Sicko

A few weeks ago, I saw Michael Moore's new film, Sicko. It was definitely interesting, although what I had most heard about the film is that it was hilarious, and I didn't really find that to be the case. Disturbing is more like it. Now, Canadian Bacon was a hilarious Michael Moore movie.

Mountie: "No, the capital of Canada is Ottawa."
John Candy: "Ottawa?? How stupid do you think we are?? Come on guys, let's go to the capital...Toronto!" I miss John Candy.

Canadian Bacon actually ties into Sicko quite well because it exemplifies Moore's fondness of Canada. I wish his version of Canada were true! No garbage on the streets, no crime, a whole lot of polite people...and, of course, a fantastic health care system. In the movie Sicko, he portrays the average wait time at an Ontario hospital at around 20 minutes...that was the funniest part of the movie, in my opinion. I don't know who he interviewed, and which hospital he went to, but that certainly has not been my experience. I once went with a friend to the hospital and we waited a total of three hours - while she was having an asthma attack. If that's not an emergency, I'm not sure what is. I also remember it being impossible to find a family doctor in Ontario, because most of them couldn't take in new patients.

When I finally found a doctor, he had to quit his practice 6 months later because, as he told me, "he just didn't get paid enough by the government." The other I had seen previous to this one would see patients for maybe about 5 minutes, and she saw hundreds of them a day. So although I appreciate Michael Moore making Canada look good, and I agree with all the criticisms of the American health care system, his picture of Canada is definitely a bit glossy.

Now, he says that in polls, Canadians always vote to keep the universal health care system, and this is true. This is mainly because the universal health care system is at the very least fair - we're all in the same boat, even if it is a sinking one. Although that's not entirely true, for you're at a definite advantage being in an urban area in Canada as opposed to like, northern Ontario, where you may need to be airlifted to get medical care, overall, the universal health care system is definitely more fair than one based on insurance companies. In my opinion, if you're poor, or near poor, you are definitely better off in Canada. If you're in the middle class, it really depends. If you're in the upper middle class and above, you're way better off in the States, because you can pay for better care.

One thing that I would've liked to see more discussion of in Sicko is that of the differences of a two-tier system as opposed to the universal health care system. For instance, in some countries, there is universal health care for everyone, but you can "pay up" to get better treatment if you have the money. The Canadian system is not like this - you cannot pay up and everyone gets the same coverage - which makes the system more fair than a two tier system. However, it also makes Canadians who live near the border cross into the U.S to get MRIs, because if you had the money, who wouldn't pay to not have to wait 11 months to find out if you were sick or not? I wonder if the British and French systems are two-tier systems, or if they're just like the Canadian system - that was one thing I would've liked to see covered.

Sicko totally made me want to move to England, since its health care system was portrayed in such a positive way - I hope that that's true. One issue I have heard of the British system, and I don't know to which accuracy, is that certain people have priority in the system over others. Therefore, if you're older, you'll be at a disadvantage in terms of care than if you're younger, because the young are more "valuable" in that sense. Not sure if this is true, though.

What also confused me in terms of the movie is the part where the 9/11 workers go to Cuba with Moore, where they get fantastic health care. Perhaps the care there is fantastic, but in most universal health care systems, you need to be a citizen or at least resident of that country to have access to that health care - or you need to pay (the rationale being, of course, that if you don't pay taxes in that country, you shouldn't have access to the benefits). In the movie, they just showed up and were taken care of, which didn't ring true to me, even if their health care is great. And Moore also implied that in Canada, you can just show up and get care - which isn't true. You need to show them your OHIP card when you go anywhere to get medical treatment - if you don't have it, they will charge you. Of course, most people in Ontario would have an OHIP card anyway, but I doubt an American could like, cross the border and automatically access the Canadian health care system.

Another issue which was not mentioned was that of mental illness. Although people have been fighting for mental health coverage from OHIP for years, this has yet to really happen in any substantial way. So, you do have free (well, taxed) health care in Ontario, unless of course, your illness is mental instead of physical. Then it's more complicated.

One thing which really rang true for me in Sicko is, of course, the unfairness of the American health care system. The outrageousness of the insurance companies, their attempts at not paying you anything at all costs, their ridiculous pre-existing conditions clause, and how they generally screw people over. That part of the movie was fantastic, and hard to deny - who hasn't heard an insurance company horror story? It's outrageous how many people have no health care in this country. I'm lucky enough to have health care, but that's only because I'm a student. I've tried to get health care in the U.S. without being a student - but was denied by all insurance companies, because of my "pre existing" conditions. If I were not a student, I know I wouldn't have access to health care in this country, and that frightens me. Even on my student plan, they try to kick me out every year by claming that I didn't have continuing coverage for my "pre existing" condition - every year I have to fight them to get reinstated.

All in all, I liked the movie, because despite its romanticizing of other countries, it does raise awareness of the pitfalls of the American health care system as it is today. Despite my less-than-rosy experience with the Canadian universal health care system, I would still vote to keep it, like most Canadians would. Because despite its problems, at least everyone has insurance. And although the quality of health care might, depending on where you go, be lower than in the U.S. , at least you don't have to worry about losing your house to pay for your medical bills. If you have a minor problem, you can go to a walk-in clinic and get treated pretty easily, even if, in my case, you are misdiagnosed with ringworm (to the doctor's credit, it did look a lot like ringworm, and I do have a cat).
I wish you all a very healthy day.