Health Care System: A Documentary Analysis

Imagine your doctor just told you that you will need cataract surgery. No big problem, you think to yourself, It’s only a 45-minute surgery. I’ll be good as new in no time. You then find out that there is an 18-month waiting list to get the surgery. The good news is you don’t need the surgery; the bad news is you’ll be blind if you don't get it. This is just one chilling story told by the actual patient in Stuart Browning and Blaine Greenberg’s documentary on Canada’s healthcare system.

Personally, the points made within the movie were not a surprise and have been problematic in United States healthcare system for over ten years. Without a doubt, healthcare has turned into a business driven model that focuses on the finances

disgusting, but because working in health care I am very aware of the profit driven healthcare system we live in. It does enrage me that we have put profit before saving a human beings life. Everything is about how much money these big companies can make. It is upsetting to see millions of Americans who worked hard their whole life be driven to a place where they can no longer afford to live because of their medical bills. The gentleman who suffered a heart attack in the video had to sell all of his belongings just to pay his hospital bills. We have to do better than that. The fact that an insurance company can deny you coverage based on preexisting health

In the 21st century with many developing countries around the world providing universal healthcare, but efforts in the United States are unsuccessful in implementing health reforms. In the documentary (Frontline) examines the worsening economy and broken healthcare system around the United States. With millions of Americans losing jobs, unemployed, uninsured and leading to bankruptcy, which has taken a toll on peoples lives and the healthcare system. This paper will examine and discuss the care identified in Sick Around America and some of the dilemmas they face in keeping it. As well discussing the major differences between the USA and the Canadian healthcare systems.

All around the globe, in places including Britain, Canada, Cuba, France and many other countries the mere thought of pulling out a credit card and paying for health services in hospital seems ludicrous. This is because these countries all have free universal health care, meaning that the majority of health care cost are covered by the government. In other words it is free! However, this is not the case the United States of America, where healthcare is privately funded and covered by insurance companies. Michael Moore, in his documentary Sicko explores the flawed US health care system comparing it to countries with universal health care and resolves the current system is corrupt and full of injustices. Throughout the film interviews that the audience can empathize with are conducted making the viewer feel certain emotions leading them to believe that the American health insurance companies are full of is corruption. In addition, images of past events that viewers can resonate with stir up strong emotions and plant the seed of how flawed the health industry is. Furthermore, Moore literally casts himself as the lead character and is able to manipulate certain scenes in order to convey his message because he is able to guide the flow of the scene. By using several cinematic techniques such as good casting, relatable images and personable interviews Moore is able to construct his version of the American health industry, leading the viewer to believe

The Michael Moore movie pointed to a myriad of issues relating to the American healthcare system that are both startling and interesting. The movie was produced before the Obama Administration signed the Affordable Care Act into law, but Sicko reports that nearly 50 million Americans do not have health insurance. About 18,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance. The system is clearly broken, and politics seems to have been the reason that insurance companies keep a strangle hold on consumers. For example, Sicko reports that there are nearly four times as many lobbyists in Washington D.C. pushing for their clients' agenda as there are members of Congress.

The film Sicko was indeed a very powerful and educational documentary about the United States Health Care System. There were numerous stories that resonated with me, but if I were to just choose one, it would have to be the story about the 9/11 rescuers who couldn’t afford to receive treatment for their illnesses, which were caused by their heroism on 9/11. When I heard this story, it just made me so upset that our healthcare system could not make an exception to treat the many heroes of 9/11. On the contrary, they were treated better and on top of that for free by another country. Every single day we are losing thousand and thousand of our people simply because they do not have the means to pay for their treatments. In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website states, that there are still over 28 million people in the United States who are uninsured (Cdc.gov, 2017). The American Journal of Public Health published a new study about the number of deaths found annually for those who are uninsured. The study found that nearly 45,000 annual deaths were associated with the lack of health insurance (Cecere, 2009). These numbers are upsurge and something needs to be done to change this.

After watching the documentary Sick Around America, I have to say that it depressed me. I do not believe that everyone has equal access to healthcare in the United States. I believe with the Healthcare Reform things have improved slightly allowing more Americans to have the opportunity to have healthcare; however, there are those families who make slightly more than the cutoff bracket to receive the cheapest premiums through the government and then are forced to buy healthcare that is still too expensive, and if they do not have healthcare they will receive a large penalty. I believe a lot of families in the working and middle class populations will still have difficulty affording healthcare premiums. Also, just because families can pay the

Sicko, a documentary film by Michael Moore, describes the medical issue in which many people who live in the United States have to suffer their sickness due to the high treatment costs. Many people in the U.S. do not have health insurance because they can afford for that. However, not only people that do not have health insurance but also the people who have health insurance struggle for health care coverage when they have an illness. Moreover, compared to other countries such as Canada, England, France and Cuba, American health care system is extreme complicated and extremely expensive. To receive the treatment, patients in the United States have to go through multiple questions and processes, but there is no assurance that they will have the most effective treatment.

Sicko is a documentary about the American Health Care system as seen through the eyes of the filmmaker Michael Moore. It presents the health care system in America as being fragmented and inefficient by using anecdotes to illustrate the plight of the 46 million Americans without health insurance and also to address the wider concerns about the kind of care that the insured get. The film also compares the non-universal and for-profit U.S. system with publicly funded health systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba.

The absence of low income health care benefits was also a policy affecting the families in the documentary. The health care system has been a historically broken system. People often rely on their employers for affordable health care coverage and companies often don’t offer it, or as we witnessed in the documentary, they cut hours to part time because they don’t want to (or in some cases can’t afford to) shell out the money for employee health insurance. Most people who are working minimum wage jobs, especially part time minimum wage jobs, certainly cannot afford high individual or family health insurance premiums, and hence are not maintaining their health. People earning minimum wage are often living in poverty and there is a direct link between poverty and the uninsured.

I think Michael Moore’s movie Sicko educates audience on not to take too kindly, not to look too positive on notorious America’s health care system. I think it reveals that America’s health care is market-driven, profit-oriented health insurance and health providers where as in Canada, United Kingdom, Cuba, and France, health care is free. But, I also think that the movie overall looks too much negative aspects of USA health care system and too positive on health care system in other countries, UK, France, Cuba, and Canada. In USA, health care is not basic fundamental right, not social justice. For instance, the film shows audience that a group of September 11 heroes, who are suffering from devastating and debilitating ailments, have been denied medical care or denied treatment by health insurance companies that they require in America. The documentary also reveals the defective, unreliable, cruel America’s health care system that has been so subscribed to and fixated on making huge profits and large sum of money out of the sick and injured patients rather than saving their lives. For example, the movie shows that America insurance process claims not to pay beneficiary’s ailing claims or the medical claims but dismiss them as evidenced by confession of a former employee of an insurance company. This does not only impact uninsured but also insured people who are covered by insurance whether through employer based or self-purchase.

In conclusion, the film “Sick around the World,” displayed how behind the United States healthcare system really is. I am excited for the new innovations to take place and I know that once the reform actually takes place many more will follow. I believe the United States will end up copying

This movie went around the world to different countries to show the comparisons and differences in healthcare compared to each other and the U.S. The first country that was visited was the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom spends 8.3% of their GDP on healthcare. The citizens pay nothing for premiums, all of it is paid trough taxation. Some services require co-pay, but all young people and all elderly are exempt from drug co-pays. The United Kingdom calls their healthcare system “socialized medicine”; the government provides for and pays for all healthcare. The taxes that Britons pay gets distributed up to different healthcare providers. Since the United Kingdoms’ system is taxed,

Michael Moore depicts the American health care system as one that contains many flaws. He goes on to show different people who have not been able to afford the ridiculous sum of money to perform certain procedures. While scrutinizing the American health care system Michael ventures to Canada, France, Cuba and Great Britain in an attempt to compare health insurance and pharmaceuticals.