"Sicko"

http://costofwar.com/


I saw "Sicko" last week. It made me sick. Literally. I'm not a huge fan of Michael Moore but I had heard from many friends, that whichever side of the political aisle you sit, this movie had much to say to the misinformed masses who are feeling quite content that they have health insurance, "so what's the big deal?"

Hundreds of insured are going bankrupt because claims are denied. They are denied for numerous reasons. Perhaps they didn't call ahead of time for approval for that ambulance ride from a car accident. No matter that they were nearly unconscious and their arm was bleeding. Denied!

A child became ill while on vacation and her fever was 105. She was rushed to a hospital but denied the test she needed because she wasn't at the right hospital. After hours of begging by her mother and phone calls to try to find a way to treat her, she died. True story!

A couple who had health insurance for many years, owned a home, raised their family, became ill. The husband had dementia and the wife, cancer. Their claims were denied because the insurance company found an error on their original application. She neglected to mention a previous illness, twenty years ago, therefore their claim, indeed, their entire policy was cancelled. They had to file bankruptcy and move into a small room in their daughter's home. Another true story.

A man was sawing wood in his garage. The table saw was slicing through the board like a hot knife through butter when it hit a knot and the board jumped. The saw took off the tips of two fingers. He went to the hospital and was told he didn't have insurance, therefore, to reattach his fingers would cost him $12,000 for the middle finger and $9,000 for his ring finger. Being the romantic that he is, he choose his ring finger, for his wife and their wedding vows.

Some people say, "Well, the poor have MediCal and the old have Medicare and the ones in the middle should work harder to get jobs with companies that provide health care." I swear to you this is true. I just got an email from a woman who believes that. She quoted the Bible with "the meek shall inherit the Earth" and something about Adam and Eve....frankly I didn't understand what she was meaning. Basically, she has hers, fuck everyone else. No matter that over 40 million Americans are without insurance. No matter that millions of children are being untreated because of it. People are dying and the corporations that insure Americans, are getting richer and richer and richer.
Medicine that should only cost $20 costs $200.

Moore interviewed employees of insurance companies. They explained that the more they found ways to deny claims the higher up they went in their pay scale. Bonuses and perks were delivered no matter who died or suffered.

I'll tell you a true story. Back, twenty or more years ago, when I was a massage therapist in a health club, a client came in to see me. She carried two small boxes with her. She said, "You have to see this." Inside of the first box was a pair of earrings that nearly blinded me with their brilliance. Solid diamonds in the shape of snowflakes, three for each ear. The cost? $78,000. In the second box was another pair of earrings encrusted with rubies, emeralds and sapphires. Outrageously gorgeous! Cost? $86,000. When I asked her why she had them she told me that she worked for the CEO of an insurance company. He had to leave the office early and asked her to pick them up from his jeweler. They were gifts for his wife. Now, get this.....they were gifts, not because it was her birthday, not because it was their anniversary, not because Christmas was coming, but because she noticed them in a magazine and admired them, so he tracked them down for her, just because.

I don't begrudge people from making profits in their business endeavors. In fact, it is what makes the world go around. But to make a profit, a killing, on the backs of Americans who won't be able to afford the premiums if they should be laid off or be between jobs, or simply because life happens, is a sin. To deny a child the tests and medicine she needs, to let her die so the CEO can have a second or third house or a private jet, is beyond greed. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and now I know why. That is what is happening all across America.

In Europe and Canada this is not the case. People are healthier, live longer and are better educated than the greatest country in the world. Are we the greatest country because of how we value human life? or because we are spending trillions of dollars on Armies, bombs and wars? We have a war on drugs, a war on teen pregnancy, a war on same sex marriage.

We think our veterans are covered with health care for life but do you really know the truth about what hoops they must jump through to get it? Do you know, first hand, the conditions of the service they are supposed to be receiving? A farm boy grew up to be a Marine. His legs were blown off. His lives with his parents in the middle of America, hundreds of miles from a Veterans Hospital. What do we Americans say to him? "Here's a shiney medal, thanks for your service, now go away."

What really makes us great? What have we done to the America I grew up loving? Weren't we supposed to be the ones in the white hats?

Go see "Sicko". Get the facts. See the truth. We need to insist on the changes this country had failed to make. Both political parties should be ashamed of themselves, lining their pockets with money from lobbyists and letting the corporations continue to make profits over the bodies of children and American citizens who got screwed by the corrupt system.

It's time Americans roll up their sleeves like we did during World War II. Supposedly the Greatest Generation worked hard for something great and that was the protection of our freedom and our rights as Americans. Are we less American than they were?

I am not a democrat. I am not a republican. I am a registered independant and I am an American.