« Feeling a Little SiCKO »

Because of other life obligations, it took me 10 days to get my copy of the newly released Michael Moore film, Sicko. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been thinking about it for the whole 10 days, it was released to DVD on Nov 6th, but scheduling and chickadees and life made it difficult to rake together the time needed to go out and actually buy it, and then dedicate the 4 hours needed to watch it. No - it’s not really 4 hours long, it’s only about 2 - but then there are another 2 hours of extra features, plus, we had to pause that movie 7 times to talk about things and replay bits that were significant.

Wow.

I have never been so thrilled to live in Canada, to have the health care and the health benefits I have.  To know that if I’m sick, and a doctor recommends/decides I need treatment, that there isn’t a corporate body arbitrating that treatment. I thought that if you had health insurance in the US, that you were safe. However, SiCKO reveals that the US healthcare system is actually run by the insurance companies. It’s the insurance companies that accept or reject the medical treatment that you need when you are unwell. Since everything is for-profit, the real goal of the insurane companies is to deliver a profit to shareholders. The only way to deliver that profit is to deny treatment, and save money. Aie!

Don’t let anyone talk you into a for-profit healthcare system. Some call it *privatized*…. some call it privately funded. Don’t do it!

Throughout the whole film it was one tense scene after tense scene. The continuous thoughts of both the Wiz and I were ” Ohmygod, do we have enough health insurance”? Only to have to remind ourselves continuously that as Canadians, we are covered. Completely covered.

There was a time when I thought it would have made sense to go with a two tiered healthcare system in Canada, but now, after watching SiCKO, I’ve had to review and rethink that direction - Universal healthcare is really the only option for a country to undertake. Healtcare cannot possibly be about money, it cannot be a deciding factor between the haves and the have-nots. Full stop. It’s table steaks for progressive, civic democracies. It’s table steaks for any country. For all the griping I’ve done about the Canadian medical community and the lack of technological advancements (compared to the privatized dental indistry) I’m thankful for what we’ve got, and for the fact that we don’t need to worry about a significant illness rendering us homeless.