By Mark David Blum, Esq.

Political reasons drove me to see Michael Moore’s latest endeavour. I cannot but help support him as he tries to bring to the public’s attention the horrors from which we suffer but from which we can find no relief. In the same vein and Roger and Me, Farenheit 911, and Bowling for Columbine, Moore’s newest documentary is another startling mix of truth, revelation, and exposure of the ugly pain in your heart; knowing full well he is telling the truth you do not want to believe.

What is really sicko about ‘Sicko’ is not the film, but how Hoyt Theaters charges $7.00 for a matinee ticket and $17.00 for two sodas and popcorn. No, I kept the money in my pocket where it belongs and went into the theater.

The movie opens as expected; with a quick discussion of life for the uninsured and underinsured in America. Pointing out how fifty million Americans have no health insurance and have to stitch their own wounds, go without medication, and end up maimed or dead without the system giving a damn about you. This was a quick and easy point to make and anybody who has gone even a moment without the safety net of medical coverage.

Like an unexpected hit on the head, Moore shift’s the focus of the film to one of my favorite subjects; the ridiculous nature of insurance. Having written on the subject many times, I will spare you the lecture. With the nuance of a sledgehammer, ‘Sicko’ makes you even more ill at the nature and practice of the insurance industry.

But where Moore really scores in the film is how he focuses not on the weakest or poorest, but draws the camera’s eye and the audience into the life of insured American heroes. Locating several firefighters and rescuers who worked the 9/11 ruins and who now suffer from rescue related ailments, Moore shows how really heartless and cruel we are as a nation to those who serve us the most. Al Qaeda prisoners at Guatanamo Bay get better treatment than our own citizens.

Moore took his cameras around the world; to Canada, France, England, and even Cuba. He showed the reality of “socialized” medicine. From Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan, we here in the United States have been sold a load of lies about failing systems abroad. ‘Sicko’ heals the wounds carved into the body politic over generations of misrepresentations and lies that the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries paid off government officials to continually tell.

Evaluating the entire system; from patient to doctor, the record is clear. America’s health system is a colossal failure. We are dumping and killing and torturing our own citizens in the name of profits for insurance companies. A single payor government system assures that health care will no longer be subject to the ability of one, but rather upon the strength of us all.

I cannot encourage you enough to go see (or later rent) this movie. It is an absolute must see; if for no other reason than to vote with your feet. If Michael can give $12,000.00 to one of his harshest critics to pay for that critic’s wife’s cancer treatment, then each of us can likewise do our share to make a point.

(Post Script: The subject and perspective of Mr. Moore’s film has been a topic about which I have published several essays since June 12th of last year).