Sicko Movie Analysis
Lindell Edwards
SOCI 4330_6B
Chang
July 19, 2013
Sicko
According to this film, the United States medical system seems to look out for the business itself versus the American people. The United States medical system focuses more on the reasons to reject a person and save money rather than to save their reputation and keep the business coming. The U.S. medical system does extensive background checks and many different things could be the reasons that you cannot get the help you need. The biggest problem I see is not so much as the amount the health insurance costs but moreover the coverage offered or received.
The limitations that are put on these policies are not good and there should be some kind of compromise involved; like …show more content…
how that condition was obtained. The pre-existing conditions are a large area of concern along with what the companies will or will not cover. The fact that some conditions are things that some people cannot control and that are passed through by way of hereditary is horrible. It is almost like saying a person that obtained HIV by way of blood transfusions from the hospital should be worried because if a serious problem occurred then it would be possible for the insurance company to deny a possible needed surgery because of having HIV, even though it was the medical system that gave them that disease. President Obama’s concern was that every American was able to obtain health insurance by any means or pay a fine.
He felt this to be necessary in order to fix the small problems within the healthcare system that needed to be addressed. He thought this was a way for insurance companies to no longer turn people away due to their medical conditions and make the pre-existing medical conditions acceptable. It is basically still the government controlling the healthcare system completely. He also made available for some states to be able to extend their policies for state insurance to some that are considered low income families. I support what Obama is fighting for simply because no one should be denied any kind of health coverage. This film shows many instances where there were people with cancer and they were absolutely covered but the insurance acted as if they were the doctors and made the decision to go against the doctor’s advice and say they were too young or that the problem was not serious enough for them to pay for it; which in turn left them either seeking other options or …show more content…
dead. President Obama seems to be looking out for the better interest in the American people. The insurance companies are getting away with denying claims and sending people away or giving them the run around while also refusing coverage. The ones that are covered, are they really covered? No they are not because the insurance companies have the right to deny a claim for any reason if they choose to whether it makes sense to the insured or not. Obama seems to see what most of those denied claimers see, and that’s a waste of money. These insurance companies should not have a leg to stand on when it comes to denying a claim because of a pre-existing condition especially if that condition was initially stated and only looked at when they had to possibly pay out money. The monies that people put into their monthly premiums should more than enough to cover the small things and some big things that may happen unexpectedly. In my opinion, Canada, England, France, and Cuba are the places to be if only the health care system was to be considered. Moore made extremely valid points and had shown proof that in many other countries there are no co-pays, premiums, deductibles, or any medical fees for that matter. According to Balanced Politics our government is not smart or strong enough to be able to handle a universal health care system. There was not much information that supports the universal health system other than those that need the coverage. There was noone of authority that agrees this is a working system for the United States. The interested thing that a lot of people are not keeping in mind is that although we have to pay for our health care versus what you see like in Canada, our cost of living is much cheaper. The taxes from here to there are completely different and not as expensive. Also the pay the doctors receive are about as much as what the doctors here receive. Another interesting fact I found was in the film Moore spoke to a doctor in England that live very well and his pay was not based on what Americans would consider to be normal pay like hourly or salary no matter what as long as they went to work and did their expected jobs. The better they made the patients and the better decisions the patients made the more the doctor was paid.
For instance, if the doctor was able to get one of his patients to stop smoking permanently then that would mean a pay increase for him. The cost of living is much higher in those countries. In England, what we would possibly consider to be a $180,00 home is approximately a million dollar home. That would be down right outrageous to most Americans expecially the southerners. The fact is because they have that free universal health care system setup, the taxes makes up for the others costs that we pay for. In the research that Michael Moore was doing to learn more about the health care system of the named countries above, he also came across the information that no person had to have an approval or go to a specific kind of doctor to be able to get the help they were seeking.
Although I think our health care system need as much help as possible, I do not think the Uniterd States would be able to sustain such a change with health care.
I think the difference in the way we as Americans live is the main and true reason as to why this cannot happen. I also believe that although this sounds good, there is a downfall to it all and one of the biggest that I see with the free universal health care system is people protecting themselves. I believe that as long as people know they can walk into a hospital and get the care they need without paying or signing something that will make them careless. Some may began to think since they can get the help they need at any given time, why protect myself from anything. That is almost like a teenage girl learning sex and gets pregnant, but she knows she can just simply go to get an abortion at no cost. How is it possible for people to learn lessons from mistakes made through health with health care systems such as
this? I personally have not had to deal with any kind of denials for claims due to the health care system, but there was a death in my family a few years ago that could have been due to denial in coverage but it is possible that death was inevitable for her. My aunt was very ill and was issued county insurance. At the time she was given the insurance, the illness had not yet taken over and she felt like everything with them was great. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and as she continued treatment for the cancer she was better and in remission. She was basically back to normal in a short period of time. She only had to pay $5 dollars for visits to the doctors office as well as for medication and if she needed a ride, they would also provide that service for her as well. Eventually she went to the doctor for one of her usual follow-ups about 3 years of being in remission and they did blood work that later led to more tests and the final was her cancer returned in her liver and breast. It was not too aggressive but it was there and it was treatable with surgery and chemotherapy again, which she was willing to go through. She was given about 6 months to a year to live if she did nothing but they felt very confident about the plan they had come up with. She was immediately put at the head of the transplant list for a liver and her new treatments began.
A week after treatment she was given more blood tests and they found that she had Hepatitis A, B, and C. This new found information was sent to the coverage department and they took her name off the transplant list and stopped her treatment. They decided although that treatment and transplant could save her life and give her more years to live, that she didn’t need it and it would be better fit for someone else that was younger and that would have disclosed that information in the beginning. Well the problem with that was she went from one hospital to another and she did not have to fill out anything she figured everything just transferred over and when she got the insurance there was nowhere on the county forms that asks for such information that she could remember she said it was just a basic form.
After going through all of the trials and tribulations with the hospital and insurance companies, it was either keep taking her to emergency rooms to be treated for a few days and then get sent home or just take her home and enjoy what we could with her. We deciced on taking her home to be with the family. After her being home for about 2 weeks everything was as good as expected but took a horrible turn for the worst. At that moment we took her to the hospital and within 3 hours of admitting her they found that the cancer had become quite aggressive and spread into the brain and bones and she may have only a month left with us. Well that month turned into 3 days and she then took her last breath and went into her final sleep. The insurance company basically told us their hand were tied but a part of me feels like they could have at least kept the chemo going if nothing else but they cut off everything. At the end of the day, the only thing the insurance company continued to cover were the medications she was orally taking which of most were pain medicines. She eventually was unable to swallow any longer so we had to listen and watch her suffer because they could do no more. In turn she ended up like many of the people the film talked about with cancer and died.
Works Cited
Health Care Reform. (2013, 07 19). Retrieved from New York Times: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html
Moore, M. (Director). (2007). Sicko [Motion Picture].
U.S. News Health. (2013, 07 16). Retrieved from Hospitals for Poor May Struggle Further Under Health Care Reform: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/07/16/hospitals-for-poor-may-struggle-further-under-health-care-reform
SOCI 4330_6B
Chang
July 19, 2013
Sicko
According to this film, the United States medical system seems to look out for the business itself versus the American people. The United States medical system focuses more on the reasons to reject a person and save money rather than to save their reputation and keep the business coming. The U.S. medical system does extensive background checks and many different things could be the reasons that you cannot get the help you need. The biggest problem I see is not so much as the amount the health insurance costs but moreover the coverage offered or received.
The limitations that are put on these policies are not good and there should be some kind of compromise involved; like …show more content…
how that condition was obtained. The pre-existing conditions are a large area of concern along with what the companies will or will not cover. The fact that some conditions are things that some people cannot control and that are passed through by way of hereditary is horrible. It is almost like saying a person that obtained HIV by way of blood transfusions from the hospital should be worried because if a serious problem occurred then it would be possible for the insurance company to deny a possible needed surgery because of having HIV, even though it was the medical system that gave them that disease. President Obama’s concern was that every American was able to obtain health insurance by any means or pay a fine.
He felt this to be necessary in order to fix the small problems within the healthcare system that needed to be addressed. He thought this was a way for insurance companies to no longer turn people away due to their medical conditions and make the pre-existing medical conditions acceptable. It is basically still the government controlling the healthcare system completely. He also made available for some states to be able to extend their policies for state insurance to some that are considered low income families. I support what Obama is fighting for simply because no one should be denied any kind of health coverage. This film shows many instances where there were people with cancer and they were absolutely covered but the insurance acted as if they were the doctors and made the decision to go against the doctor’s advice and say they were too young or that the problem was not serious enough for them to pay for it; which in turn left them either seeking other options or …show more content…
dead. President Obama seems to be looking out for the better interest in the American people. The insurance companies are getting away with denying claims and sending people away or giving them the run around while also refusing coverage. The ones that are covered, are they really covered? No they are not because the insurance companies have the right to deny a claim for any reason if they choose to whether it makes sense to the insured or not. Obama seems to see what most of those denied claimers see, and that’s a waste of money. These insurance companies should not have a leg to stand on when it comes to denying a claim because of a pre-existing condition especially if that condition was initially stated and only looked at when they had to possibly pay out money. The monies that people put into their monthly premiums should more than enough to cover the small things and some big things that may happen unexpectedly. In my opinion, Canada, England, France, and Cuba are the places to be if only the health care system was to be considered. Moore made extremely valid points and had shown proof that in many other countries there are no co-pays, premiums, deductibles, or any medical fees for that matter. According to Balanced Politics our government is not smart or strong enough to be able to handle a universal health care system. There was not much information that supports the universal health system other than those that need the coverage. There was noone of authority that agrees this is a working system for the United States. The interested thing that a lot of people are not keeping in mind is that although we have to pay for our health care versus what you see like in Canada, our cost of living is much cheaper. The taxes from here to there are completely different and not as expensive. Also the pay the doctors receive are about as much as what the doctors here receive. Another interesting fact I found was in the film Moore spoke to a doctor in England that live very well and his pay was not based on what Americans would consider to be normal pay like hourly or salary no matter what as long as they went to work and did their expected jobs. The better they made the patients and the better decisions the patients made the more the doctor was paid.
For instance, if the doctor was able to get one of his patients to stop smoking permanently then that would mean a pay increase for him. The cost of living is much higher in those countries. In England, what we would possibly consider to be a $180,00 home is approximately a million dollar home. That would be down right outrageous to most Americans expecially the southerners. The fact is because they have that free universal health care system setup, the taxes makes up for the others costs that we pay for. In the research that Michael Moore was doing to learn more about the health care system of the named countries above, he also came across the information that no person had to have an approval or go to a specific kind of doctor to be able to get the help they were seeking.
Although I think our health care system need as much help as possible, I do not think the Uniterd States would be able to sustain such a change with health care.
I think the difference in the way we as Americans live is the main and true reason as to why this cannot happen. I also believe that although this sounds good, there is a downfall to it all and one of the biggest that I see with the free universal health care system is people protecting themselves. I believe that as long as people know they can walk into a hospital and get the care they need without paying or signing something that will make them careless. Some may began to think since they can get the help they need at any given time, why protect myself from anything. That is almost like a teenage girl learning sex and gets pregnant, but she knows she can just simply go to get an abortion at no cost. How is it possible for people to learn lessons from mistakes made through health with health care systems such as
this? I personally have not had to deal with any kind of denials for claims due to the health care system, but there was a death in my family a few years ago that could have been due to denial in coverage but it is possible that death was inevitable for her. My aunt was very ill and was issued county insurance. At the time she was given the insurance, the illness had not yet taken over and she felt like everything with them was great. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and as she continued treatment for the cancer she was better and in remission. She was basically back to normal in a short period of time. She only had to pay $5 dollars for visits to the doctors office as well as for medication and if she needed a ride, they would also provide that service for her as well. Eventually she went to the doctor for one of her usual follow-ups about 3 years of being in remission and they did blood work that later led to more tests and the final was her cancer returned in her liver and breast. It was not too aggressive but it was there and it was treatable with surgery and chemotherapy again, which she was willing to go through. She was given about 6 months to a year to live if she did nothing but they felt very confident about the plan they had come up with. She was immediately put at the head of the transplant list for a liver and her new treatments began.
A week after treatment she was given more blood tests and they found that she had Hepatitis A, B, and C. This new found information was sent to the coverage department and they took her name off the transplant list and stopped her treatment. They decided although that treatment and transplant could save her life and give her more years to live, that she didn’t need it and it would be better fit for someone else that was younger and that would have disclosed that information in the beginning. Well the problem with that was she went from one hospital to another and she did not have to fill out anything she figured everything just transferred over and when she got the insurance there was nowhere on the county forms that asks for such information that she could remember she said it was just a basic form.
After going through all of the trials and tribulations with the hospital and insurance companies, it was either keep taking her to emergency rooms to be treated for a few days and then get sent home or just take her home and enjoy what we could with her. We deciced on taking her home to be with the family. After her being home for about 2 weeks everything was as good as expected but took a horrible turn for the worst. At that moment we took her to the hospital and within 3 hours of admitting her they found that the cancer had become quite aggressive and spread into the brain and bones and she may have only a month left with us. Well that month turned into 3 days and she then took her last breath and went into her final sleep. The insurance company basically told us their hand were tied but a part of me feels like they could have at least kept the chemo going if nothing else but they cut off everything. At the end of the day, the only thing the insurance company continued to cover were the medications she was orally taking which of most were pain medicines. She eventually was unable to swallow any longer so we had to listen and watch her suffer because they could do no more. In turn she ended up like many of the people the film talked about with cancer and died.
Works Cited
Health Care Reform. (2013, 07 19). Retrieved from New York Times: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html
Moore, M. (Director). (2007). Sicko [Motion Picture].
U.S. News Health. (2013, 07 16). Retrieved from Hospitals for Poor May Struggle Further Under Health Care Reform: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/07/16/hospitals-for-poor-may-struggle-further-under-health-care-reform