Sicko.
I haven’t seen. I have no desire to see it. I have no need to see it. I honestly don’t think you have enough money to entice me to sit through it without attempting suicide by artificial butter flavoring. One of the nice things about being an American, and likewise being a pompous ass, is that I can make full judgment on something I have very little first hand knowledge of. I know Michael Moore’s penchant for posing his movies as documentaries while including about as many facts as the latest installment of the Harry Potter series (England is real, owls are real, but after that, all bets are off.)
But what Moore has done well is bringing into the light a glaring problem in American society that has gone far too long unnoticed. Wait, scratch that, we’re talking about health care problems.
Healthcare seems to be the hottest of the hot-button issues this election season now that the terrorists have all gotten jobs as fry-cooks at Arby’s or whatever it is they’re doing these days. Apparently there are big problems with health care these days, and some 50 people show up to emergency rooms every hour with AIDS-embossed spears stuck in their kidneys and are stuck waiting an average of 6 hours before entering triage. Sounds like one dilly of a pickle to me.
Let’s try to skirt around the sensationalism and look at the facts.
According to The Health Care In America survey (found here) taken by ABC News/Kaiser Family Foundation/USA Today, “Most Americans are not satisfied with the nation’s health care system.” Startling news, to say the least. The survey found that 80% of Americans are dissatisfied with the cost of health care, along with 54% being disappointed with the quality of care. Also startling. Americans dissatisfied with thing they receive? Unheard of!
But if we look deeper, we see a discrepancy that shines some interesting light on the issue. The Health Care In America survey also found that 88% of those same Americans were satisfied with the cost and coverage of their personal insurance, along with 89% being quite satisfied with the quality of care they received through said insurance.
Par-don? You read right, America. Americans are frustrated with the quality of care in America, and quite upset with the cost of insurance, but when asked about the insurance they personally have, and they quality they’ve received, they’re peachy keen. Americans are very concerned and worried about a system that they feel is treating them just fine.
Continuing with the idea of unaffordable health care, according to the aforementioned survey, one specific group of people reported over 40% having trouble paying medical bills. Wonder which group it was? Americans with income less than $35,000. I don’t know about you, but I’m frankly astonished that people who don’t make very much money would have trouble paying for things which are notoriously expensive. The group with the second most trouble paying for medical bills? College students and those just out of college. Also not very surprising. What was quite surprising, at least I felt, was that only 12% of Americans over the age of 65 reported having difficult paying medical bills. With all that I’ve heard about grandma living on the streets out in the cold and not being able to get the care she so desperately needs, either the sensationalism surrounding these claims is worse than I thought, or grandma is just too proud to tell the Kaiser Family Foundation that she can’t afford Zoloft.
With all this talk, one wonders what the solution to our health care problems might be. And before you can even ask the question you’ll find a democratic campaigner diving through your window to tell you of the wonderous thing called “Universal Health Care” in that magical land just above us that we sometimes call Canada.
You pay your taxes, government jumps in and takes the reins, everyone gets healthy, and Mexicans, Blacks, Asians and Whites alike stand outside a hospital in their Sunday clothes posing and looking chipper for a photo-op. Sounds like heaven, right? Actually, it sounds like a badly written episode of Grey’s Anatomy to me, but that’s beside the point.
Even if we ignore all the real reasons Universal Health Care would be a colossal failure (long lines, waiting lists, lower quality of care, less incentive for doctors to be innovative, less incentive for citizens to become doctors, lower pay, fewer medical discoveries, fewer new techniques and medications, my mother’s job at Aetna becoming redundant) we can see that a good chunk of Americans don’t even want Universal Health Care once it actually starts to cost them something.
If we look at the same survey we’ve been talking from this entire time, 65% of Americans who originally gave their support for a Universal Health Care system, would no longer support it if it meant they would have to pay higher premiums or higher taxes. 67% would beg for their HMO’s back if Universal Health Care meant there would be waiting lists for non-emergency treatments, 72% if it would limit their choice of doctors. And an astonishing 82% would go running to Aetna for a PPO if Universal Health Care meant that some treatments that are currently covered in their insurance would no longer be covered under a Universal Health Care system.
Yup, that’s right. Universal Health Care is the greatest idea in the world and should be implemented immediately…as long as I don’t have to sacrifice anything for it. So much for the party that speaks for the unspoken voices.
Alright, I know this didn’t really cover all the talking points in what you wrote, Aerin. But I think I hit on some of the topics that you mentioned, and did my best to keep my Moore-bashing to the first section.
January 17, 2008
January 16, 2008
I like to think it's just got a touch of the flu.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56621
Sicko.
Moore skewed his data. He always does. It's how he makes his point so pungant. It's probably what helps him win awards. This time around, he claims there are "nearly 50 million" uninsured Americans. Other research says it's more like 43 to 44 million. A small chunk of that number can afford it and simply choose not to have it. The "it'll never happen to me" motto. A chunk includes the illegal immigrants. A smaller chunk includes criminals.
While Moore tends to over do things and get behind a cause, likely without sitting down to *really* think about what it means, I'm glad he made Sicko. A lot of his information isn't factual. Some of it is. The most important parts are. The parts where American citizens who are in trouble with their health can't afford treatments necessary to live a bareable life. Or the part where someone (like me, who is two years out of college and couldn't find a job in her home town area) can't afford to pay for health care. (And come to find out, even if I had applied for unemployment benefits, I would have gotten around $80 a week. Not enough. Good thing my parents are my land lords.) That kind of stuff raises some issues.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do not think that Universal Health Care is the answer. Not by any means. The waiting lists, the lower incentive for doctors, the chalk-full emergency rooms.
I do, however, think we need to take another route than the one we're on. I think America could come up with something uniquely us. What works for other countries will not work for our country. We're a completely different animal. That's like saying whatever tools used to treat an elephant with a tumor will work on a field mouse. Not gonna happen.
Maybe we could create a low-priced basic "this is what's covered" health care plan that every company must carry. This way even lower income citizens could afford it, and they would all be completely informed about what was and wasn't covered.
Maybe we could make it illegal for persons under a certain income level not to have health insurance. Just like it's illegal to drive an uninsured car. Make it illegal to not take the health insurance your work place offers if they offer insurance.
Finally, I want to touch on something else Mr. Elder mentioned. Criminals and illegal aliens getting health care.
Criminals: I think they should. If they're not slated for the death penalty, there's no reason we should drive them that way. There are plenty of ways to die in jail that have little to do with becoming ill. I do, however, think that the health care plan they're offered should be specific about what it covers, and it shouldn't cater to a criminals every sniffle.
Aliens: They don't need health care, they have UFO's 'n' shit! Wait...what? Oh, right. I think that unless it is an emergency and there is no time to go back to your own country for care and/or gain citizenship in this country, illegals should not be covered. While I'm a firm believer that the loss of a human life is a sad thing, no matter who lived it, I'd prefer the care we work hard to provide go to the legal citizens of our country. If it's a life or death situation, by all means, treat the person. Charge them the insane emergency room fees. But otherwise, if they choose to be here illegally, they should have to fend for themselves.
I think that's all I had. I may re-read this and edit parts of it. You can't stop me, you're not my real Dad!!
Uh... annnywho. Andy, here's your task. Reply to this while doing your best to keep your hatred for Michael Moore at bay. Try to stick to responding to the article and what I wrote. :)
<3
Sicko.
Moore skewed his data. He always does. It's how he makes his point so pungant. It's probably what helps him win awards. This time around, he claims there are "nearly 50 million" uninsured Americans. Other research says it's more like 43 to 44 million. A small chunk of that number can afford it and simply choose not to have it. The "it'll never happen to me" motto. A chunk includes the illegal immigrants. A smaller chunk includes criminals.
While Moore tends to over do things and get behind a cause, likely without sitting down to *really* think about what it means, I'm glad he made Sicko. A lot of his information isn't factual. Some of it is. The most important parts are. The parts where American citizens who are in trouble with their health can't afford treatments necessary to live a bareable life. Or the part where someone (like me, who is two years out of college and couldn't find a job in her home town area) can't afford to pay for health care. (And come to find out, even if I had applied for unemployment benefits, I would have gotten around $80 a week. Not enough. Good thing my parents are my land lords.) That kind of stuff raises some issues.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do not think that Universal Health Care is the answer. Not by any means. The waiting lists, the lower incentive for doctors, the chalk-full emergency rooms.
I do, however, think we need to take another route than the one we're on. I think America could come up with something uniquely us. What works for other countries will not work for our country. We're a completely different animal. That's like saying whatever tools used to treat an elephant with a tumor will work on a field mouse. Not gonna happen.
Maybe we could create a low-priced basic "this is what's covered" health care plan that every company must carry. This way even lower income citizens could afford it, and they would all be completely informed about what was and wasn't covered.
Maybe we could make it illegal for persons under a certain income level not to have health insurance. Just like it's illegal to drive an uninsured car. Make it illegal to not take the health insurance your work place offers if they offer insurance.
Finally, I want to touch on something else Mr. Elder mentioned. Criminals and illegal aliens getting health care.
Criminals: I think they should. If they're not slated for the death penalty, there's no reason we should drive them that way. There are plenty of ways to die in jail that have little to do with becoming ill. I do, however, think that the health care plan they're offered should be specific about what it covers, and it shouldn't cater to a criminals every sniffle.
Aliens: They don't need health care, they have UFO's 'n' shit! Wait...what? Oh, right. I think that unless it is an emergency and there is no time to go back to your own country for care and/or gain citizenship in this country, illegals should not be covered. While I'm a firm believer that the loss of a human life is a sad thing, no matter who lived it, I'd prefer the care we work hard to provide go to the legal citizens of our country. If it's a life or death situation, by all means, treat the person. Charge them the insane emergency room fees. But otherwise, if they choose to be here illegally, they should have to fend for themselves.
I think that's all I had. I may re-read this and edit parts of it. You can't stop me, you're not my real Dad!!
Uh... annnywho. Andy, here's your task. Reply to this while doing your best to keep your hatred for Michael Moore at bay. Try to stick to responding to the article and what I wrote. :)
<3
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
