Sicko = Excellent Propoganda Film
So I saw it last night, if you haven’t seen it, but plan to, don’t read this post.
I really have to hand it to him this time - he is getting way better at writing propaganda (the musical score alone contained selection from Platoon and other classics). The first half-hour or so of the movie contained nothing but close-up shots of people crying/dieing due to the lack of reasonable health care. That being said I thoroughly enjoyed the film.
After the emotional battering, he began an upbeat expose of other countries that do provide social services, how wonderful they lived and how everyone was happy. Enter the problems of socialized medicine
- In computing health care costs, socialized nation separate the expense of research and development from the expense of providing health care in their budgets, so cross cultural comparisons of health care expense on a macro level are not accurate (unless this is taken into account).
- Socialized medical programs require someone else (America) to develop new drugs and techniques. I’m going to leave the 10 page Rant of why that’s an awful idea to Greyson, however, (and I’m looking for actual numbers on this if anyone can point toward a report, please do) America is where the most new medicines and most new medical techniques originate (resulting in part due to the global brain drain of immigrants coming to America, including medical innovators who wish to make it big in health care).
Anyway, any sort of medical program that we strive for in this country ought maintain some level of market functionality.
On a personal level, I am one of those uninsured American. A year and a half ago, while uninsured I broke my back while rock-climbing (luckily a great friend of mine was there). The adrenaline and fear let me walk a third of a mile down rugged terrain to get to the car. One of the worst parts of the whole experience was actually when I made it to the emergency room, I had to stand around and fill out paperwork before they would see me; mind you I was coughing up blood at this point (my heart, liver and other organs shaken severely due to the fall).
- Due to massive holes in the social welfare system, not only did I go into debt (much of the debt was paid for by an emergency federal grant for low income folks - the paperwork was quite difficult to do on pain killers), but I spent all of my savings while recovering because of poorly designed policy. This is how it works,
- Before the accident, I had multiple jobs, but after the accident, I was not eligible for unemployment because I could not work jobs that were offered to me. I guess I could have lied about it, instead I broke my back in early November, I worked on New Years because I was desperate for the money.
- I was unable to get disability (either Medicaid or in the form of payments), because my injury was ’short-term’ meaning that I could expect something of a full recovery in approximately 3 months.
- Food stamps and energy assistance were out of the question, being a white male (I honestly don’t know if race and gender are taken into account) without a dependent, it is very tough to make the case that you are in need.
- Finally, I was unable to get the private care that I had received, paid for via emergency grant, because you must be eligible for social programs to get it, and I was not. Debt + no job = bad credit.
Ironically, one of the calls I had made during my stay at the hospital was to a social worker named Stephanie. She was helpful in guiding me through this process, but her efforts were not enough. My mother is also a Midwife, who works at that hospital, so I did get a great deal of special attention from the folk there, but that did not save me from all of the expense. The private care I received was from a very close friend, but as a Doctor, he did not control the billing dept, so that did not help me out either….
I guess what I am trying to say is that, as bad as I had it, I had alot to be thankful for. I could not imagine trying to negotiate the nightmare of America social policy alone. At that same time I fell through a rather serious crack in the “system”. It is a shame that Politicians do not encounter life as ordinary people experience it; they do not understand policy they are voting on and how it affects people on the ground. Why should I have to fund their incompetent decisions with my “back-breaking” labor?
I’m going to end this tangent now (Personally I don’t like Moore -but I’m thankful that he can get the publicity to foster social dialogue, a blend of market oriented solutions and compassion are need to solve this crisis, the bureaucracy that I dealt with could have helped me if they were allowed to use their judgment instead of a rulebook)…
on July 2nd, 2007 at 3:02 pm
To answer one of your questions, or general statements Andrew, regarding the US as the center of pharamceutical development. I found this passage from a report “Expenditures on research increased from $1.7
billion in 1977 to $26.4 billion in 2002. Much of this increase represented a shift investment from Europe, where increasingly onerous price controls have threatened
investors’ return on capital. This shift is represented in the fact that in the year 2002, 82% of the investment by global pharmaceutical companies was spent in the United States,
versus 18% elsewhere, including Europe.The result for the United States economy is that since 1990 the patent-driven pharmaceutical industry grew twice as fast as the economy at large. And, pharmaceutical companies now employ over 223,000 workers in the United States.” This is from a report that discusses the broader issues of Pharmaceuticals and Patents and can be found here: http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/cgsd/documents/lehman.pdf.
The drive behind innovation here in the US is driven by the fact that we are a market system without price controls on pharamaceuticals, therefore enabling pharamaceutical companies to charge what they want for drugs, fill their coffers, but also, have increased revenues for continued R&D. Add to that the guaranteed protection for developed pharamaceuticals through our patent system and you have the most productive country in the world when it comes to R&D. Those of course who are put at the greatest disadvantage are those in the developing world but that is a different story for a different post.
As for the issue of Universal Healthcare, I am one of those people who believe that we need to have some sort of system that guarantees universal access of all people to health care. I am not saying we should follow the example of the Europeans or the Canadians, who have a bloated system that is often times ineffective, but there hast to be a compromise somewhere between that and the system that we currently have in place. While the Socialized system does not always work the best, it still guarantees that every citizen will have access to health care if they need it and that is something that should be guaranteed to everyone in the USA.
As one of the uninsured I am familiar with what it takes to get basic medical attention. While mine was not nearly as bad as Andrew’s experience, I still felt betrayed at the end. I went to the doctor because I was having ear problems. I normally would have just let it go, but I was supposed to be travelling in a day and didn’t want it lingering over my head. I went to the doctor, paid $150 just to see the doctor. I come to find out I had blocked ears and an ear infection. Ok, I get 2 prescriptions. An antibiotic and ear drops. I figure it can’t be that much. Well, it ended up being over $400 for the medication as well. That’s what credit cards are for I guess. Now, I know this isn’t that much, but I was also unemployed at this time and wasn’t sure when I was going to get employment. If I was someone who got sick regularly, I shudder to think what the costs would be.
I probably haven’t made any sense, or provided compelling arguments, but those are my thoughts on the issue.
on July 2nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
The biggest problem with health care arises from one important simplistic sounding question: “who decides what treatment will be covered?”
In Socialist systems it is the government, in our current system it is usually an HMO, but my ideal vision it would be the patients and doctors involved.
Socialist medicine, so called Universal Health Care, is wrought with coercion. Imagine the divisiveness that would arise from the debate surrounding whether U.S. Insurance had to provide birth control, or abortion. Not to mention the injustice that penalizes people who take care of their bodies, benefits hypochondria, and enables chronic self-abuse.
Our current system is fraught with problems, but the answer does not lie in Canada, or Cuba for that matter… The Barbarian Invasions, is a great film if you want to see some of the faillings of the Canadian system, an Academy Award Winning film (Best Foreign Film, 2003) nonetheless, which means it got the Film Actors Guild seal of approval, it is also quite entertaining which is an added bonus.
I do, however, agree with the suddenly outspoken Tulley in thinking that access to health care should be much more easily attainable. Perhaps the biggest problem with our current system is the built-in protections and bonuses which create a situation in which almost all health care is employer-provided. Some people lose their jobs, sometimes suddenly with absolutely no forewarning… in fact a friend of mine had the opportunity to see the Sicko DC premier and got to talk to all of the 9/11 rescue workers that Moore brought to Cuba with him. All of those people were insured by their employers on 9/10/01, but in the following days lost their jobs for one reason or another and thus lost their insurance. I am another of the ex-PVS uninsured, and that isn’t just a coincidence.
In general, I agree with Andrew’s comments on Moore, but I worry that often times Moore’s antics will overshadow the real importance of the issue and debase or delay the important debate that needs to be occuring.
On a more personal note, I once ran security for an event in Portland which featured Moore as the speaker. A good friend of mine was to introduce him, but once he arrived he rushed right past her and totally cut her off. In his recent Daily Show interview, I began to worry about the guy though, he just doesn’t seem right in the head anymore. And will he finally give up that Spartans fan routine, or at least get a worn in hat so he looks like a real fan… I think the tag was still on the one he was wearing… But I have digressed…
on July 4th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Tulley, that is a great example. Without the option of going into debt in that situation, you could have been in severe trouble. It would take a person making minimum wage, over 66 hours (pre-tax) to come up with $400 - that’s a week an a half of their life. The humanitarian in me thinks that’s ridiculous, but also that can’t be great for worker productivity either.
It’s ironic, that the poorest people are covered by social programs, the wealthiest don’t need it and the middle/lower-middle class is stuck with the doctors bill.
One health care policy I am aware of (for combating diabetes) is called the “Asheville Project”. Basically the city of Asheville - pays 100% for (employees) test strips and other necessities for diabetes. In return, when the person refills their prescription, they do a brief check-up with the pharmacist to ensure that they are monitoring their own blood sugar. As it turns out, the city saves money on this plan by providing no-cost care mandatory check-ups, all while using positive incentives.
Official site
New York Times article
Some random healthcare blogger
on August 11th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
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