "broken" in Canada too in some respects.. And I also value his patriotism.. if only Canadians felt 1/2 that patriotism.. we'd have a very different country.

But i totally agree with the above posters that Heath Care is a BASIC human right.. I don't understand thinking any other way. My husband is used to not thinking this way.. He had a HUGE medical bill from the last time his toddler son was hospitalized (the difference from what the hospital charged and the insurance would pay). He's just USED to big bills like that.. he just deals with it. For me it's like a walking timebomb. Perhaps with time this will change but we're out hiking etc, and I'm like - nooooo get away from the edge.. we can't afford for one of us to slip down the rock face and go to the hospital!!

[Reba 2]

There's LOTS of patriotism in Canada. Just because there's no maple leaf hanging off the front of each and every house doesn't mean its not there.

What we have in the US is more nationalism than patriotism

nationalismloyalty and devotion to a nation; especially : a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups

patriotismlove for or devotion to one's country

Back on topic...I've recently been spending quite a bit of time and money in doctor's offices here in the US and I gotta say "I WANNA GO HOME!"

I pay over $300 per month on health insurance, and even still my last doctor visit cost me $100 for co-pay and lab work. I have a auto-immune disease that requires doctor visits and lab work every 6 weeks, plus prescription medication. I'm gonna go broke. That $100 it costs me for doctor visits is more than half my weekly take home pay, its tough to go and buy food after that! And then there's my husband who also has an auto-immune disease that requires monthly visits, plus several different medications (which he hasn't been going and hasn't been taking because we don't have the money for it)...Gods forbid either of us actually gets SICK!

My husband wants to have children here. The thought of that hospital bill alone scares the freakin ###### outta me! Can you imagine? And then add a child to my insurance policy for another $100 a month or so? Bloody rediculous it is.

[~Nini~ 2]

Bee just about freaked out when I told him that my vaccinations and my visit to the doctor were free. It was like telling him about milk in a bag.

[neiks 19]

I can't even comment of the health insurance situation in the US. It scares me beyond belief. Not looking forward to it. Although, we Canadians should feel somewhat lucky b/c if something seriously does go wrong health wise we always have the option of moving back to Canada and getting covered again. May not be the most practical for manybut it is an option.

[KarenCee 3]

But i totally agree with the above posters that Heath Care is a BASIC human right.. I don't understand thinking any other way. My husband is used to not thinking this way.. He had a HUGE medical bill from the last time his toddler son was hospitalized (the difference from what the hospital charged and the insurance would pay). He's just USED to big bills like that.. he just deals with it. For me it's like a walking timebomb. Perhaps with time this will change but we're out hiking etc, and I'm like - nooooo get away from the edge.. we can't afford for one of us to slip down the rock face and go to the hospital!!

How sad is it that some people live their lives around what they can afford or not afford to do, in that we have to think of the "what if something happens, can we afford the medical bill" kind of mentality. Having HUGE medical bills shouldn't be something one is used to. I love to hike too...but right now I know I can't because I risk possibly aggravating my asthma to the point that I'm hospitalised once again. Insurance here in the States is business...they are not in it for the health and wellbeing of their clients. It's like I mentioned to my asthma specialist...you'd think the insurance companies would be willing to pay more on medications to keep people healthy so they WOULDN'T need to be in the hospital! It just makes more sense to stay healthy by being able to afford the meds necessary. But hey, the insurance companies didn't ask me. *sigh*

[KarenCee 3]

My husband wants to have children here. The thought of that hospital bill alone scares the freakin ###### outta me! Can you imagine? And then add a child to my insurance policy for another $100 a month or so? Bloody rediculous it is.

I hear ya Reba...hospitalisation is insanely outrageous, even for something like having a baby! Just guessing here, but a typical pregnancy - no complications and depending on insurance - might have cost somewhere around $10K a few years ago. My last pregnancy (thank god for insurance!) was $27,000 and that was 8 years ago. I did have complications and had to see a specialist, but that part wasn't the major expense. The hospital stay...3 days...was the bulk of that charge. After insurance paid I think the bill (the part I had to pay) was somewhere around $2,000 - $3,000 dollars.

Gawd, I'd hate to even guess what a simple pregnancy would cost nowadays.

[Cassie 8]

I can't even comment of the health insurance situation in the US. It scares me beyond belief. Not looking forward to it. Although, we Canadians should feel somewhat lucky b/c if something seriously does go wrong health wise we always have the option of moving back to Canada and getting covered again. May not be the most practical for manybut it is an option.

When Jerry and I were trying to decide who was going to move where, I told him straight up "I love you, but if you don't have adequate insurance to cover me and my chronic conditions I can't move down there and potentially bankrupt us". I for one would not say Canada's system is perfect, but it makes me sad to say that this issue even had to come up in our discussions.