Sicko is not a movie about the 50 million Americans walking around without health insurance. Sicko is a movie about the other 250 million of us who have insurance, but are just as well and truly screwed. It’s also about freedom, real freedom, not the empty kind that gets thrown around as a buzzword; the freedom to live your life with the certainty that forces beyond your control won’t take away everything you have and everything you are. We don’t have that kind of freedom here in America, and Moore’s film makes that point by simply talking to real people. They’re your neighbors, your friends, your parents, some of them are even 9/11 heroes. Moore uses his camera to let them tell their stories of insurance company mistreatment and in the process paints a complete picture of a corrupt and fatally flawed system which isn’t just killing people but taking away their dignity and their liberty.
At first, he isn’t telling us anything we don’t already know. Anyone who’s spent any time dealing with insurance companies knows what a mess it is. You pay your premiums and then when you actually need them they go out of their way not to help you. They’re in the business of finding reasons not to spend money, and everyone knows it. What you may not know is just how far they’ll go. Having insurance doesn’t mean you’re protected, and the film covers both ends of the spectrum from people left to die because insurance companies refuse treatment, to people dropped from policies for bogus reasons, to an elderly couple driven to bankruptcy and made homeless by high deductibles. The film leaves no room for anyone to think it won’t happen to them. It will. It happens to everyone, just in varying degrees. When you walk out of Sicko, you’ll do it with the absolute certainty that if you ever encounter serious health trouble, you’re screwed.
55 Comments
doremifaGreat sift! Will pay for "Sicko" at the movie ticket counter and then walk into the theater playing something like "Transformers."
Cronyxsays...Now there's an idea.
FedquipThats a great idea doremifa
HaricotVertdoremifa
It's OK, Michael Moore already said he's fine with people viewing his movie on the internet (pirated or otherwise).
His producers might disagree though, heh.
syncronDefinitely going to see the movie when it is released.
Imagoaminsays...Makes me want to move to Canada or London even more then I did before..
The last bit with the Anti-Michael Moore website guy was gold.
Cronyxsays...That's my exit strategy as well. I've got friends already in The Netherlands and England, and my brother married into Australia. Apparantly, that place is as close to America as you can get outside of America. And by that I mean, all the good stuff but none (or very little) of the bad.
AnimalsForCrackerssays...Wow, I didn't realize Hilary was such a foxy little thang in her younger years! Yes, I said "thang"...that's what Hilary will do to you. She always came off as sorta robotic but now I see the truth... that she's a sexy robot and I can live with it. Moving on, what I took away from SiCKO....<rebuffer to Hilary> Oh yeah, and MARSHMALLOW PEEEEPS!
Edit: This post was not meant to trivialize any of the serious issues addressed. Just feeling incredibly depressed after watching that...It really does make me want to pack up and move and gtfo...but if everyone did that...this country is due for some change already.
grevs"Makes me want to move to Canada or London even more then I did before..
The last bit with the Anti-Michael Moore website guy was gold."
haha that's hilarious because I'm from London, Ontario, Canada... and I live literally 50 feet from where some of the shots were taken in the movie
snaremopI am pissed..
I was gonna post this when it was first on Google, but then they took it down.
IrishmanThis is most eye-opening documentary I have ever seen about the USA. I am utterly amazed that Americans have let the elites take over everything. Why aren't you people kicking in the whitehouse doors?
I don't get it, I really don't, I can't understand how things have been allowed to get so bad. Are people really this dumbed down they just accept this?
As the wonderful Tony Benn says in this film, keep the people frightened and demoralised and they are easily controlled.
I'm truly stunned after watching this, completely floored. And the American news just blatantly lie about how BAD and SCARY universal healthcare is.
America is long overdue its revolution. France is the PERFECT example, and Michael Moore quite rightly highlights this.
This is the finest film Michael Moore has ever made, it will and should SHOCK Americans into shaking off the fear of their government and demanding their country back.
evilspongebobsays...Man oh man...do I feel sorry for the good folks in America. You guys are getting screwed. Sure here in New Zealand health care has it's issues but they're pretty trivial. I can't imagine living in a place that didn't have those basic things and where you get treated so bad.
If you add up the terrible costs that your Corporations/Government (for they seem to be one in the same) have taken from you in the last 50 years - you folks who seem to have so much, actually have very little.
Sorry, I hope things get better for you guys. You just have to get of your complacent butts and force some change.
Viva La Revolution!
siftbotTags changed from "insurance,health,fraud" to "insurance, health, fraud, need, sad, tag" by gold star member James Roe.
HaricotVertAlso, as an aside, there's a few things interesting here I want to point out:
1. As the movie itself shows, privatized healthcare came into existence under Nixon's administration. Thus, this system has existed for decades.
2. Compared to other industrialized nations, our health care system is essentially ass-backwards. This has been true for decades, according to (1).
3. People who were largely oblivious to the problems of the health care system (either because it's "not their problem" or simply have never been a victim of its corruption) now will only begin to rise up and oppose the crappy health care system because it has appeared to them in visual movie form.
4. This makes me wonder how the many other problems of America are going to be fixed, if it takes a mainstream movie speaking out against it to "wake people up," as it were.
We truly are a nation of fools.
ShepppardHahaha, Great movie, i'll definately be going to see it on the big-screen, too.
Need your kids to have better health care? screw lawyers, threaten to use michael moore!
bhyphenlowsays...I'm not a Michael Moore fan, but this did prompt some interesting thoughts. For what it's worth, my wife is Canadian, and all of her extended family lives up there. Things aren't as rosy as Moore makes them out to be. First, they do pay for it, in the form of higher sales tax and gas prices. Be honest-- Americans would whine about that, too. Second, her grandfather, who passed away last year from cancer, frequently waited much longer than he would have waited here in the states for medical care. Care is regularly dependent on where you live-- the metropolitan areas have more availability, but people in small towns struggle to find adequate or timely care. My wife is a nurse here in America, so we know that things are out of shape here, too, but I don't know that socializing health care is the way to go. After seeing how FEMA responded to Katrina, do we really want the government in charge of all health care decisions? Isn't that like a big, government-run HMO?
choggietook how many posts on this thread till someone pointed out a scenario closer to the reality of heath care everywhere in so-called, first world countries???? No fan of Mike Moore here either, as stated before, the bloat calls attention to symptoms of a disease, and offers his signature balm of sarcasm, smug tone, and spin....The solution to pathetic health care anywhere, may be to take the pharmaceutical companies down to ground zero, the insurance rackets as well...i.e., take those money-sucking, vampiric factor out of the equation, give them what they need and not what they feed....the chasm of greed will never be filled....
As far as expatriation goes,.... no real fan of the morons in the US, born and raised here, and so few folks with a shit-lick of sense, and some of the most boring, motivationally deprived, and uni-dimensional num-nuts one would ever care to suffer....getting worse with each new generation....but....what is to be appreciated, enjoyed, and embraced, is the culture, drive, and intelligent souls, that ARE still available in these United States.....that goes for any country....the many, follow the few-Think we'll stay here for a while.....where else can one get the space one needs, to walk out on their porch in their birthday suit, and fire a high-powered rifle off in any direction, without having to worry about, Coppers called, or neighbors hit???....Australia maybe, but who the fuck wants to live on a continent full of frogs and bunnies????? and skin cancer....well, there are the nude beaches and backward toilet drainage.....
Mike Moore, how bout you drop about 90 pounds, by not stuffing your face for a while, then you won't be so thinkin'so hard about the inevitability of you neeeedin' health care????
(He sure knows how to instigate a bitch session...does this guy know who to bitch at yet????.....FUUUCK!)
K0MMIEis the link dead?
theoneinsidersays...No dice with the sift right now. What gives?
viewer_999Only got to see half of the movie, through a different link on google vids. Sicko is definitely a perfect title to the movie; not only because it's about healthcare, but also because it'll make you feel sick.
Everyone in the US needs to see this, by any means.
KrupoHow is this only in 14th place??? Oh, because first place is at 124 and all the other vids are also over 53 right now. Insane.
grspecits dead jim!
KrupoOh nuts - looks like this clip is *dead
No wonder it's not rising in the ranks.
A shame - everyone should see this.
The cashier scene is PRICELESS.
"You can find money to help people." Nice.
@grev - I think I've seen that Tim Horton's when I visited - which street is it on?
@bhyphenlow:
1. Yeah, our gas prices are a few cents higher, but honestly, it's within 10% of American prices, WAY cheaper than the crazy-ass high prices in Europe.
2. Rural Alaska - how much medical service do you get up there, after all? Yeah, our rural areas aren't as strong as urban centres, but we're working on that. In Ontario, for example, they're working on giving incentives, etc., to encourage more rural service/care.
3. Government-run HMO - NOOOOO it's not. We do NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT HMOs are in Canada. Note in the video the "what's a deductible" reaction. We have a series of independent health providing organizations which get government funding. It's not a "Big Brother decides your care" system. The hospitals and governments deal with their funding, but you pick the doctor/clinic you want to get help from.
This is *key* - you have to understand this because I think it's a key point in your opposition to the idea of universal health care.
FEMA is a bad analogy. Being able to choose between all the schools (high schools, colleges, whatever) in your city is a better comparison - that's an excellent way to compare how our health care works. If you get expelled from one school (say, one doctor happens to be a jerk), you go to another one (pick another one).
I'm horribly spoiled since I live in a city, but if I was getting elderly or sick, I'd definitely move closer to major urban centres to avoid the rural problems.
siftbotThe link to this video has been flagged as dead. Fix it within 7 days or it will be discarded (dead called by Gold Star member Krupo)
bhyphenlowsays...Krupo-- good points. I wasn't really comparing Canadian medicine to an HMO, just what I fear it could become in America. I think it's something that could go either way, really. What I can agree with absolutely is that our system needs some work.
KrupoFair enough.
Ideally you/the Americans will take the best of foreign systems and make it better if possible.
Although it's always possible for things to become worse, it's pretty darn bad as it is, eh?
What's really needed is SOME action. Haven't seen much action as a result of other Moore movies, eh? Then again, this movie kind of pre-emptively answers the "what can we do" argument with the example of the gentleman who invoked Moore to get his daughter some proper treatment. Awesome.
antIs this the documentary? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=419182687849538532
bluecliffyes it is.
lmnopppit's umm.. half of the movie
KrupoWell cronyx can still save his vid if he changes the code... get to it!
Cronyxsays...yeah i'm still tryin to find it somewhere else, i got a few days left, keep your panties on
Cronyxsays...*fixed
*live
*notdead
*respawn
*sv_cheats 1
*idkfa
*iddqd
*impulse9
gorillaman*undead
siftbotThe link to this video has been fixed (undead called by Gold Star member gorillaman)
Cronyxsays...Thanks. I didn't know what the command was.
Krupolol & hurray
raven*dead again
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Necronce1*undead
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Cronyxsays...*undead
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ant*dead
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jwrayI should promote and fix this when I get the points
Constitutional_Patriot*promote
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Constitutional_Patriot*dead
Here's the fix:
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eric3579*dead
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