In Sicko, Micheal Moore look into the American health service, or lack of it, bit I feel that was a typical polemic by him and didn't paint a full picture. It was still entertaining though - a 5 (good for some sound bites and to get you thinking a little, but not much more).
Moore focuses in on how the medical insurance company's are doing harm than good, by refusing people cover, not paying for reasonable claims, and creating huge pressure on doctors to offer less than best advice and services. Political links to the huge medical insurance companies are also shown. He compares this structure with social, government run system like the NHS in the UK, and similar organisations in France, Canada and Cuba. As a stunt, he takes people who need treatment to Cuba where they get the care they require, for free!
However, the whole film is extremely one sided - the NHS is hardly the magical all working system that he glosses over. Through stories he describes some of deplorable actions carried out in the name of the medical insurance companies, but not where does he detail statistics and numbers - I don't know if it was just a few poorly treated people, or if it is endemic. I don't know how it compares to other countries, as interesting as people's stories in those countries were. In the end, it's all entertaining and interesting hype, but missing real substance. Let's hope a substantial documentary is next.
Moore focuses in on how the medical insurance company's are doing harm than good, by refusing people cover, not paying for reasonable claims, and creating huge pressure on doctors to offer less than best advice and services. Political links to the huge medical insurance companies are also shown. He compares this structure with social, government run system like the NHS in the UK, and similar organisations in France, Canada and Cuba. As a stunt, he takes people who need treatment to Cuba where they get the care they require, for free!
However, the whole film is extremely one sided - the NHS is hardly the magical all working system that he glosses over. Through stories he describes some of deplorable actions carried out in the name of the medical insurance companies, but not where does he detail statistics and numbers - I don't know if it was just a few poorly treated people, or if it is endemic. I don't know how it compares to other countries, as interesting as people's stories in those countries were. In the end, it's all entertaining and interesting hype, but missing real substance. Let's hope a substantial documentary is next.
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