Michael Moore's Sicko is Worth A Watch!

Hey, just want to remind you that Oscar's are coming up so if you're like me - you're trying to catch up on all the nominations! Last year I was lucky enough to enjoy the show on Victoria's couch in Hawaii. This year, I'm not sure where we'll find the show in Italy...and if that writer strike continues, you ain't gonna be watchin' it either!

Today was a quiet, thoughtful day at home. So we used it as the opportunity for the Sicily premiere of Michael Moore’s Oscar nominated SICKO in our living room.

I’ve seen all of Moore’s films and enjoy his unassuming, bleeding-heart persona and the eloquent sarcasm of his social and political commentary. The guy gets picked on pretty fiercely by his detractors, which just makes my favorite mild-mannered underdog more appealing for those who love his Jean Shepherd-esque story telling, cutting and creative commentary, and bias that only a passionate advocate has. He does some outrageously corny stuff (like trying to get healthcare for 9-11 rescue workers at Guantanamo Bay since Al Qaeda detainees gets better health care than our own heroes) that somehow always leaves me laughing and sobbing at the same time!

Regardless as to what his detractors say about his brand of “propaganda,” it’s undeniable that at the heart of all his commentary – there is truth.



I spent the worst and best year of my career devoted to health policy reform in Hawaii. It was the first social justice issue that called to me so strongly that I left my pr/ad agency career for it.

I served as the associate director of a multi-million grant-funded health policy reform initiative to develop solutions to cover Hawaii’s medically uninsured - leading its community relations, media relations, market research and grant management efforts -- bringing national experts to Hawaii, networking with other states on their solutions, gathering HMOs, state leadership including the Governor's policy team, labor organizations and the health care community around the issue.

So I feel that I have some experience that can address Moore’s documentary.

I do believe adamantly in universal health coverage that's a right and not a privilege. I do not believe in a solely-operated, government-run national health system. His three-part solution (http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/health-care-proposal/) calls for the destruction of HMOs, which I don’t endorse.

It's takes a legion of demons to create a health care crises of American proportions. HMOs and those they reject or leave to die is a symptom of our for-profit health care system - and not a cause. As are, for-profit hospitals that turn away the uninsured or dump those they have helped on someone else's doorstep (you'll see it in the film).



You can only know this if you’ve worked in health policy. It is extremely complicated, convoluted and complex. It is not a problem for any solution seeker to address who believes the issue can be laid out in black and white. There’s a whole lot of gray matter to pick thru to find a prescription for universal care. And by "universal care" I mean the concept of – affordable, accessible and comprehensive health care for all and for always - and certainly not a government-run, one system approach. After all, I've seen how government agencies respond to public need and quite frankly, FEMA, and the like, terrify me.

Sure, we’ve done ‘ok’ with our types of socialized systems - schools, the military health system, and the post office – but I’d be concerned about putting 300 million lives in the hands of the government. We’re Americans! We want options. The rich want their options. The poor and the sick need one too.

The biggest message I took away from the film is that the issue can be solved with community and political will and compassion. I know that if everyone did their part, no one would have to do too much and we could achieve coverage for all.



So here’s a formula that I believe in deeply….It came as a result of a year’s intense study on the issue with university health policy researchers, health care industry leaders, the Hawaii Governor’s policy team, community health care providers and HMOs.

1. Mandatory Employer-Sponsored Care for Full-Timers. That’s right – if you’re full time and continuously employed for 90 days, your company pays more than 90 percent of your premium. (Hawaii is the only state in the nation to pass such legislation and it’s worked since the 60s!)

And that brings us to everyone else – the unemployed, the part-time, the unemployable and the self-employed.

2. Expand State Health Programs for the Poor & Children. Most states provide basic care for those who meet poverty level requirement but they could also charge a premium co-pay to families within a range above the poverty line so that more can be covered – especially all impoverished or nearly impoverished children. It's criminal that poor children die every day in America because of lack of insurance.

3. Stricter HMO Regulations & Provisions of Low-Cost Plans. Even HMOs have a place in the system. Sure! They can deny you if you’re fat, if you smoke, if you have diabetes or for any reason that they feel you're gonna cost them mega-bucks. But for majority of the population, HMOs work. For every 1 that Moore profiled, there are a thousand whose lives have been saved by their insurance provider. If you kick them out of the game, you throw out all the millions who are benefiting from their coverage. And shift them to what? A lower-functioning government system. When the system they have is working for them?

It could be mandated that they develop an affordable policy product that people can buy that provides low cost - short-term coverage for high-risk individuals, for those in between jobs/those collecting unemployment.

4. Self-Employed & Insurance Rejectees. Create a government-sponsored pool for the self-employed and high-risk individuals. The self-employed but healthy can't afford a $350/month policy nor can a working cancer survivor afford a $1500 a month policy. So there needs to be a government-subsidized safety net for all those that the HMOs reject. Subsidizing this small population is a hell of a lot cheaper than creating a national health system for everyone.

For these people, you need an affordable insurance product that serves a pool that's mixed with healthy and sick people to balance the cost of the pool. It will help people manage their illnesses, help them get healthy and keep them working!

5. Pharamaceutical Company Regulation. We’re suckers that American pay more for drugs than any other country in the world. We're footing the bill for all that expensive, ground-breaking research not to mention underwriting the costs for other country's drugs. As Moore suggests, regulate them like you would a utility. And these drug-dependant docs need to expand their tool box and stop prescribing pharmaceuticals as the one and only cure for everything!

6. Health Care Providers Need Help. So why is health care so expensive? Last time we got a hospital bill, the itemized bill charged $10 for an aspirin and $60 for a hospital gown. People – like the uninsured and under-insured - not paying their bills is one reason why care costs. The cost of malpractice insurance is another. Bad Debt and charity care are chipping away at hospital's profitability. There are a thousand other reasons why health care costs an arm and a leg – and government needs to insert some national legislation to get costs under control.

7. Mandatory Requirement for PE & Health Education in Public Schools. Our nation is moving away from PE and health education and home economics in schools – three programs that empower kids to learn how to eat well, take care of their bodies and exercise. Well, you can’t ask people and a system to take care of you if you take your health for granted. Our school cafeterias including the vending machines on campus should only offer healthy choices. Publicly funded schools should offer teachers incentives to be excellent role models in health. And of course, parents need to throw out the twinkies and spaghetti o's. For those of us raised on them, we know better now.

So that’s our 7 step solution toward coverage for all..Even at 7, it's an oversimplification of the solution. Moore’s proposes only 3 and probably easier to remember.



I thank the universe almighty, as I know you do that you and those you love are covered...at least today in your condition. Tomorrow may be another story.

We hope we never have to ask ourselves -- what will we have to sell, cheat or steal -- to get dad that heart transplant...or our child that last 6 months of chemo.

If you've read to the end of this...thank you...it means you care!