Michael Moore. Most people either love him or hate him. But, whether you love him or hate him, or have no opinion about him, his latest documentary, Sicko, strikes a passionate chord with all Americans. Moore makes his point over and over again, using various scenarios inside and outside of the US, that healthcare is a right everywhere, it seems, except in the United States. On a rainy Fourth of July my husband and I grabbed the last two remaining seats in a theatre in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The packed theatre spoke to the gravity of the topic to its viewers. The clapping and cheering of the crowd to a non-responsive movie screen, at the end of the film, represented the passion of nearly everyone in that room about healthcare in the United States. And, as is usually true with any rally, we rally when we are faced with something bad, something negative, something we are unhappy about. Therein, lies the upside of bad things. In this case, the upside of Sicko and the American healthcare system was that it brought people together and will continue to bring people together to share the fight against a common enemy: the unjust, uncaring healthcare system in the United States.
After seeing the movie, the question we should all have is, “now what?” Unlike Al Gore’s Live Earth event, Moore does not leave us with any suggestions for how you and I can make a difference. Al Gore asked us to sign a commitment to a greener earth. He asked each of the over 2 billion viewers to do one thing to help make the earth greener: drive a hybrid vehicle, use corn-based E85 fuel or solar heat. Michael leaves us, in some cases, angrier about US healthcare than when we entered the theatre, but with no suggestions for how we, as individual Americans, can make a difference. Making a difference, isn’t this, after all, the American way? We pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and figure it out. Perhaps, this is just a difference in style between two very different people. Al Gore, who spent his life in politics, knows that the best way to move the government may be to move everyone around it. Michael Moore, on the other hand is there to shock the conscious of the American public, and, hopefully, the government, by showing us what we already know. Both causes are noble. They are both deserving of our attention.
During the movie, we watch an uninsured American woman from Michigan crossing the border into Canada for free care in one of their clinics. We listen to a former member of Parliament discuss the fact that in Britain healthcare is a right for every citizen. The same is true in France where not only is healthcare considered a right, but childcare and help around the house after childbirth, supplied by the government, appear to be a right as well. Our final visit during the movie is to the Cuban healthcare system, where Moore and three 911 rescue workers end up after they are unable to enter Guantanamo Bay. Their original plan was to seek care for some 911 rescue workers at the Guantanamo Bay hospital, where Moore claims, is the only place in the US where you can receive care, free of charge, regardless of whether you are insured. His point in taking the 911 rescue workers to Guantanamo Bay is that the convicted 911 criminals housed there, receive all of the free healthcare they need, while the government refuses to pay for treatment to the three 911 rescue workers (a few among many) because they were not government employees, or something like that.
So you leave the movie angry, distressed, and, if you have any conscious at all, wanting to do something. But what? Write a letter to your congressman? Boycott HMOs? Just like Al Gore’s plan to involve each of us individually, our singular actions will not solve the problem of global warming immediately. But our actions will contribute to awareness, improvement. And, as long as the awareness and improvement continue, fueled by people like Al Gore, we will get closer to a solution to cure the planet in crisis.
Moore’s movie acutely raised our awareness. What the film does not do is tell us what positive contributions we can make individually to make a difference. If we can decrease costs (the money spent on the insured right now), perhaps, we can shift the savings over to the uninsured working class, the folks not already covered by the government’s Medicare or Medicaid programs. Yes, it would be hard to measure, at least initially, but if each of us can do one thing that is likely to result in less use of healthcare resources, it just could work. Three examples of actions we could take include: (1) eating a healthy, balanced diet so that we are less likely to develop hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic conditions related to being overweight or obese. (While he recently lost 40 pounds, Michael Moore himself could still benefit from the balanced diet action). (2) Keeping our own personal medical record to decrease the number of unnecessary tests performed on us. If your physicians have easy access to test results, among other pieces of information in your record, they could treat you more efficiently and the process could be less painful for you. (3) Exercise regularly. The US government recommends that everyone exercise at least one hour a day, 5 days a week. Exercise is good for your mental outlook, reduces stress, and can help prevent or control many ailments such as hypertension and osteoporosis.
A big thank you to Michael Moore for raising our awareness using his medium of communication: film. Whether we like him or not, we are fortunate to have individuals such as Michael Moore who are willing to use their talents to spread a much needed message. And, hopefully, the government will respond in a way that shows that the US does recognize healthcare as an inherent right, not a privilege. But in the meantime, just like our commitment to a green earth, it seems that we all need to make a commitment to a healthier population, one person at a time.
Ruthann Russo, PhD, JD, MPH, RHIT, is a healthcare expert with more than 20 years of experience working in and advising healthcare organizations.
