Sick Sick America
Summer Jenkins
Yuka Polovina
Amst 211
Summer Jenkins
Yuka Polovina
Amst 211
Sick Sick America
Michael Moore’s film Sicko is about America’s health care system. The film mainly focuses on middle class Americans that are insured but also shows some incidents with uninsured people. Moore’s main argument is that America has a corrupt health care system and for most there is virtually no way for you to be protected, even if you do have insurance.
There are many interviews throughout the film that provide good evidence to support Moore’s claim. For example, he speaks to a woman named Donnel who is insured by Kaiser Permanente. Her 18-month old daughter develops a fever of 104 on night and is taken to the nearest hospital where her HMO is checked and Kaiser will not cover the antibiotics and tests necessary to treat her. she is told that she must take her daughter to an in-network Kaiser owned hospital. Her daughters conditons worsen and she ends up having a seiser. Dawn begs the doctors to ignore Kaiser and treat her daughter. They refuse and escort her out of the hospital. By the time her daughter makes it to Kaiser it is too late. This example is heartbreaking and maddening. There was a little girl’s life at risk but the insurance company had to make things difficult to the point that she didn’t have a chance to survive. Tear jerking testimonials like this make the argument very strong and just go to show that our health is not the first priority of insurance companies. He also speaks to Linda a medical reviewer for Humana who has left her job because she did not agree with the business being done. She is first told she has to have a 10% denial rate but then discovers the doctor with the highest percent of denials will get a bonus. This is evidence that that the “best” medical director is supposedly one who can save their company money. Money seems to be the number one priority for insurance companies in America and people are losing their lives because
Yuka Polovina
Amst 211
Summer Jenkins
Yuka Polovina
Amst 211
Sick Sick America
Michael Moore’s film Sicko is about America’s health care system. The film mainly focuses on middle class Americans that are insured but also shows some incidents with uninsured people. Moore’s main argument is that America has a corrupt health care system and for most there is virtually no way for you to be protected, even if you do have insurance.
There are many interviews throughout the film that provide good evidence to support Moore’s claim. For example, he speaks to a woman named Donnel who is insured by Kaiser Permanente. Her 18-month old daughter develops a fever of 104 on night and is taken to the nearest hospital where her HMO is checked and Kaiser will not cover the antibiotics and tests necessary to treat her. she is told that she must take her daughter to an in-network Kaiser owned hospital. Her daughters conditons worsen and she ends up having a seiser. Dawn begs the doctors to ignore Kaiser and treat her daughter. They refuse and escort her out of the hospital. By the time her daughter makes it to Kaiser it is too late. This example is heartbreaking and maddening. There was a little girl’s life at risk but the insurance company had to make things difficult to the point that she didn’t have a chance to survive. Tear jerking testimonials like this make the argument very strong and just go to show that our health is not the first priority of insurance companies. He also speaks to Linda a medical reviewer for Humana who has left her job because she did not agree with the business being done. She is first told she has to have a 10% denial rate but then discovers the doctor with the highest percent of denials will get a bonus. This is evidence that that the “best” medical director is supposedly one who can save their company money. Money seems to be the number one priority for insurance companies in America and people are losing their lives because