The Human Tragedy-a preview of Michael Moore's SiCKO(ZT)

SICKO, Part One

Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington,D.C.-based Multinational Monitor and director of Essential Action. Hesays, "Sneak previews for SiCKO are being shown around the UnitedStates on June 23. The movie opens nationally on June 29. Be ready tobe driven to tears and rage."

The Human Tragedy

By ROBERT WEISSMAN

Whenword got out that Michael Moore was working on a movie with the workingtitle SiCKO, about the U.S. healthcare industry, the industry wentbananas.

Memos started shooting around, warning insurance anddrug company executives and representatives to keep looking over theirshoulders, to make sure they avoided being ambushed by Moore and acamera crew. Indeed, they had something to fear, for they have a greatdeal of needless misery and suffering to answer for.

But it turns out that Moore didn't need them after all.

Instead,he's made a movie driven by heart-breaking story after heart-breakingstory. SiCKO presents a devastating indictment of the U.S. healthcaresystem by letting victimized patients speak for themselves.

WhenMoore announced on his web page that he was doing a movie aboutoutrages in the U.S. healthcare system and was looking for examples, hewas flooded with 25,000 responses.

He profiles Dawnelle, whose18-month-old daughter Michelle died because her health plan, Kaiser,insisted Michelle not be treated at the hospital to which an ambulancehad taken her, but instead be transferred to a Kaiser hospital. Fifteenminutes after arriving at the next hospital, Michelle died, probablyfrom a bacterial infection that could have been treated withantibiotics.

Julie, who works at a hospital, explains how herinsurance plan refused to authorize a bone marrow transplantrecommended for her cancer-riven husband. He died quickly.

Larryand Donna, a late-middle-age couple, find that co-payments anddeductibles for treatment after Donna has cancer add up to such aburden that they have to sell their house and move into a small room intheir adult daughter's house. The day they move into their daughter'shouse, her husband leaves to work as a contractor in Iraq.

Moore'scamera captures the pain, chaos and forced indignity imposed upon everyday people who do their best to deal with an impossible situation.

Moore'sweb page announcement also attracted responses from hundreds ofemployees in the health insurance industry, explaining how their jobsforced them to do things of which they were ashamed.

Lee, aformer industry employee whose job was to find ways to deny or rescindcoverage for healthcare, explains how hard insurers work to deny care,searching for any pretense. About denials of care and coverage, hesays, "It is not unintentional. It is not a mistake. It is not somebodyslipping through the cracks. Somebody made that crack, and swept you toit."

Cont'd here.