National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:Public 7/9/07 1:21 PM Page 8 NewsBriefs WE'RE FLIPPO FOR SICK0 oted director Michael Moore says his latest documentary, SiCKO, grew out of a story he filmed in 1999 about a drugstore worker who needed a pancreas and kidney transplant, but his insurance company, Humana, would only agree to spring for the kidney. But as soon as Moore held a mock funeral for the man, lo and behold, the pancreas operation was approved. "I thought, 'If we could save this man's life with this camera, what else could we do?'" Moore said during testimony before the California Senate recently. So he turned his lens onto the U.S. healthcare system. The problem, Moore discovered, wasn't just Humana or any one insurance company behaving badly. The problem, he concluded, was the faulty assumption underlying our entire system of healthcare: that it's okay to make money off providing (or denying) people health coverage. In fact, the entire health insurance industry works toward that end, not to make sure Americans live healthier lives. "Insurance companies are required by law to turn the big profit," said Moore. "And the only way to do that is to deny care." In SiCKO, Moore does an excellent job of showing us all the tricks of the insurance company trade and making us care about the real patients and families who have suffered tremendously under standard industry practices. There are whistle-blowers such the former physician executive who was rewarded bonuses by her employer for denying care and is still tormented by the knowledge that she denied a man a needed operation. The man died. There's a former insurance investigator whose sole job was to dig up prior medical dirt on patients so that his company could use that information to deny claims. To make his point that private insurance is the problem, not just lack of insurance, Moore focuses on patients who actually have coverage, and how poorly they fared. Donna and Larry Smith, who always lived a comfortable, middle-class life, had to file bankruptcy and move into their daughter's storage room after Larry suffered a series of heart attacks and Donna battled cancer (Read more about the Smiths and an essay by Donna on p. 12). One mother, Dawnelle Keys, rushed her critically N 8 REGISTERED NURSE ill toddler to the nearest emergency room, but was refused antibiotics because her insurer, Kaiser Permanente, would only pay if the child were transferred to a Kaiser hospital. By the time they did, it was too late. Baby Mychelle died. How did this sick system develop? For some insight into the origins of the health insurance complex, Moore's researchers uncovered a bit of choice audio tape from 1971 featuring, you guessed it, President Nixon and advisor John Ehrlichman, discussing Edgar Kaiser's HMO aspirations. Grumpy Nixon first rails against social programs, but softens and gives his blessing when told Kaiser's brain child is for profit, and that "all the incentives are toward less medical care because the less care they give them, the more money they make." To experience the road not taken, Moore travels to Canada, Britain, France, and even Cuba to see how the rest of the world lives. In those countries, healthcare is provided as a public health benefit of the government infrastructure, just like schools, roads, police, and fire departments. Patients look puzzled W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G and laugh when Moore asks them how much their visit will cost or if they're worried about affording payment. Interspersed throughout Moore's storytelling are his signature jokes and antics. He roams the halls of a British hospital hunting for the billing department because he just can't believe patients don't pay. He finally finds a "cashier" window but learns that the cashier exists to reimburse patients who've taken transit to the hospital. He boats a group of 9/11 rescue workers with major respiratory problems over to Guantanamo Bay prison because that's the "one place on American soil where we have free universal healthcare." "They just want some medical attention just like Al Queda is getting," Moore deadpans through a bullhorn toward the guard tower in the film. "No more than what the evildoers get. Just the same." SiCKO is regarded as Moore's best film to date, and may well go down in history as the pop tour de force that sparks the American public to action in demanding the real, single-payer, national healthcare system that is our right. —lucia hwang JUNE 2007

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