"SiCKO"

It was my privilege to see the new film "SiCKO" by Michael Moore Monday evening. I highly recommend this important and moving film. The film, which contains the stories of several worthy but desperate Americans as they seek proper health care, is already something of a sensation. The pundits and public relations machine has already been deployed to counter the effects of this film.

As you will see, Michael Moore quite brilliantly juxtaposes the U.S. health care system with other systems in other countries. And the picture is not pretty: America is now 37th in the world, says Moore in the film, in the quality of its health care, ranking just above Slovenia. Michael Moore essentially says that the profit motive has no place in medicine. I have never heard this stated so clearly in film before now and I whole-heartedly agree!

Moore's film is full of heart. The editing and use of music and sound are wonderful. The only thing missing is a how-to list for those who want to do something, a la the ending of An Inconvenient Truth. As time permits I will try to offer some suggestions here. One thing to be done is to study up on the history of corporations as given by groups such as The Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy and Reclaim Democracy. Both can be found on the world-wide web. This history shows how a certain motive of greed really got rolling in this country in the nineteenth century and how we are victims of this motive today, including in the area of health care.