Canada, England, France (most of Europe as well, I think), and even Cuba, as hopelessly poor as that country is, have Universal Health Care. There is a belief that anyone who needs medical help should be able to get it - quickly - regardless of income. I was absolutely aghast at the differences between our health care system (if you can call it that), and the UHC system. SiCKO confronts all of the myths, misinformation and outright lies about Universal Health Care and really gives the viewer a strong sense that not only does something need to be done, it needs to be done now. Some of the issues:

Myth: Doctors will work in substandard conditions, be poorly paid and not have enough time to effectively help their patients.
False. Michael Moore went to four different countries and interviewed doctors from each, all of whom praised the UHC system. The hospitals were clean and well equipped with full staff and all the necessary equipment, the doctors were well paid (one in England was making enough to afford a five story home and drive an Audi), and ALL agreed that they actually had more time to devote to their patients and could give them better care. Taking insurance companies and the piles of associated paperwork out of the system allows them to focus only on caring for those who need it (regardless of income) and thus provide better medical care.

Myth: With UHC, hospitals will not be adequately equipped, waiting for care will take forever, and care will be sub-standard.
False. All of the hospitals in the film, even in Cuba, which had the worst overall economy of all of the countries featured, were not only clean but as mentioned previously, fully staffed and equipped. Unlike American hospitals, there was virtually zippo wait time (patients reported that they are usually seen in less than an hour - try to say that about the waiting room of a US hospital, even in the ER you're in for a wait of several hours between arrival and actual rendering of care). Patients reported complete satisfaction with the care they received, and less paperwork and not having to deal with insurance companies makes registering at hospitals and the general recovery process easier. The only information taken is your name and date of birth.

In comparison, the US system of health care is a disaster. If you can't afford health care the overall belief seems to be that you don't deserve it, and people in desperate need of care either don't receive it at all or don't get it to the extent that they need. Insurance companies also make a standard practice of refusing claims for ridiculous reasons (one woman interviewed was refused treatment for cervical cancer because her insurance company said that at age 22 she was too young to have cancer in the first place - in order to save her life she had to go into Canada for care), or refusing to insure people with what they consider to be pre-existing conditions, the list of which is long enough to make you see spots. People are dying and the US has the highest mortality rate of any western developed country because of the hold that insurance companies have on the health care system. People with cancer are being refused care over and over again until they die.

Several people who used to work for major health insurance companies were shown, and each and every one of them had to leave their jobs because they knew they were denying claims that were critical and costing people their lives. Apparently there are bonuses given for people with the highest number of denied claims. It saves the company involved a lot of money, which they then spend lobbying. Lobbying congress has become a very lucrative business. So much so that one of the congressment the HI industry had firmly in pocket retired from the government and now works for one of those HI companies himself, making two million dollars a year. He's getting paid even more to make sure the company and it's shareholders benefit by saving them the millions a year that should be going to help the people who actually pay for the insurance in the first place.

When Hillary Clinton was first appointed to create health care reform, I closed my mind to it immediately. I was both republican and conservative, and that's just what you do, because if the idea comes from a liberal or a democrat it's automatically considered wrong no matter how genuinely useful and helpful said idea might be. I now wish I had been open to it, had been able to give her some support. Reforming health care will take years and I probably couldn't reasonably expect to see any change for a long time, but I'd be willing to do just about anything to spare my children the grief of dealing with the American HI system.

I've dealt with it myself and it's awful. I have sleep apnea, which means I stop breathing in the night at random intervals. As a result I do not rest well and am always tired and can not sleep in the same room with my husband because the snoring that goes with the apnea makes it impossible for him to sleep. I was diagnosed in 1999 after participating in a sleep study at our local hospital. Electrodes were hooked up to me and I was monitored all night long. The technician who monitored me said that he saw several episodes of apnea and I would be greatly helped by a C-Pap machine. The C-Pap regulates breathing, puts an end to snoring and helps the patient by creating overall more restful and recuperative sleep. Since I have been known to doze off while driving (plus other issues due to chronic exhaustion) and the results of my sleep study were reported to the insurance company we figured it was just a matter of submitting the paperwork. We had to depend on the insurance because this machine costs over three thousand dollars. We were expecting Trent and simply could not afford it then, and still can't. The insurance company deemed it unnecessary and refused to cover it, in spite of the study results and the daily struggles I have because I can not get a decent night's sleep. To this day I still do not have one. A compromise was made in which I was supposed to get fitted with an appliance at my dentists's office which would go into my mouth at night and help me breathe better. It's not a C-Pap but any help is better than none, so we set up an appointment then called the insurance company to see how we'd have to file the paperwork. It's always smart to check then check back again because things change so quickly. The dental appliance was refused as well and I still don't have one of those either. It would probably be difficult to sleep with one of those since I got my braces put on but I'm sure I would have adjusted.

There are so many people with worse issues than me who are also refused care because insurance companies don't give a damn about the people who buy their product. They're in the business to make money, not help people. If you die because they refuse to cover the cost of your care the only thing that bothers them is that they now don't have your monthly payment to look forward to.

I'll need to do more research into UHC, but thus far it's looking really good to me. I'd even be willing to pay more taxes to support such a system because everyone will benefit from it. I've been in the position of not having insurance and not knowing how I was going to get the care I needed for my asthma. I'm also currently in the position of having a chronic issue that isn't addressed because it will cost my insurance company too much to actually do what those greedy bastards are taking our money every month to do.

When my aunt died of AIDS she had no health insurance. She was considered uninsurable because her disease was considered a pre-existing condition. In countries with UHC that simply does not happen. Nor is a pregnant woman refused good prenatal care (or any at all) because she does not have medical insurance. If you need treatment, you get it. And you don't have to wait months or years to see a doctor or end up on some painfully long waiting list, that's another myth prepetrated by those who like the current status quo and don't want the system to change.

I need to learn more about UHC. I know I don't have all of the facts yet. But right now it looks like the best possible way to make sure everyone who needs care in this country gets it. I'd love to see health insurance companies become obsolete. If we can't get the care we need, why do we still tolerate the ridiculous costs of it?

Why continue to make the people who refuse our care wealthy when a system exists that is accessible and beneficial to everyone?

I truly wish I had been more open to reform years ago. And I truly hope that the voters in this country will eventually be more open to it as well. Something has got to give. We simply can not go on like this. The cost in quality of life and in life itself is far too high.