SiCKO - The Official Site - In Theaters June 29th
Official site for SICKO. The explosive new film from the Academy Award® winning director for Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11
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May 25th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
My mom wanted to go get clean from drinking too much beer. well we went to the emergency room at a hospital in the capital of CT. We waited for 4 hours and began to get tired. some people there said they waited overnight 12 hours plus! for a bed. what’s wrong with the system. why is it broken? It’s all becuase we are spending all of our money in Iraq. THAT’S IT!!!
May 25th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
American healthcare? What care…oh they care about the bottom line…my death is more profitable than my life. successful surgery is less profitable than long term care. We dont have healthcare, we have health “i dont care”.
May 26th, 2007 at 6:29 am
I just got out of the hospital after having major lung surgery. I have short-term health insurance but they have already started the process of trying to label me with pre-exsisting condition. I expect them to deny all upcoming bills and it will force me into bankruptcy.
But the big deal right now is the the cost of prescriptions. Those are not covered and since this ordeal began 2 months ago I have spent well over $2000.
Most recently I had to pay $200 for 7 anti-biotic pills to combat pneumonia that I caught from BEING IN the hospital.
May 26th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Health care in America! Total joke! God forbid something should happen to me and I have to go to the hospital. The bills alone would kill me!
May 26th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I was attacked and beaten (a drunken tourist was arrested and convicted) and was stitched up in the emergency room of the local hospital. Being without insurance I was eligible for State Victims assistance to cover the bills which were huge. There was a six week lapse between the hospital bills due date and the state sending payment, but there was no reasoning with the hospital.
They reported me delinquent on my payment, which started a cascade of interest rate hikes which destroyed my credit rating and caused severe financial hardship.
Even though the hospital was paid in full by the state victims fund they continued to harass me for years afterward for ‘unpaid balances’ which were the price differences between what they charge to insurance companies and myself, an uninsured assault victim who was forced to seek medical help through no fault of my own.
It has now been twelve years since my assault and I have been denied jobs, loans and negative background checks on uncounted occasions because of these idiots. There is no way I can estimate the financial damage these morons have done to me, lost wage increases and promotions alone are in the tens of thousands of dollars.
May 27th, 2007 at 2:51 am
My son was hospitalized with respiratory distress, at follow-up visit was prescribed asthma maintenence med. Asked the doctor for samples, he didn’t have any. With my insurance, the script still cost $50. I didn’t have it and it was still two weeks until pay day. So, do I write a hot check or wait two weeks? Waited the two weeks….children shouldn’t have to wait or do without healthcare because of the greed of the healthcare industry. No one should.
May 28th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I went to the Hospital with a tooth infection. I was unable to open my mouth to eat since my cheek had swelled. I waited in the er for two hours and they came in told me I needed antibiotics. Well no shit I knew that. so they said that since this wasn’t an emergency I need to pay right then to get the script.
So I had to go to another hospital and wait a few more hours and but these guys gave me the script.
May 29th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I am an emergency Nurse in an inner city hospital that serves the indigent population. I see the maladies of the American healthcare system on a daily basis. I could rant for hours about the multitude of factors that affect the crippling healthcare system.
First of all, Chris. C’mon. Was it really an EMERGENCY that you and your mother go to the emergency department to get cleaned up? Unless you and your mother were both, simultaneously, going through DT’s, it wasn’t. I can understand and applaud your desire to seek treatment because it is a terrible addiction, but you should have gone to a treatment facility.
Okay, first problem. Right? Chris doesn’t even know where to go for help. Of course, that is, if there even is a place for him to get help like a treatment facility. Curses to the fiscal conservatives for the lack of funding for social programs!
Of course, the other problem is that the first triage nurse you saw, after you checked yourself in, couldn’t have sent you on your way to a treatment facility anyway, which is where you and your mother belonged. Do you know why? Because if you walked out that door, developed DT’s, and died…guess who would be sued? That is why you waited so long. It was NOT an emergency, but you had to be seen to be medically cleared/treated to save the healthcare workers their careers. But again, you needed to be in a treatment facility.
Mitch, grow up. if you want to use a played out slogan just type it and enter it. Dont you dare make such a broad implication that people like me and the others i work with, dont care. I go to work every week to care for people that many times don’t even care for themselves. Oftentimes, after I am cussed at by drunks, threatened by psychotics, and overworked. I return again to help those same individuals because I know they need help. Don’t make comments about something you obviously know nothing about…
Frank and Lisa, although part of this pains me to say…did you know wallmart offers many, many prescriptions for only four dollars? whether or not you do or do not have health insurance. I know, they are an evil corporation, which is why it slightly pains me to say it, but they do. I guess use them for what they are worth since our healthcare system doesn’t offer much.
Finally, Warren. Again, was this really an emergency? I understand that toothaches hurt, but an emergency? Please just realize while you were waiting your two hours, they were probably helping someone in respiratory distress, splinting someone’s broken extremity, etc.
I think what might really be the problem Warren is something you couldn’t name. In reality, your tooth probably had beeen bothering you for awhile. a week, maybe two…but you were postponing help because you hoped it would go away because you either A: don’t have health insurance or B: you dont know how to take personal responsibility for your health. My guess? you dont have insurance. don’t worry, it would probably suck like mine anyway;)
Anywho, you woke up one morning and your cheek was swollen and you realized you HAD to get help. It was at this point you went to the emergency department. The sad truth is that if you had health insurance, you could have gone to the dentist and avoided the entire situation…instead, how much did your ED visit cost? $400? $500?
I truly hope your movie can shed some light on the healthcare system. It is riddled with the fear of litigation(ends up costing healthcare who knows how much money because MD’s have to keep giving that same person with belly pain a CT everytime they walk in the door in case something really has gone wrong), and the lack of funding for preventative health education to name only two! Good luck! I hope you conquer the mountain!
May 29th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Britney… for someone claiming to care… you sure some off as pretty condescending and as someone who really doesn’t have a clue. I could rant for hours about nurses who are missing that certain quality that makes them great. Anywho… You are missing a lot of the information that I hope this movie will provide.
You seem to base all your opinions on your experience with inner city indigents. I am sure you see more abuse of the system there but it is a small part of the problem.
Who are you to decide what constitutes an emergency anyway? You have obviously never had a real toothache.
AND.. You have the nerve to tell Chris to not make comments about something he knows nothing about, yet you made assumptions about each one of our posts.
It is obvious you have a hard time putting yourself in another’s shoes.
I would bet that a large majority of the people you see in the emergency room don’t have insurance. The reason they are in the ER is because of that fact. People without insurance will wait until the last possible moment to get treatment.. thus sending them to the ER where at least they WILL GET treated.
And since you know so much… Which healthcare plan covers dentistry?
I know all about Wal-Mart and Targets $4 list. Guess how many of the prescriptions I need are on that list? 1… and it is an anti-nausea that I have to take. Know why I take that? To combat the feeling I get from CHEAPER medications.. instead of being able to afford the $200 prescription that doesn’t cause nausea.
None of us are asking for FREE healthcare. I just want reasonable pricing. It shouldn’t cost me $200 for the same prescription I can get in Canada for $60. It shouldn’t cost me $250 just to walk into my doctors office to PICK UP that prescription. This is the real issue. The RAPE of Americans by American companies and nobody does a thing about it.
The reason you don’t see anything wrong with our healthcare is because you have obviously never had to use it. Most people have no idea how bad it is because they never need it.
The problem is people thinking they are covered and to later find out their insurance plans won’t cover it. OR they look for reasons not to.
Try putting yourself in these shoes… You go to the doctor for chest pain.. They think you have a heart problem and you go in for tests (if your insurance allows you to get it)… They find out you have a valve problem and need to operate. (Assuming your insurance will pay for preventive care..) But first you have some more tests and they find out you have congenital heart disease. Suddenly your insurance stops covering you because of pre-existing condition. OR they start investigating you to prove it.
That has happened to someone I know… and as I type this they are investigating my recent claims. Trying to pin it on pre-existing. Want to know what happens if they don’t pay my bills? I go bankrupt.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:31 am
Hi, everybody, I am from Hungary, Europe and I have lived in the U.S. for 16 months. I must say that the biggest culture shock I’ve had here was discovering how the American health care system works and finding out how profit-oriented it is (instead of focusing on the human beings that need medical help). Due to my marriage to a National Guard reservist from the Northeast, I’ve been lucky to be covered by TRICARE, the military health care system (which claims to provide a “world-class” health system to military families) so I am grateful to my husband for that because it’s basically health insurance through his line of work.
Anyway, what I didn’t know in the beginning was that being covered means nothing if you’re not familiar with the zillions of little nuances and intricacies, rules and conditions and exceptions that make up a health insurance policy here. It took me several months of reading up on it and a lot of asking around over the phone to finally have a clear understanding of the different coverage plans and how to get medical services from network providers. Coming from a post-communist country, I’ve been used to free, good-quality, state-subsidized health care all my life (although the current Hungarian government - a bunch of money-grabbing jerk-offs - have recently been busy trying to privatize every aspect of the system there and to switch to the American version of health care…..what a BUMMER!). By the way, those forty years of state-funded Hungarian public health care in communism were financed with huge government loans from Western countries (which is probably true for other former Eastern Block countries, too) so there is definitely no such thing in the world as free health care in the absolute sense of the word.
All in all, my ultimate conclusion after having had some rather negative experience with the health care system here is that you don’t ever want to get seriously sick in this country, even if you have some type of health insurance. In fact, the best thing an average person can do here is to try to stay as healthy as they possibly can. I know that sounds absurd but I can’t think of any other way of beating the system…. unless, of course, Americans are willing to move to a country in the European Union or to Canada. I’m pretty sure that health care in those parts of the world is more about the human being than about ripping people off with obscene amounts of money. Because the health care system you guys have is absolutely one of a kind in the developed world! Unfortunately, paying a monthly premium for a health insurance policy or being covered through an employer here (if you can get them to cover you at all) doesn’t simply mean that you’re fully covered with no strings attached (like deductible, copay/cost-share, having to find a network provider, prior authorizations and all the other bullshit). And all the red tape that overcomplicating the health care system of a huge country like this creates!!! Doctors in this country are self-appointed, greedy kings and queens of the population (apart from some of them also being masters of life and death)!!! And they’re not even aware of the huge responsibility they have toward people! There are many ways health care in my home country sucks, too, but at least hospitals don’t charge you $500 (plus $200 to the ER doctor) for something like cleaning and stitching up a cut wound on your palm. And that was just a tiny injury! But, like I mentioned above, I was covered and TRICARE o n l y paid them $550 out of the $700 total. I find it too scary to even start to think about what I would do if I didn’t have health insurance. Besides, I will always have trouble seeing the overpriced dollar value of all the routine visits that I’ve had here so far.
It’s really good to know that there are people out there like Michael Moore who have the guts to address pressing social issues like this and are not afraid to take any flak for it from all the health industry people and the politicians that have a vested interest in keeping the status quo. I haven’t seen the movie yet but I can’t wait to watch it and I hope that a lot of people will go and see it outside the States, too, so they can have a better idea of what this aspect of America is really like.
PS: I think the following is a good review of the movie by a foreigner:
170 out of 205 people found the following comment useful:
More of Moore, thank God, 21 May 2007
Author: Ivo Martijn from Hilversum, The Netherlands
I was fortuned enough to watch Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Sicko’ at its second screening at the 60th Cannes film festival. It just might be his most important film yet, because this is really the first time he makes the essential point about America: in the US the dominant ideology is ‘me’ whereas the other nations on the planet think in terms of ‘we’ (I noticed this too when I studied in the States). Bowling for Columbine demonstrates the fear in American society induced by the media (if it bleeds, it leads) and where it leads to. Fahrenheit 9/11 exposes the Republican party, especially the Bush crowd, as a club that solely benefits the financial interests of the wealthiest people in the country, causing millions to suffer. This time, Moore shows that, even in the health care system, the nation is run by one single thing: the bottom line; the logic of money. The US seem to have forgotten that money is just an intermediate. If it becomes a goal in itself, people die. Unnecessarily.
We humans see everything as a story, whether we are aware of it or not: people’s lives, brands, world events, nations. There are basically two story lines: the hero’s journey (the individual who matures and fulfills his full capability, and the Greek tragedy (the hero violates the rules of the group and is sacrificed). We are at the same time individuals and members of a group. For every human being it’s always a struggle to find, in all circumstances, the right balance between being an individual and being a group member. Nations choose between these two stories as well. In every country on earth the group is the most important entity (more or less). Except in the US. There, it’s the individual. So instead of “one for all, and all for one”, America’s motto is “each for himself, and God for us all”.
In ‘Sicko’ Michel Moore demonstrates the atrocities this kind of thinking leads to. A man without health insurance (companies simply refuse people), whose middle- and ring finger are sown off, had to choose between paying 60.000 dollars for having his middle finger restored and 12.000 dollars for having his ring finger fixed. Being the “romantic” that he is, he chose his ring finger. A woman, formerly with a good job, bankrupted by her medical bills and forced to live in the study of her daughter, has to pay 240 dollars a month for her cancer medication but gets the same pills on Cuba for… 10 cents. 45 Million uninsured Americans live in fear that they might, some day, need medical care. The rest of the world doesn’t know these fears, because for them, medical help is free: paid for by tax money. The United States have become ruthless to it’s own people. It contradicts the image Americans have of themselves and their country, but it’s the awful truth.
As a film, ‘Sicko’ is slightly below ‘Bowling for Columbine’ and somewhat above ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ (Moore’s qualities as a filmmaker are admirably consistent). As an eye opener, it’s the most important thing Michael Moore has done yet. The true ’sicko’ is America. Hopefully this film will let the healing begin.
May 30th, 2007 at 10:09 am
A Canadian’s experience with the US health system.
My ordeal started when I had to go the the ER (Texas Tech- affiliated hospital), for gastritis pains.
I figured well, in the US hteir great privitized system will mean that I get access to teh best care—-right!.
After waiting four hours to be seen/getting a 2000$ bill for services, I realized that all that Americans say about teh health system , is hogwash. Well actually there is a difference, in Canada I would have to wait,4 hours and walked out of the ER with no bills.
Perhaps the US should spend more on health care versus
a million dollars a minute in Iraq (or some ridiculous
dollar per minute ratio).
May 31st, 2007 at 10:27 am
I have late-stage Lyme Disease. Although I had the bull’s eye rash and tested positive for the Western Blot three times over seven years, the medical community still denies that I have this disease and refuses to treat me. Not only does the medical community seem to be ignorant about Lyme but they deliberately downplay and hide how much of an epidemic it is and prefer to hand out anti-anxiety pills. My insurance company paid for many years of expensive procedures and specialists who thought I had more serious diseases like MS. Just think of all the money my insurance company could have been saved if ONE doctor would have figured it out! Needless to say, I gave up on conventional medicine, did my own research and discovered that other countries were CURING Lyme with an herb from the Amazon called Samento. After 6-8 weeks of taking this antiseptic herb, almost all 40 of my symptoms went away! A miracle! Our government, who may have created Lyme as a biological weapon in the 1950s, is being negligent. They are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies and as long as there is corruption in Washington, Americans will never get well or be allowed to find cures if corporations can’t generate billions of dollars. When Americans get sick, they can’t work, when they can’t work they put a burden on the healthcare system, the insurance companies and the economy. My 10 year old son has had Diabetes since he was 5. In Canada, they are having huge success rates with islet transplants yet the USA only has a waiting list for patients interested in a clinical trial. No children. And guess how long the trials will be? 10 years?!
America has lost its way and its morals.
May 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I’m on Medicare. I switched from one provider to Kaiser Permanente for 2007. The Medicare.gov web site said it was more expensive, out of pocket, by about $1000.00. However, the reviews were great and I decided to go with Kaiser.
I switched back to my previous carrier at the end of the 1st Quarter. The fundamental reason is that the primary docs are scheduled with a new patient every 15 minutes, regardless of your problem(s). I had one visit with the first of two PCPs. I was expecting a discussion about my problems but all he did was give me an Rx and move on, in 15 minutes.
So, I assumed that I got a lemon and changed PCPs for my next visit. Same thing.
I made another appointment and this time I brought a checklist of everything I wanted to talk about. When the doc’s admin assistant saw the list, she told me directly that there was “no way” there would be enough time to discuss “all these items.”
I said that if I didn’t get to discuss my items, I was going to raise holy hell. I got my time.
The next day or so, I also had a telephone conversation with the assistant administrator for that facility about the lack of time. Turns out officially that Kaiser schedules patients every 15 minutes but they know that this is causing complaints and they will be bumping the time to 20 minutes in August.
That explains why no one asks you why you want an appointment in the first place. They don’t care!
I had insisted that I see a urologist for consultation and I did get an appointment. He was much more relaxed and helpful. He also told me that I had an umbilical hernia! Apparently, both my PCPs live under a policy that first-time patients only get service for what they know about!
My other complaint is that Kaiser charges you a high co-pay, for EVERYTHING! I had to have additional lab work because the first lab work didn’t get all the data. I had to pay the co-pay for the second lab work. They also don’t give out sample medications, so you better know that what the doctor is prescribing is going to work for you the first time.
There are a lot of people who are happy with Kaiser. The two that I know both have their costs covered out of their retirement benefits.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I can’t WAIT for this movie to come out! I love all of Moore’s factual, insightful, films which expose the corruption within the system. To hell with the greedy politicians! Stand up and fight for better health care!
Begin by keeping C-students OUT of the Oval Office!!
June 1st, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I work in the insurance industry and I agree that the system needs help. However, we are all very quick to blame everyone else rather than look at the pathetic shape of Americans in general. In a country filled with overweight and unhealthy citizens whom the majority get little to no exercise can you blame an insurance carrier for having to charge more to cover these people. The highest prescribed medication in the country is Lipitor (cholesterol lowering), that is truly sad. In most cases with a little effort concentrating on a healthy lifestyle the problem could be corrected, but no i guess doing something yourself is not the American way. It should be easy, somebody or something should do it for me.
And as for Europeans or Canadians coming to America and saying how bad our system is and how we should just provide free insurance to all…that is just plain dumb. We have a population of 300 Million People, Canada has 30 Million People, the UK has 60 Million, HUNGARY has 9 Million People, that is like comparing apples to oranges. Where do we come up with that much money? Where do we come up with money to cover a flock of immigrants that will come to obtain free health coverage? Hmmmmm, I wonder, even if the US socializes health care the money has to come from somewhere and I have a feeling it would be that same somewhere that the government gets money now…TAXES! You may give everyone free health care but in the end, higher taxes will to pay for it will cost us the same as what private health insurance costs. Back to square one, which comes back to as a country we need to take better care of our health, change your diet, exercise, find something to make you happy (get off the anti-depressants and anxiety pills), and live a long life!
June 1st, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I work as a 911 paramedic, part-time, in southern California. Because I get paid so poorly (EMT-medics ~$13/hr; EMT-basics ~$8/hr) and the cost of living is so high here, I cannot afford the most basic of health insurance that would benefit me without being a waste or limiting me to care. This, in part, would explain why so many (NOT ALL) private medical providers are burnt out and disheartened, and therefore provide below-standard care.
It seems that those who are best served are those who are rich and can afford healthcare; those who are dirt poor/pregnant/druggies who are eligible for medicare/cal (for those reasons); or those who are incarcerated (when I work in the emergency room, the inmates are provided with the BEST of care, otherwise, they can easily sue for negligence). Unfortunately, I am just above the poverty level, in school with two part-time jobs, without any major health or circumstantial problems, so I am ineligible for healthcare assistance.
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:07 am
Kudos to Brittany! Loved your input. I’ve heard people yelling in the emergency room, about having to wait, while there are people having heart attacks or strokes in the next room. Boo,hoo-someone had to wait for 2 hours to be seen for a toothache, stitches or whatever-please! Like Ivo from the Netherlands said- the dominant ideology is “me”. It seems as though the most valid, common thread here is the insurance companies that think they can dictate health care (not only to patients but they try to tell the Doc’s what they can and can’t do-I’ve experienced this as a patient and a nurse) and the pharmaceutical companies that can immorally overprice prescription drugs. When Clinton was in office, the hot topic was universal health care…where is that topic with the new candidates for the upcoming elections? I hope this movie can revitalize that topic.
Frank, enough with the Spin Doctor approach. Nobody goes into the health care profession if you have a hard time putting yourself in someone elses shoes.
LISA- If you are ever in that position again, please tell the prescribing physician or RN. Most hospitals will give you a voucher for a free RX from the hospital pharmacy or some similar program. Some people can’t even afford the $4. I’ve been there.
Lastly, Todd- What are the taxes like in Canada? I’d be curious to know. I’m no economist, but I’ve always thought taxes in other countries are much higher than ours. Also, Americans can sue for virtually anything! But ironically, with any election, cutting taxes is always what politicians think we want to hear. Welcome to America!
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:48 am
The US health care system sucks. I had cancer 2x, luckily while I was married and on my now ex-husband’s insurance through work. I am an independent consultant and no one will insure me except my state plan (administered by BCBS - who flat out denied me when I applied as an individual), for $597 dollars a month. The system suck, Bush sucks and I just can’t wait to turn 50 next year and my monthly premium jumps to $700 a month.
June 2nd, 2007 at 4:08 am
Why did the American Association of Neurologist revamp the guidlines “Solely” for Plantiff Expert Witnesses and not for the Def’s Expert after 16 years?
“Neurologist who violates these provisions is subject to disciplinary action,” proves that the goal of the guidelines is to intimidate plaintiffs’ experts.
You’re never going to see discipline of a defense expert who violates these guidelines. Its really done to try to intimidate plaintiffs’ experts,
What is the difference between Malpractice and Manslaughter in this Country? See what happens when you try to sue - you cannot. It is frivolous until it happens to you.
June 2nd, 2007 at 4:26 am
Where can I buy your band “Get Involved?”
June 2nd, 2007 at 3:35 pm
When are the American middle class (or what’s left of it) going to wake up. The only way out of a serious illness without bankruptcy these days is by dying. Why are we paying (with out tax dollars) for state and federal workers to have great insurance when we are denied it?? Why can’t our tax dollars contribute to our individual health care instead. Someone is getting rich off this (Insurance companies, doctors, privately owned hospitals) - that is why our insurance premiums keep going up and our coverage down - its all about making a profit off our health care.
June 2nd, 2007 at 4:33 pm
I’m a Pediatrician in Los Angeles and I trained at a L.A. County hospital, a place I consider the front lines of the healthcare industry. While it’s horrible that our country doesn’t supply its citizens with basic health coverage, I find it even worse that kids are excluded. These are the vulnerable, innocent members of our society who are our future! To see healthcare withheld from children is particularly sad…vaccines cost a ton, they’re in short supply, and without basic coverage we often see kids with far advanced disease. It’s beyond sad. It’s pathetic.
And what does our government want to do? Cut children’s benefits in favor of other programs…and why? Because children don’t vote! Thankfully there remain few county hospitals who offer care to all, because without them, where would we be? I know the waiting time can be long, and care delayed, but consider the volume of patients we are asked to see! I agree, the system is broken. Only the Feds have the $$$ to enact change…the time is now!
June 3rd, 2007 at 12:23 am
I had really great health care experiences when I was working for a Fortune 500 company. Now that my health care is through a union… blech…
BUT… I don’t think universal health care will be done well in this country. Have you seen the DMV?
I went to visit a friend in England. Coincidentally, when I arrived she went into the hospital for a possible ectopic pregnancy. She was basically in a gynmasium. They didn’t have a sonogram machine that could look at her fetus. At 4pm, they walked around with a tea/coffee machine that could steam your milk for you. It was the most technically advanced piece of equipment they had. Good shortbread. Bad medicine.
June 3rd, 2007 at 3:57 am
I guess I supposed to be the ideal conservative. I go to college paying my own way by working, get straight A’s, and never take unemployment or welfare checks. During college I needed health care to fix my right eye (big black spot), treat my fractured ankle, and fix my ear drum. Our Boise State insurance didn’t cover that and I spent all my money on tuition and rent (no car - not enough $$), so I just live with it (more than 3 years now). I am saving up $$ to go to Honduras where my wife is from. Honduras, a third world nation with a median income of $950 a year, will fix my ailments for very little money. My wife will have to have our child out of the country since no insurance company will cover the pregnancy - pregnancy is considered a pre-existent condition so she needs to be insured 12 months prior to pregnancy. How sad is this? My son can’t be born in America because we can’t afford it. I guess it is my wife’s fault for having a difficult pregnancy.
June 3rd, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I posted this in the other forum. here it is. My situation. Please I am not looking for sympathy. I am social worker by trade. I hear things like this everyday that I am at work. It just hits harder when it happens to you. I have read all the comments here posted buy people and professionals.
Anthem BC/BS….
Denied medically necessary treatment for my daughter. Backlash caused me into a BK 7. losing everything, including our home! Also, the lack of child psychiatrists in the Cleveland area was at fault here. They had very few to non-existant contracts…many that were listed had 6m to 1 year wait lists or just not even taking new patients.
My beautiful daughter has mental illness which required treatment…DUH!
Would only cover 30 days a year in a hospital. If she had cancer, unlimited days in a hospital.
Had a long history of suicide attempts, yet the insurance company admitted by letter that hospitalization was medically necessary, but this letter is no guarantee of payment. WHF???
I as a single parent did everything humanly possible to save my daughter. I lost everything in the process.
The government had to take my daughter and place her in a hospital at their expense as I had no money to do so as she was and still is ill. Yes, I pay child support to the government for that.
I still pay insurance thru my paycheck for Anthem BC/BS yet my daughter receives no care from them.
On the flip side, if my daughter had a “physical” illness she would have all the treatment necessary.
Insurance companies treat people with mental illness as something lower than pond scum. They get away with it. The Ohio Dept of Insurance did NOTHING to help my daughter.
I would have given up my life to save my daughter, what parent wouldn’t?
So in the meanwhile, we have no home, (living in crappy apartment, because my credit was destroyed) no savings, (treatment took everything) and no credit. Yea, right, who will trust me?
I would have done anything to save my daughter. And, BTW, guess who made out like a bandit at the expense of my beautiful daughter..you guessed it. Anthem BC/BS.
So after reading this TRUE story, go hug your kids and thank the almighty that they are well!
Postscrip…there is a lot more to this. I can’t write everything that happened. I can’t tell you about the stress, I almost lost my job saving my daughter. But I would have given it up if it meant my daughter being well.
I get some kind of closure, I am starting to write about all that happened. Some members of my family do not understand what mental illness is and the effects it can cause. Some do. I have a few good friends out there that I spent a lot of time crying on their shoulder.
June 3rd, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Being an epileptic nearly drove me insane; the 6 years I spent having uncontrolled seizures were nuts. The neurologists who insisted on using the latest pharmaceutical drug, Depakote -which had no inexpensive generic substitute- didn’t help any. For $350.00 per month, I took these useless pills, not able to hold a job (who wants to hire a seizure victim?)and sat around hiding from “life”. After half a decade, $16000.00 worth of pills (no insurance, of course, due to no steady job), numerous unpaid hospital bills, and ruined credit, they let me switch to the mediction I took as a teenager (for $25.00/month). Two weeks later, the seizures were gone. Why the neurologists insisted on using the expensive, useless Depakote for over 5 years, I’ll never know (do they get a kickback from pharmaceutical companies? I almost hope so, in my case). The cherry on top: the U.S. Dept. of Education compounded my college loan payments’ interest 8.5% daily; my $32,000.00 loan went to $72,000.00 during those years, and the interest keeps compounding. It will cost me over $200,000.00 to pay it off over the next 30 years. At least I no longer have seizures, and can enjoy my new “life”.
June 3rd, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I work for one of the largest Hemo Dialysis companies in the world. I see on a daily basis how the dialysis unit’s profitability is the number one priority over patient care and comfort. If a patient is very ill, the manager wants that patient transferred out of their unit ASAP so that their “mortality rate” isn’t effected negatively, so their bonus isn’t effected later on. State law says we need a minimum of three people on the floor in case a patient codes; we run with two people on the floor for quite a few of our shifts. Instead of the unit buying Band Aids to place over the patient’s needle sites at the end of their treatment, we now use wadded up gauze and medical tape. Why? Because the Band Aids cost money, and if we don’t use them, it lowers the patient’s “Cost Per Treatment.” How sad.
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Yea, its terrible, what was even worse was that my friend, who actually is very smart, was convinced that the reason that the prices were so high was because of all the suits. I was like “what, so people shouldn’t be allowed to sue the pharmaceutical companies?” Thats the way the government wants you to think. I couldn’t believe it.
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:35 pm
My grandmother went to the hospital after what they thought was high blood sugar due to diabetes. After waiting in the waiting room for nearly 3 hours, and then 2 days later, the hospital still didn’t know what was wrong with her since her sugar was ok. She went to a family doctor a week later, and he tells her she might have had a mini-stroke. Don’t you think a doctor should test an 81 year old woman for things like this? Pitiful. Also during her two-day stay, one night there were “no doctors available” to come check her out. How is that even possible?
June 4th, 2007 at 3:11 am
Wow! Some tragic and emotionally-charged posts in here.
First, regarding Clinton. While I liked the man, his “promise” to revamp the U.S. healthcare system was–tragically and intentionally–mismanaged. While I am not accusing the former president of anything illicit (God forbid), his appointment of his strong-willed and stubborn wife was a deliberate sabotage of the project. She formed a panel of experts that created a plan in her smoke-filled room without any input from Congress at all. (Compare this with Bill’s success getting NAFTA passed around the same time.) Those familiar with the Constitution will realize that this was a tremendous faux-pas; it would be akin to someone in the sales department of Microsoft handing an engineer a stack of code and saying “implement this into the next version of Windows.” Needless to say, she had difficulty even finding sponsorship, and Bill got to say to the people: “Well, we tried.”
Secondly, especially for A.J. and Mike: The primary thing that you’re ignoring regarding taxes and generating revenue for a socialized system is that we are already paying these “taxes.” Where do you think the money for employer-subsidized healthcare insurance is generated? In consumer-purchased products and salaries, that’s where. While it’s true that we (and corporations) will be paying more in taxes, the products that we purchase will pick up the majority of that tax burden [products’ costs - embedded health insurance costs + increased tax burden on companies = products’ costs]. Also, with this alleviated burden, salaries should be increased slightly as a result. The only losers in this situation are, of course, the insurance companies, whose continual purpose to maximize revenues and provide for the stockholder. They will suddenly find themselves without purpose. Wonderful! I find it irritating that people with business and marketing degrees are determining whether or not a life-saving procedure is warranted and–more importantly–paid for.
June 4th, 2007 at 11:10 am
I have been battling an undiagnosed illness now for over three years. I have gone to numerous doctors, who turn me away with a clean bill of health. In the meantime, I can barely walk down stairs, my whole body gets the shakes, I am always tired, my skin is getting thinner, my hair is falling out, and I always feel out of it. I have slowly realized that the doctors don’t care about the patient, they care about their pocketbooks. I look healthy, so I must be. Well, I have been trying natural treatments, which have slowly gotten me my life back. Not cured, but better. I have also been able to successfully shrink a swollen node with turmeric powder at the suggestion of a friend. My slow turn-around is thanks to natural health books and vitamins/herbs. Doctors in this country have done nothing but make me highly cynical of the healthcare we get offered. (Just so everyone knows, my problems are with the healthcare offered, and not the insurance company I am under. I don’t even want to think about how bad others have it. Soon, I will be among the many without health insurance–going off dad’s plan. I am scared for myself and everyone. You are all in my prayers. Please take care.)
June 4th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I have always had a great experience with our health care system. I have friends in Canada and the UK that wish they had it as good as we do. I like that we now have a site here that will show how dumb it will be to make our health care worse by making it social. I mean if you want to have higher taxes and hope you never need a kidney (ask anyone from the UK how long it takes to get an organ transplant). Love the United States….if you dont, spend an extended period of time in another country and get sick. I promise you, you will want to come home.
June 4th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
God forbid that one gets sick in America without medical coverage, you are treated worst than an animal in the emergency room, wait between 3 to 4 hours to see a Dr …then what, if you cant afford the treatment or have the money for meds….America country that is great for the well to do, but stinks if you are poor.
June 4th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I support the movie because it might help exposing the truths about wellness that the American public is so reluctant to embrace.
Each individual is responsible for their own well being in life. Everyone wants the medical profession to “fix” them. This is a delusion that even the majority of of the medical profession in this country feeds like a cancer on a regular basis, and technology makes it esier for us to do this without awareness or knowledge of what we are doing.
There are poor people in other countries that have been living healthy lives for centuries without the abuse of “modern” medicinal access that we in America have been killing ourselves with now since the overuse of antibiotics.
Collectively, we, both as practitioners and lay people, are literally self destructing in our own egos…and all we can do now is try to educate people to see the truths that we blatantly refuse to accept.
Hope.
Hope for better and have the courage to accept we have been very wrong.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
I have had several bad experiences with health care, and I sympathize with all of you. Do to the total lack of health insurance in my state, I am FORCED to go to the ER for treatment. It is not due to a lack of personal preventative care, rather the regular flux of a body living just above poverty level.
For the people who are passing judgement: If there is one thing I’ve learned in my life it’s that you can NEVER walk in someone else’s shoes, and it is both an ignorant and conceited act.
The truth is all this money flying around is being grabbed by someone: the higher ups. Inflated salaries for private physicians/specialists and the high level administration. NO one needs $100k/yr to survive. NO one. And that’s an uber-conservative figure.
I have Bi-Polar disorder (and speaking of which .. one of you said ‘[find something that makes you happy and stop taking thos anti-depressants]’ .. to you I say FEH. Most people taking those meds NEED them for conditions which CANNOT be otherwise controlled,) and I have struggled for years to find affordable mental health care.
Here I am, a genius level IQ, incredible musical talent but unable to function in society well enough to perform. I pushed myself, though. I TRULY did. I forced myself into college and vowed to make a go of it, no matter what issues I encountered. I am no longer a student.
I finally found a free mental health clinic! Guess what? They’re not listed anywhere. The government does *NOT* want people to know about them. In fact, I was instructed NOT to mention the clinic by name because they’re already under big brother’s ever-watching eye. I had to call a crisis line THREE TIMES before I even knew this place existed.
So I’m on meds now, but at what cost to my life? I applied for Oregon Health/Care Oregon three times over the past three years, and was rejected each time because I wasn’t pregnant or “… of a certain ethnicity.” So I’m a white male. What gives? I pay 12% of my income in taxes, have no children, no insurance!! What am I paying taxes for? I have an invoice on my table right now for over $2,000 due to emergency room visits for panic-attacks and BP cycle breaks.
I am sick and tired of people talking about the plethora of avenues available. If you look more closely, these are people who’ve had the benefit of higher education and are on a career track; they have insurance, terrible as it might be, but they can actually call to make appointments. I spent three years searching and six hours in a waiting room for a fifteen minute appointment JUST for a script I already knew I needed.
This was kind of a ‘poor me’ posting, but the truth is I’m alive and that’s what matters. I’m just tired of people saying THEY’RE tired of hearing people complain. Most people have a good reason to complain. And, if you’re tired of people complaining, get off your high horse. Stop listening. Stop reading these posts and stop patting yourself on the back for being ‘better’ than us.
June 5th, 2007 at 5:02 am
The healthcare insurance premium for my husband, myself, and our 2 year old son runs $568 a month. That comes out to $6,816 a year. We only have a yearly income of $36,088. I can only make an educated guess that even if we did go universal healthcare, any taxes that may be charged would be significantly less than almost $7,000 a year. That’s not including the deductibles, co-pays, and the 20% of the bill that we pay on top of the insurance premiums. I know that we’re one of those families that really cannot afford this amount of premium for healthcare insurance, but with our having a small child, my husband being an asthmatic, and my being treated for clinical depression, the costs of the premiums versus paying for our treatment and prescriptions directly is really a crapshoot, not to mention (God forbid) if something catastrophic should happen to one of us. I’m not blaming any industry in particular for the high premiums or the high medical charges. The litigious, insurance, and medical industries all have a hand in the complete and utterly broken United States healthcare system. I think that the Kucinich / Conyers bill on Universal / Single-Payer healthcare plan deserves a good look by the American people. This is a very convoluted situation and I can only hope that something can and will be done soon as soon as possible to fix this crisis.
June 5th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
The truly amazing thing is how so many Americans have been propagandized into defending the system that will kill them if it gets the chance.
Thank heavens for Michael Moore. we have been bombarded with propaganda from the healthcare industry for generations…it’s embarrassing that so many americans have bought it hook, line and sinker.
It’s time to dismantle America’s third-world healthcare system once and for all…and rejoin the civilized world by going to a single payer system.
June 5th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
29 year old law student. Uninsured.
June 5th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Kudos to you!! Next why not focus on medicaid waste? As a nurse, the amount of money wasted on the “disabled” is shocking. I’m not talking about people with terminal or chronic illnesses, or those with physical or mental disabilities that are unable to work. I’m talking about the “career” patients, who suffer from chronic “un-documented” back pain (most common), anxiety disorder, substance abuse, and depression, who hospital jump to the point that they are in the hospital more than not. If they claim chest pain or shortness of breath, they have learned that this will guarantee them a room. They receive the same cardiac and pulmonary (not counting GI or neuro) work ups every other month costing us taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per person. I work in Saint Petersburg, Florida, and on any given day we have at least 5 of these patients just on my floor! The doctors and hospital are so lawsuit scared that the same people show up regularly with the same complaints and still get admitted (minimum one week stay). We have even had to call security to remove these people after discharge. The reason these particular patients are dreaded by the healthcare personnel is that they are the most rude and demanding patients EVER! They are the ones to make out special hand written menus, watch the clock for pain medication (it has nothing to do with pain, but the buzz wore off and time for a new), and the doctors never get to see them because they are off the floor down smoking with friends. We have even busted some for recieving drugs from people out in the smoking area. There are the significant others who try to spend the night, and do, in the patients bed because they now have a roof to spend the night under.
Don’t touch medicare, the elderly who have contributed their entire lives and they deserve to be taken care of by the rest of us. But having to pay for medicare and a supplement, as well as medications and co-pays makes me ashamed. We give the medicaid people a free ride, no copays, no supplements and free medications. Shame on this country.
The atrocities of the insurance companies have been exposed, now hit the government provided free ride we have been giving to this coutry’s parasitic community
June 5th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
An interesting “factoid” about insurance premiums - I’ve been reading through these posts so far, and no one has mentioned “the percentage of income” angle (at least, directly) - through my company, insurance is $370 for a single person a month. Let’s say my rent is $740 a month (about average for 1-bedroom apartment in my area). Then if I’m paying for health insurance, it’s 50% of the cost of my rent! I know there is some formula somewhere, as to the percent of a person’s income that should reasonably go toward housing (or a mortgage) - I mean, how can health insurance equal half the amount of someone’s RENT? Is that REASONABLE???
And re: people’s poor eating habits - yeah, again, there’s the corporations pushing all this junk food on us and our children nonstop - people are working full-time or more, raising families - grabbing “a quick bite to eat” - wow, biggie fries! Etc. And then the insanity of having super-skinny female celebrities shoved in our faces all the time, then “women’s magazines” with the schizophrenic covers, i.e., LOSE 5 POUNDS IN A WEEK!!! right next to a picture of a 4-layer cake. And then studies have shown living in suburbs, having to DRIVE everywhere, packs on the pounds!! WHO DESIGNED THE CAR-INTENSIVE SUBURBS!!! Not us people with the “poor eating habits” who “don’t take care of ourselves.” FAT AMERICANS WHO DON’T EXERCISE were created by the CORPORATIONS who laid out endless miles of concrete and stuck us all in cars for long commutes to sedentary jobs. YES, personal responsibility - but how about some CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY TOO!!!!! No, it’s the American Way: BLAME THE VICTIM
June 5th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Our premium for family of 3 went from $900 a month with Aetna to $1300 a month in just 2 years. We are now uninsured. It’s just too much. Almost one third of our income.
Also…why can’t we get generics as fast as everyone else in the world? I pay $60 a month for my sons Zyrtec. I can order generic all over the world, just can’t get it here in the good ole USA. And the pharmaceutical companies are probably payin off the FDA to make it illegal to order it!
We have MAJOR CORRUPTION in our government. We need to rebel, demand a change, kick em out, and start over!
June 5th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
My husband and I own a small business and the only employees we have are ourselves. We refuse to purchase healthcare for ourselves because of the fact that the cost would outweigh what we could actually afford. If we want to pay our house payment and feed our kids there is NO WAY insurance would be affordable. Not to mention the “pre - exisiting” condition clause that every insurance company has. I have a few minor health issues and my husband hasnt been to a doctor in many years. I have calculated that it is actually cheaper right now to pay out of pocket for any health care expenses we have. All the insurance reps that we have spoke to over the past 6 months try to sell sell sell and the common thread among every single agent for every single company is the same “WHAT IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO YOU AND YOU NEED EXTENSIVE TREATMENT?”
I watched Michael Moore on Oprah this afternoon and I cannot wait for this film to arrive in the theaters. Maybe if each and every one of us made a stand against this problem in some way we could possibly make a difference. I cannot wait for the president to see this. Thank you Michael for creating this film, it is possible that this could somehow help save lifes in the future.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I was laid off from my company about six months ago. I am a 31-year-old very healthy female. I applied for an individual health insurance plan (Blue Cross)…can’t believe how expensive an individual PPO (most good Dr.s only take PPO) plan cost. I was shocked to learn that I would be denied due to my cholesterol. Well I don’t have bad cholesterol, my cholesterol is actually very good. LDL 91..normal. HDL 118 (good cholesterol…you want that number as high as possible). The insurance companies were just looking at the total number, not taking into consideration the ratio. My doctors were shocked at how high (good high) my HDL was and said that is very good. Anyway, to make a long story short. I got the run around from all the underwriters saying they were all nurses and I was telling them if they knew what they were talking about I would not be denied. They wanted my cholesterol lowered but you want your HDL as high as possible. So in order to get insurance I would have to become unhealthy. The insurance company’s really need to get a clue what they are talking about. I am still without insurance.
June 5th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Suzie, you gave me my laugh for the day (and I haven’t even seen the movie yet!) - You wrote:
“Kudos to you!! Next why not focus on medicaid waste? As a nurse, the amount of money wasted on the “disabled” is shocking. I’m not talking about people with terminal or chronic illnesses, or those with physical or mental disabilities that are unable to work. I’m talking about the “career” patients, who suffer from chronic “un-documented” back pain (most common), anxiety disorder, substance abuse, and depression,
—-
I have to admit, when I read your post it made wonder if you are a nurse…or just someone on this board who works for the insurance industry, trying to shift the American public’s anger and frustration to an easier, “unsympathetic” target. Yeah, I work in the medical field too. And amazingly enough, from my vantage point there aren’t actually too many of the patients you describe! I think this whole “undocumented back pain” thing is a hoax. They do all kinds of tests and studies and have all kinds of treatments (ever hear of an epidural steroid injection? A diskectomy? A TENS unit? Etc, etc?)
And re: depression and anxiety, oh, I just roar with laughter! Life is a struggle, sometimes people need help - and what do they get - not that lengthy expensive “talk therapy” (hey, it can work!), no just switch from Wellbutrin to Zoloft to Prozac etc etc etc. Ever hear of something called the “Prozac poop-out effect?” Yep, even the effect of antidepressants can wear off over time. Hey, why doesn’t a hospital start up a “hospital stay addicts support group” for these “career patients?” No, its easier to just keep doing the same expensive thing because of “concern of litigation.” Oh uproarious. If what you say is actually true.
The most that I’ve seen in seven years of “career patients” are those with substance abuse problems of longstanding, who are suffering from liver problems, etc. THEY can be in and out of the hospital a lot. And when people come from an abusive background/poor/and abusing more than one substance and alcohol…but where are we back to? Oh yeah, people moving on out to the suburbs and leaving the poor behind. Structural unemployment, robots in factories to reduce (or eliminate entirely) labor costs, now jobs going overseas in a big way. Enjoy your patios and tractor mowers everyone! Your one-hour commutes in your huge SUVs from point A to B!!!!
******
Observation: Why have these 24-hour superexpensive “Turbo ERs” open, when ALL A PERSON MAY NEED IS A NURSE PRACTITIONER!” Duh, if we’re crowding the ERs with our “nonemergent complaints” THEN WHY DON’T YOU HOSPITALS OPEN UP 24-HOUR CLINICS STAFFED BY NPs, LPNs, and physician assistants????????????????????????????? Let me walk out of an ER with a $100 bill, instead of $3,000! Throw in $50 because it’s at 1 a.m.! A NP could ALWAYS REFER AN EMERGENT CASE ON TO A “REAL” EMERGENCY ROOM!!!!
I am so SICK of so-called “health care professionals” who can’t use any IMAGINATION OR INTELLIGENCE in solving these problems. I wish I had been able to go see an NP at 1 a.m., instead of having my own no-insurance, $3,000 ER visit. I just needed to see an NP, that’s all!!!!!!!!!!! BUT I DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE!!!!!! THE HOSPITAL DID NOT GIVE ME A CHOICE!!!!!!!!!!!
HOSPITAL: WILLIAM “THE BULLY” BEAUMONT IN MICHIGAN
June 6th, 2007 at 1:47 am
I work for a healthcare insurance company that encompasses the Medicaid population. I enjoy my job, but the whole healthcare is so mind boggling and ridiculous. My day consist of telling providers their claims denied because: no prior authorization was received, claim wasn’t received within 180 days,needing the primary EOB, or my personal favorite the claim denied in error - an internal problem.
Recently a young teen was seen in the ER for a broken wrist and was referred to an orthopedic dr in the area, the only ortho we contract with in this town. Come to find out that ortho will not see this patient because he has state insurance. It is unconceivable! It boils down to the “ALMIGHTY DOLLAR”!
I don’t have a plan on how to fix it, but something needs to happen.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:13 am
I CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS MOVIE’S RELEASE!
Hurry Hurry Hurry!
THANK YOU, Michael Moore, for your great genius and many talents.
You are helping so many people with your works!
Thank you for hitting the nail on the head!
Bless You,
EL in Houston, TX
June 6th, 2007 at 6:39 am
My mom was recently hospitalized for septicemia - she had a bladder infection that went systemic. Frankly, she received outstanding care - and did not pay one cent out of her own pocket. Is this because she’s older and is covered by medicare or because she has excellent private health insurance supplementary coverage - I don’t know. This is in Michigan (and I know that she received care in California for a heart incident when traveling once also and it was excellent) - I frankly don’t know. I think the biggest problem with our system is that it’s all moved to employer provided insurance. If you’re not gainfully employed and your employer doesn’t provide you with a good program (which I believe a lot of them don’t in an effort to cost cut) you’re hosed, otherwise, you might actually have really good coverage and really good care, like my mom.
June 6th, 2007 at 7:30 am
Diagnosed with cancer three months ago. Fully insured via a networked HMO. I decided that I wanted to receive the best care possible as this is a deadly disease. My hospital of choice was Sloan Kettering for treatment. MY HMO has denied treatment at this facility. I now pay for all costs out of pocket.
June 6th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I injured my knee and went to my Primary Care Physician for a referral to a sports medicine doctor. My PCP examined me and said there was soft tissue damage, no bone involvement and that I didn’t need an X-Ray. When I called to make an appointment with the specialist, his office person told me that I must appear at the appointment with an X-Ray. I told her that my doctor told me I didn’t need one; it wouldn’t show anything and would be a waste of time and money and needlessly expose me to radiation. She said no X-Ray, no appointment. So I had to return to my PCP for an X-Ray requisition and go the hospital for a knee X-Ray, knowing that the specialist will look at it, say it shows nothing and order an MRI. Waste? Stupidity? Needless billing? Needless radiation? Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.
June 6th, 2007 at 9:13 am
There are many issues that are problematic with health care in the US; the crux of which are that we don’t live in a capitalist country where the forces of the market dictate the value of goods and services. Adam Smith would cry about our current system!
What we have is a corporatist kleptocracy where greed is the credo and favors and bribes are the coins of the realm. “Universal” health care is a good idea but it would stanch the flow of research, development and creativity on behalf of medical researchers and doctors. What would be their incentive to achieve or move forward?
In order to fix health care we need to reform our government so that small business can flourish and capitalist principles can once again take hold. People like Hillary Clinton want to have a dialogue about “universal” care but she is a corporatist like Bush, Obama, and the rest of the crooks. “Universal” health care would rob researchers, doctors and nurses of their rightful profit from their intellectual property. This would in turn stop them from producing and leave the majority with a health care system that would make our current system look wonderful.
Moreover, “universal” health care would leave most of the current system in tact and raise taxes on an already overburdened middle class. This tax revenue would go to the government and fatten the pockets of congressmen’s friends like the CEO’s of drug companies who make profits for their shareholders; neither of which know anything about health care.
How is this different from our current system you ask? Instead of insurance companies robbing you the government is robbing you. It takes people who make money, like the middle class, pay for the care of those who allegedly “need” health care. I would rather pay an insurance premium for my health care than pay for those who make no contribution to have health care.
Universal health care robs those that make contributions to society with their minds and turns them into slaves for government apparatchiks, corporations, and those who produce nothing. Reverting back to true capitalism would make health care better and more available and affordable for all. It would destroy the massive market share consolidation of drug companies and insurance companies thereby increasing competition and lowering prices.
June 6th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Healthcare is a run away train. For 5 years a doctor lied to us that my husband’s tumor was not growing. It was. When I went to Senator Kean’s office in New Jersey to help us report the horrific behavior we were blocked. Assemblyman Munoz is a doctor he was covering for his friends. The State of NJ said they are there to protect the doctors not the patients.
I reported it to NY they found a problem with the behavior and NJ was forced to investigate. The problem the case is still pending investigation
June 6th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
The movie will open up the eyes of many. There are many people who think the reason an individual is having problems with the Healthcare system is because they are not good at negotiating what they are entitled to.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Discrimination for using healthcare comes in many forms Pfizer Pharmaceutical told me to get out and they did not care if my husband died. When I complained they sent Berkeley Heights NJ police stating I was stealing from them. They brought out a person from their legal department and filed a report I was stealing from them.
When I reported to the State of NJ and the Union County prosecutors office that they illegally filed a false report Mr. Romankow’s office refused to investigate and file charges for filing an illegal report and the police ripping up the original report and altering it to say I wanted Pfizer and the police at my home as witnesses. I complained to Senator Kean’s office nothing happened because Richard Bagger was the former Senator who is also a Senior Vice President at Pfizer. They control our legislators and police and the FBI. Joe Billy was the head of the NJ Unit and he just happened to work with the Head of Security of Pfizer. They both worked in NY together at the FBI. Kean’s office had the FBI come to my house (which is illegal only a federal level offical can request the FBI) to have them write I had Panic Disorder.
Pfizer should explain how I met a woman in Boston who stated she understand because she and 7 other families lost their jobs with a division of Pfizer because spouses were ill.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Union Plumber wrote:
“Universal” health care would rob researchers, doctors and nurses of their rightful profit from their intellectual property. This would in turn stop them from producing and leave the majority with a health care system that would make our current system look wonderful.
__________________________
That’s the “wonderful” thing about message boards - anyone can post anything with no evidence, no data, for their opinions. It is false that “researchers, doctors and nurses” receive a “rightful profit” from “their intellectual property.” No, the corporation does - whatever you invent, design, create, investigate while EMPLOYED by a CORPORATION (including a UNIVERSITY), IS LEGALLY OWNED BY THE CORPORATION. THE CORPORATION sees the profit. Also, the National Institutes of Health FUND MEDICAL RESEARCH - check out their website at nihDOTgov. Corporations and our government fund research. A researcher can get a big fat grant, but they certainly do not INDIVIDUALLY see any “profit,” the corporation and its stockholders do, or the university they are employed by, etc.
And what is this idea that what motivates first-class research is MONEY???? The profit motive??? Go read books about researchers - the strongest motivation is intellectual hunger, ambition to be the first to discover something (i.e., have a disease or a treatment or surgical instrument named after you), the desire to cure a disease that has plagued human beings forever - NOT the big house, fancy car, etc. I again roar with laughter at the thought that the ONLY thing that motivates human achievement and creativity is MONEY. Read up on Albert Einstein for instance - there’s no TOUR now of some MANSION he owned, with 10 luxury cars in the garage etc. HE DIDN’T CARE ABOUT MONEY. I think this is true of most first-rate researchers. If the lack of profit is going to drive a lot of SECOND-RATE researchers out of medical research, ’cause there’s no social-status-country-club type stuff in it anymore - I say GOOD RIDDANCE, don’t let the screen door hit your behind on the way out.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Last post ….. Change can not happen fast enough
June 6th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Good luck Michael … we need more people like you to stand up and voice what is happening
June 6th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
End the discrimination of the ill and disabled and their families by self insured employers. They will not hire healthy family members because someone is ill in the family.
Pfizer fires people and tells them they don’t care if family members die. They harass the families. They did it to us in NJ and we met a woman in Boston who said they did it to her family in Boston.
June 6th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I am self-employed and am doing OK with the business. I cannot afford to hire anyone if I have to include any kind of insurance, so I outsource when I have to.
I can only imagine how things would be if I get really sick. I’m certain I will be financially ruined. Once again, the wealthy get the best care, and the wealthy do not have to worry about the things we mere mortals have to.
Not *once* will you hear a story from a sick individual or family (who isn’t wealthy) in the US about how well the system works for them. The system sucks, and obviously panders to the already-wealthy insurance companies to feed the bonuses of the already wealthy big-shots.
I have read the comments from those who think the complainers should suck it up (i.e., we live in the greatest nation in the world, you should be a great American like me, thank you Hannity). Can you imagine how they’d change their tune if they became ill, could not afford the co=pay and/or premium hikes which are certain to come, and maybe have to get help in Canada. Happens often.
June 6th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I have insuarnce, but if anything serious happens that requires long term care or a planned operation I will return home to Ireland for such services. Its not that the government there will foot the bill for most things, but anything else I have to pay is actually affordable.
And for the record, my wife and I have whats considered a ‘good leath care plan’ here.
What ever happened to America?
June 6th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
American Healthcare… isn’t that an oxymoron? When recently discussing how healthcare works in the states with a Canadian aquaintance, her only response was “What a frightening way to live your life…”
June 6th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
One of my favorite reasons against “universal” healthcare is the myth of having to wait months for an appointment (great propaganda, the Commies would be proud). IF you are lucky, in the USA you get one in about a month. When we needed to see a doctor in Europe (Italy and Czech Rep.), we saw one the same day. And the doctors still do house-visits of the sick, elderly, and handicapped!!
I hate to see the new European politicians getting greedy and messing with their healthcare systems and trying to follow their American “heroes” (Hungary, Czech…), it is shortsighted.
I am not poor, just self-employed. I don’t want anything for free; just dependable, decent care for fair money. (And the Massachusetts “plan” - or scam? - will not solve the problem.)
And Mike: more people (in a country) mean more expenditures on healthcare, yes; but also more income for the entire system!
June 6th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
My Daughter had earwax removed when we were checking out an ear infection. The doctor’s office called it surgery and charged 300 dollars. What else can I say…
June 7th, 2007 at 7:47 am
Healthcare Insurance causes job discrimination for many ill and disabled families. Companies that are self insured strategically dismiss the well spouse or parent. The American Government must stop the discrimination.
June 7th, 2007 at 7:47 am
Healthcare discrimination is job discrimination if companies self insure.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:43 am
As a resident training in county hospital and now practicing in private practice in upper middle class area, there is a hugh disparity of health, pt’s own desire for proper maintainance, and resources for supporting proper health care. From my impression, patients in low social economical status, do not have enough resources to pay for meds to keep them out of the hospital. Also, they tend to have more chronic illnesses because of lack of early preventative screening and poor dietary and exercise. When this situation occurs, it is a slippery slope of which leads to potential side problems (i.e. loss of pay due to frequent hospital trips, impaired work functions due to illnesses).
In terms of perspective for medical care for upper middle class, the major problem is the rising insurance preminum, thus patients are being hit with this and high prices for meds. Fortunately, wal-mart and target are providing a lot of meds that cover wide spectrum of illnesses and helps me to provide meds to patients.
June 7th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
My Mom was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer by a specialist at a cancer center after several unhelpful trips to her doctor. He told her she was alergic to milk, that was why her stomach was so swollen. Pure incompetence & very likely a profit issue for him as well.
Then we went through the cancer treatment. It was a money making machine & I am disgusted that sickness is BIG business. Do you really think the people making all the money want to change anything?
Natural remedies my grandmother used effectively would never even be offered at a doctors office today because nobody makes any money if the treatment isn’t patented, trademarked, copywritten etc. Of course, there’s the additional profit to be made from the second round of prescriptons to deal with the side effects of the first round of medications prescribed. Don’t you just love writing with those fancy pharmacutical pens at your doctor’s office? Don’t you just love the generosity? I throw them away every chance I get. They disgust me.
My Mom passed away at age 53. The Bible tells us God’s people are dying from lack of knowledge. I believe it.
If American’s want good health advice, they need to visit a veternarian or start reading about some natural cures. I recommend Kevin Trudeau’s books with the secrets “They” don’t want you to know about.
June 7th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
I just wanted to make a comment for those of you who work in the health insurance industry (and therefore have an income that is dependent on people and companies purchasing health insurance) and who are making critical comments on this website.
It is important that people look after themselves and their health. The truth is that many of us know that we should eat 5-10 fruits and vegetables per day, get plenty of exercise to deal with stress (which is a lot more physically damaging than most people realize, esp. in the long term), fresh air and also a good nights sleep. Not everybody is living a healthy lifestyle. A lot of people don’t actually realize how bad their diet is, how exercise is something you have to make a priority (making sure you have an adequate amount), that a good nights sleep is really 8 hours (not 6, not 4, not 2), and how these variables can in the end damage your immune system so that your body cannot fight disease. THEREFORE, people do have the means to take some responsibility for their health.
HOWEVER, it is ridiculous and naive for anyone in the health insurance industry to suggest that our health is entirely in our own hands. Healthy people get cancer, accidents and physical traumas do occur that we have no way of foreseeing, and there are genetic diseases that one cannot help but suffer. There is also the simple factor of aging: as our bodies get older, our immune system weakens, and we are more susceptible to illness.
I personally think that the profit oriented American healthcare system is in serious need of an overhaul. I am 35 and healthy now, but I hate to think of what might be in store for me, as I get older. Like all Americans in good health, I keep my fingers crossed.
June 7th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I recently went to the Mayo Clinic for some diagnostic tests. My bill for two days of outpatient testing was over $10,000. of which I will have to pay whatever my insurance decides they won’t allow. At this point in my illness, it was either go there or give up so I don’t feel there was much of a choice. It’s a fantastic facility and I would have loved to have been able to stay there for treatment, but the fact is that you can only do that if you’re rich or have insurance that covers all your care. If you’re not a person with money, like me, the alternative is to go for diagnostic tests and then return home for treatment. If you have no insurance, you’re what—screwed??
I don’t think anyone who believes everyone in this country should receive the same level of health care thinks it will be free. If we weren’t having to pay for the Iraq fiasco and taxes weren’t being cut to the wealthy, it seems like a completely doable and sane idea. What’s crazy is to be the most powerful country on the planet and have people dying for lack of care and their lives being disregarded by insurance companies who have their hands up the backs of the people sworn to represent us in Washington. Worse yet is that we, who are paying their salaries, allow it.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Smarten up people. You have to be your own advocate when it comes to healthcare. You need to be smarter consumers. It’s supply and demand folks. If you want to go crawling to the ER every time you have a cold or an ear infection instead of to the health department or free clinic, it’s going to cost you and everybody else. If we went to a nationalized system we’d be in even more trouble. I want to know what Michael Moore proposes to do. More government? More regulation? Come on! We have enough government infringing on our lives and costing us more money in taxes to do what corporate America can do at a fraction of the cost. Not to mention, if you make too much money for government assistance and still can’t “afford” your medications, sign up for the pharmaceutical companies’ plans to get free and discounted medication. And ask your doc for a cost saving alternative to each prescription.
Here is my advice, stop eating so much crap, exercise, stop buying cigarettes (they cost a fortune to buy and even more on the healthcare end), stop drinking alcohol and pop, stop having unprotected sex, stop sitting in front of video games (how can you afford Dish and X-Box anyway?) get your free high school diploma, and get a full-time job with benefits!!! If you decide to have children, get married first, and STAY MARRIED (leading cause of poverty is single parenthood in this country)! Follow those steps and quit your whining!
If you want to see pain and suffering, go to Africa! We are fortunate. Count your blessings and take some personal responsibility people! My grandparents came to this country with the American dream and little more than a second-grade education. We are privileged to live in America. Don’t you people ever forget it! If you don’t like it here, leave!
June 7th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I broke my elbow and I didn’t have insurance so I had to pay $500 just to see a doctor for 3 minutes, all he did was look at one x-ray and told me it was broken. Than he left. They wrapped it up, and told me to go see another doctor at another office. When I got there they charged me $500 just to put a cast on my arm. It would have saved me lots of money if the hospital would have just done it in the first place. I think they all work together to bleed the poor people dry.
June 7th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Not a huge deal, but my insurance provider no requires me to send in my prescriptions so that my company can give me the medication. It’s been ongoing for a few months now, and I still think it’s kind of weird. I doubt you’ll ever see this comment, but good luck from a fellow Michiganian, and know that I’ve seen and loved every one of your movies!
-Jade [an above-average 14-year-old.
]
June 7th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
I am 27 years old, and I don’t have health insurance. There are programs out there for those that need assistance. In NJ, I qualified for hospital assistance, and was able to receive quality healthcare at no cost to me. I filled out an application, and was asked about my banking information, my paychecks, and my income. Since my income was so low, I qualified. This does not mean that I abuse the system. I don’t. Since I received hospital assistance, I was allowed to chose a family care doctor just in case I was sick so that I did not have to go to the emergency room. This past Tuesday, I saw a doctor, when I was sick. Since I did not have insurance, he gave me samples and I was really appreciative. Now, I am feeling much better, and I can go to work tomorrow. If I did not recieve any medical attention, my infection could have spread to my lungs which could have been serious. My situation is temporary. I am getting a job in the medical field in September, and I have empathy towards people that need help. Health insurance is a business, as the health insurance companies goal is to make money from the premiums, and not pay for the claims.
June 8th, 2007 at 4:38 am
I am 23-years old and have been denied coverage from 36 different health care providers because I am prone to epileptic seisures. Because of this, I have to save money from my paychecks each month in order to stay alive. What the hell is wrong with this country?
June 8th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Hello,
I’ve worked in the healthcare industry for over 7 years….it sucks! To me it’s like going to Mc Ducks, ordering a “healthy” salad, only to find yourself shitting your brains out from all the chemicals that are in it! Healthcare is all about getting the patient “addicted” to the clinic, so the symptoms maybe subsided….only for a month or two. We wouldn’t want them to recover, cause than we wouldn’t make our quota.($$$)
Short story short…People come last! $ rules! Our healthcare system is = to what’s in the toilet afer eating fast food!
June 8th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Docs make way too much money. Granted they go to school for upwards of 15 years and have 150,000 in loans, but i would rather see people in Hollywood and athletes take the money.
June 8th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
If you like the post office then you will LOVE universal healthcare. It will help the poor and uninsured but will screw middle america and have no effect on the rich.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Hi Michael,
About four weeks ago my husband, uninsured handyman, found a huge mass in his abdomen. His option was to go to the free clinic where it would have been months before seeing a real MD and probably never have the CT Scan he required. It is life-saving luck that my father is a surgeon at one of the best hospitals in L.A. I called him and told him about the mass and he said he wanted to examine him. He was very concerened and said it had to be followed up asap.
My father, brilliant surgeon, and old enough to know the system sucks and costs people their lives, told us we would have to show up at the emergency room, where my husband would have to complain of severe abdominal pain (not true, of course)and a Dr. would meet us there whom my father told about the situation and not having insurance. He told us in order to keep him from being transferred they would probably admit him. This was fine becuase it turns out he needed to have emergency surgery the following morning to save his life. My father actually changed some of his scheduleled surgeries around so he could open up an OR for my husband and the team of surgeons he surreptisiosly gathered.
It turns out my husband has a very rare form of cancer called GIST or Gastral Intestinal Stromal Tumor. His tunor was 17 cm and had hemmorraged. Had it been much longer he would have bled to death. The surgeons removed the enormous tumor, a good part of his stomach, his spleen and a portion of his pancreas. He spent 2 weeks in the hospital recovering. My father is covering our expenses and the hospital will treat us as a charity case as we kept our relationship to my father secret.
Now, there’s more… I learned all I could about GIST and it turns out it can come back at any time, 2 moths or 30 years, and with a vengance. The only way to ensure survival is to have routine scans.. every 3 months! Each scan costs about $7000! Also, he has been prescribed a type of chemotherapy drug that helps GIST, actually a magic bullet, but, it costs, $2500 a month. That’s about $84 a pill! For two years!
We’re still reeling from the cancer diagnosis and massive surgery let alone comprehending how this stuff happens and why the heck it costs so freaking much!
Had I not researched GIST and become my husbands advocate, they would have sent him home and told him he was cured. What do they care, it’s not happening to them or their wifes or their two small boys, like us, and they don’t know where he’ll be in 5 years, 10 years, whenever…
Frightening!
Much love to all… we need all we can get!
June 8th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
December 15, 2006 I went to Texas Med Clinic in San Antonio, Tx. I was told I would be seen right away. I was escorted back to a room where I waited an hour. I became frustrated and wandered down the hall to see the physician, I was waiting on, playing solitaire on the computer. I dressed walked to the front and told them I had to leave for work. Well I received a bill a couple of months later. The clinic had charged my insurance for a x-ray, an injection, and an office visit. I went to the clinic to get a copy of my chart and x-rays. Well of course there were no x-rays to be found. They were never taken. The doctor’s chart had me diagnosed with asthma, a condition I do not have. The doctor’s chart also stated that the doctor wrote me prescriptions for my alleged asthma. I was informed by the office manager that the doctor was going to be chastised and I would not have to worry about the bill. Just today I received a collection notice from this clinic for this non-existent doctor visit. My insurance company has already been informed and they are sending me paperwork so they can collect the money they gave the clinic for all these procedures that never occurred. This clinic perpetrated insurance fraud and they shamelessly persist in collecting more money. I have been given the runaround, I’ve been told 3 different times that the matter is being resolved and they would be calling me back. This has happened several times and no has yet called me back. They just keep sending me collection letters. Medical billing and less than honest healthcare providers are also a big problem in America. This is not the first time I have been billed for x-rays that were never taken. It occurred previously in different medical offices. This instance is just the most outrageous. I have family members in the healthcare field and they all have informed me that medical billing is a total, unorganized mess. I refuse to go to a doctor anymore and rely on computer information and healthy alternatives. I realize sometime in the future I will have to see a doctor if the condition is grave, but I haven’t any faith or trust and I’m very concerned about putting my health and money in the healthcare profession. Thanks, Sandra Ruempel
June 8th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
American Healthcare …… in NJ the legislators do not protect their citizens … Congressman Ferguson where does his campaign contributions come from Pfizer, the insurance companies so he refuses to see the people he is supposed to represent. GE Medical scammed our family, had someone call from Maine and say they were a brain tumor family. When we asked how they got our number they said GE gave our number out. GE then showed a video of our medical situation to 1000 people at a conference in Chicago without our written permission. When I stated to Congressman Ferguson’s office it violated our rights they basically just brushed us off.
When we found out GE set up the whole phone scam to
promote their technolgy, the Brighams in Boston said it was illegal to use phone lines across state lines for fraud and the FBI should be involved. Well the Brighams in Boston would not help (oh I understand why the Brighams works heavily with GE on research projects, the NJ, Connecticut, Mass and Wisconson Attorney General’s offices would not help. Congressman Ferguson would not ask the FBI to step in. It’s interesting
I lost a job at UBS Paine Webber their attornies said their client would be upset …. who Pfizer ….you would think GE would want our family to be insured after all they showed a video of us in Chicago as a Sales and Marketing pump and dump ….after they got me fired because of their scam they did not want to hire me after all our family is an insurance liability. Greg Lucier from GE wanted me to take $750.00 to blame a doctor for giving GE our information. Greg now works with a company heavily funded by Pfizer. The new CEO at Pfizer he came from GE . What happens to families that become outcasts ….. Mike Ferguson is ProLife just not ProLife for those who might die if they do not have insurance. Not ProLife for children in families with sick parents. Perhaps we should stop healthcare for Congress until we resolve this mess.
Senator Kean and Mike Ferguson promote abuse towards the ill and disabled. I have asked to testify on the State and Federal level. They deny me access. Why do they protect companies over families with illness.
Mr. Immelt Imagination at Work explioting the ill and disabled.
Christopher Christi in NJ also refused to do anything.
June 8th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Gee Brittany for someone who “cares” your awful mean and judgemental. This is why I hate dr’s and nurses. you go in feeling like crap, scared of how much this is gonna cost you, and then have the “staff” treat you like sh**. Healthcare is basic, its like food and shelter. There is NO reason why it shouldnt be made affordable AND available to whoever,whenever.
and as far as the guy going to the ER with a toothache? yes it warrants an ER visit! having an abcessed tooth can kill you, it can lead to blood poisoning,stroke, and even death. But i guess you know that, huh?
June 9th, 2007 at 12:17 am
I think it’s funny and sad that they’re focusing on Moore’s trip to Cuba, even though I think going to Mexico may have been just as good. I don’t know if going to a country still under a dictatorship was a good idea.
I am tired of politicians bringing up healthcare every flippin’ election year then NOTHING is discussed. Elderly are confused by what’s presented to them. Insurance plans that they thought they’d be covered for, aren’t. Lots of red tape…confused patients. Lots of greedy drug industries. That seems like a business even more out of touch, bulletproof and dangerous than the cigarette industry was.
It’s a topic that’s not “sexy” or easy to understand, so it’s good to see someone taking the ball and presenting it to an audience that can get some understanding about what’s going on.
In SoCal, healthcare is big business, they’re just BEGINNING to work on chronic care which includes self-management for the patients so they’re not solely dependent on meds alone. I’m not sure if he’s also going over how terrible patients are treated in end of life situations, everyone should be treated with dignity and respect, and not neglected.
I hope he stops in San Diego again.
I’m also glad to see Michael taking better care of himself.
June 9th, 2007 at 5:05 am
My little 1 year old brother, went to the hospital for a required bandage change.
He was burned (2nd and 3rd degree) and they told us to come back to the hospital in 2 days to have them fixed.
The first doctor who bandaged him did a good job.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2 days later… we wait for 3 hours… finally they let us in… and then when they change the bandages they had an incompetent doctor do the job.
Basically you learn, pre medical school, that you don’t put adhesive pads on a burn victim, because when you take them off you take off a layer of skin and it hurts them alot, like someone waxing you only having your skin removed..
So my 1 year old brother cried… not only that whole day because everytime he moved a bit of the pad would rip, but all the way until his next bandage change.
Again… the first doctor used a special kind of gel non adhesive pads, the second one used adhesive gos like pads…. on a 1 year old… i wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on my enemies children.
~~~~~~~ Story gets worse
So after the 3rd changing of bandages, the hospital said we can’t go there anymore and we needed to change his bandages ourselves, that they’d give us free supplies.
Well their free supplies ran out, my dad goes at 9 pm to get 2 special gel non adhesive pads, and he waits for at least an hour till someone will even talk to him.
When a lady whose in charge finally meets with him, she says, i need you to bring in your son and we’ll bandage him, he said i can’t go back at 10 pm now, bring him in 20 minutes, and have him re bandaged, just give me some non adhesive gel pads, enough to last 2 weeks, like you promised, and i’m good.
My dad didn’t even complain about waiting 1 hour doing nothing…
She denies him, says go home and bring the baby or forget about it.
So my dad drives 30 some miles to the next hospital and within 10 minutes they hand him the supplies he needs, we come home we have trouble bandaging him.
We call the hospital and they say we arn’t allowed to speak to any doctors, and to bring him in…..
Finally we get him bandaged.
Ever since then my 1 year old brothers had nightmares, and if anything is slightly warm he gets scared and runs from it.
His recovery was a long grueling process of fighting with the hospital and medical…. and just soo much other B.S
At the end of the day.. we have a rich hospital, a rich government, and a family with a traumatized 1 year old…
May God help us.
June 9th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Had a pregnancy termanation and they new I had a condition that would require me to be hospitilized and should have referred me to my obgyn. I ended up at this abortion clinic for 8 days and they were not an acute facility as well as my insurance and state of california medi-cal authorizing everything they did to me I ended up having congestive heart failure on the 8th day and since they were not an acute facility they called 911 I was transferred to Kaiser where I was immediatley diagnosed with CHF due to fluid oveeload, too many blood transfusions and IV fluids, my bladder was tore and I had two pulmonary embolisms, my life has forever been changed.
June 9th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
The legislators in New Jersey turn their head the other way. They have health insurance and we all pay for it …. let’s tell Congress and all state government employers no health insurance until we get a solution to the mess. They need to hire the people who have been tortured by the system …. not friends and family who need jobs and do not know anything about how healthcare works today. All lobbyists need to be forbidden to come to Washington, everyone needs to come to the table …. doctors should not be
charging incredible rates, the insurance company needs to be revamped and the drug and medical companies need to lose their slogan Ching Ching
Land Rover Ching Ching Mercedes Benz ….. I could put a sticker on my car Ching Ching stop stealing from the American public. The ironic part the Pharma companies do not want sick individuals on their payrolls, nor the insurance companies Prudential used to forbid a raise or promotion if you used their health insurance …..and does the insurance industry tell the public we scan records for critical illness and delete and ignore those claims hoping people are too critically ill to fight for the bills to be paid.
Congressman Ferguson, Senator Kean, Senator Lautenberg, Senator Menendez do not even return phone calls. The best one was when Mrs. Washington is the now Governor Corzine’s office told me we should be ashamed of ourselves asking for help. People between the ages of 21 and 65 should take care of themselves.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:00 am
When I discovered a lump in my breast, I was alarmed. Especially since I did not have health insurance because I work for a small company that does not offer it. I make barely enough to pay my rent and student loans and insurance is just another $200+ a month I cannot afford.
It took nearly three months (and nearly $2000) to diagnose my lump- luckily a benign cyst. After appealing for charity from the hospitals due to my financial situation, I was denied. I am now receiving calls from collections agencies and destroying my credit, but there is nothing I can do. I spent most of my childhood in England where healthcare is free. It makes me want to move back.
June 10th, 2007 at 1:56 am
HUMAN BEINGS DO NOT NEED HEALTH INSURANCE.
THEY NEED HEALTH CARE.
DRAFT ALL PHYSICIANS INTO THE MEDICAL CORPS FOR THREE YEARS. USE THEM TO SET UP FREE CARE NATIONWIDE.
THIS SHOULD BE THE DEBT FOR THEIR LICENSE TO HAVE A MONOPOLY OVER HEALTHCARE.
June 10th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Just last weekend my wife, who is from the Philippines, lost her father to kidney failure after a year long struggle and lack of success at finding a donor in time. He had no insurance.
My mother who is an RN here was kind of the liaison for us to approve or deny (if any) treatments and care while in the hospital this last time. The treatments, tests, and care over there is exactly comparable to American equipment and training.
The major difference here is, all of the emergency services and tests and treatments performed including administered drugs cost $800 total. No insurance anywhere to speak of. Here, with the fact that my mother worked in the billing department for a while at the hospital she worked at while becoming an RN, she would have been billing the insurance companies for over $50,000 for the same things!
Explain that one kool-aid drinkers.
June 10th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
In 1993, I was diagnosed with depression because I was in an untenable position at work (I was injured severely because the employer –the US government–refused to get the proper equipment to do the job)–now, I had good reason to be depressed–the idiots at work decided I was faking it –yeh, wearing casts from fingers to the elbow for a year was fun–and harrassed me incessantly and viciously. The doc put me on Prozac–within 2 months, I was suicidal and cutting myself. (I had not been suicidal or cut before). I ended up in the hospital with a new doc who thought I should have electroshock and seemed to think it would be just fine for me to become a raving idiot and live in a supervised home and a drain on society for the rest of my life. He completely ignored the fact that it was work that was depressing me. I fired him and ended up with another doc who thought more and different psych drugs were the answer. No one ever thought to take me off drugs and see what was there–even after I left the gov’t in 1995. Just gave me more and better drugs. This went on until 2005 when I figured out that it might be the drugs that were making me worse–not any kind of “mental illness”. So I quit them and the mental health system. After getting off the drugs and away from shrinks–I got better. I haven’t had any knd of mental illness symptom. I’m going back to law school–which I started in 2002 and had a bad time with discrimmination when they found out about the psych history–actually, all the students at the school who had any kind of a disability were hounded to get out. But I lost too many years of my life–by the way, the insurance company paid for about 25 hospital stays on the psych unit, drugs that would have cost about $2,500/month and shrink visit–that were never needed because the drugs were causing the problem–all in all–around a million bucks without ever questioning it– “treatmnet” that I did not need and an “illness” that was caused by drugs. Love the greedy shrinks–who cares if they damn near ruina life–as long as they can soak up insurance money.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
But if you’re an illegal immigrant…you get FREE health care in Los Angeles County, courtesy of the L.A. County taxpayer….
June 11th, 2007 at 7:35 am
A little over a month ago my wife was diagnosed with kidney stones. This is not some outlandish crazy “House MD” diagnosis. She tried to go see her PCP, but couldn’t get in to see her. That night I took her to the emergency room, waited 8 hours to see a doctor, and was sent home with a referal to see a specialist…???…
Next day go to see the specialist, and get charged my copay (around $20) alls good for now. A few day’s later we get a bill $15,000 that say’s we did not get prior approval from the PCP. After a lot of arguing, we got that fee waived, but were told that we could not see that doctor again without approval from the PCP.
The PCP said they wouldn’t give the referal because we didn’t go to see them first.
Why is that money is so important to those who have it? What ever happened to just making people better. Why should a visit to the doctor actually cost so much, for so little attention. I swear the DMV move faster and smoother then most ER’s.
June 11th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
There are too many that make billions on the illness and disability in this country and they are turn their backs on the ill and disabled and their families.
First I get fired from Pfizer because my husband might cost them money ….. Richard Mariani from
Morristown their hired (thug) lawyer admitted in court to a Federal judge why they fired me ….we cost them money for medical bills Judge Falk did not say a thing when I told him they just admitted why ….the problem with Mr. Mariani’s sloppy error Pfizer only paid 40,000 because at the time we were self insured ….. by that point I was pro-se because Linda Wong from Wong Fleming put in writing I had no rigths under the ADA or NJ LADD a lie no wonder Judge Perfillo stated that she should be sued for malpractice …. she dragged me through the courts for fees she did not deserve but in NJ Attorney Ethics is a joke lawyers protecting lawyers …. we could not find an attorney to sue her. And Pfizer got Judge Falk to dismiss the case in Federal court. President Bush’s office told the EEOC to re investige the case but the director in NJ refused …. after all the case was about illness and disability not non citizens of the United States ….
When this was all going on with Pfizer we had military spikes put in our driveway to flatten tires,
doors would be opened in the middle of the night, one day we came home and fish were missing from the fist tank ….. we were followed, our computer hacked
Christopher Christi’s office in Newark would not even take our information the Federal prosecutors office.
I tried to get jobs and Pfizer blocked that the oddest I went to Aventis for a job and contacted someone for a reference. Before I gave permission to contact references or gave names they contacted the individual …..they contacted the person before I interviewed.
Next job I lost UBS Paine Webber. GE Medical used our family and should of been prosecuted for using telephone lines across state lines for fraud. One night we get a call from supposingly Maine stating their family member has a brain tumor. I asked how they got our name and number Pauline stated from Marleen Colburn at GE Medical …..they knew my husband’s doctor in Boston they knew too much but I
thought I would be helping another family ,,,,never did I think it would be a set up for GE to do a video of us and show it to 1000 people in Chicago without our written consent. The best is when GE stated they would help us tell our story of what Pfizer did to our family through a woman’s magazine Women’s World. When UBS Paine Webber got wind of what I was going to to their Attorney and HR department stated screaming at me that their client would not like it and they forbid me to do it …… finally their attorney stated they could not stop me …. a week later they fired me (their client maybe Pfizer) when I went home I called the number I took of the caller id box when Pauline called from Maine in the Fall. When I called the person who answered said they had no one in the home with a brain tumor. I immediatley called GE in Fairfield to Mr. Immelt’s office because I remember Jan Kouffler from GE stating Mr. Immelt was personally involved in the video stunt …. when it stated to blow up in their faces Susan Bayes went from they were very concerned to GE knows we do not have money to sue them. Greg Lucier wanted to offer me 700.00 to sign the Dr. Peter Black from the Brighams gave our information out ….. we contacted the Brighams their response it is a Federal offense to use telephone lines across state lines for fraud but they would not help because they are funded by GE. We contacted Attorney General’s offices in Maine, Mass., NJ, Connecticut and Wisconson no one would do anything ……Mr. Immelt’s stunt got me to lose my job and insurance coverage …..he did not offer me a job even though I have the background they did not want the insurance liability. Chris Christi’s office would not get involved, Congressman Ferguson turned the other way …… it’s been a nightmare ….. got another job with Collaborative Consulting did a great job for a client even have written documentation
Mr. Beesley one day stated to me I heard your husband is sick … odd I never told him but then someone accidently sent me an email that he sent to Demi and ex CIO at WarnerLambert Pfizer ….I guess this is just all very normal that Pfizer keeps popping up …. oh that summer I was harassed by a guy at work he stated I was sexually harrassing him he threw books and stormed out later Collaborative stated he said he did not mean it …the harassment continued and they let me go ….. oh by the way my medical bills are still not paid for my husband …. very odd the new CEO of Pfizer is an ex GE employee …. he came on board to Pfizer just about the time I got the call from Maine. I even have the phone number and the FBI will not investigate ….very strange. Mr. Moore I want to testify in Washington the problem is Congressman Ferguson will not help me.
June 11th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
If doctors, nurses and physician’s assistants entered the field of medicine because they truly want to help people and practice medicine we might have a completely different system.
If health insurance companies were non-profit organizations or organizations that did not pay their CEO’s inflated salaries and give them outrageous perks, maybe most Americans could afford it. If your employer does not offer it, I do not see how most people can afford health insurance.
June 11th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I am (and always will be) a recovering alcoholic. Ten years ago I had way too much to drink at a party and subsequently fell on my face and broke my nose. The people I was with (merely acquaintances) took me to an emergency room. Apparently I had x-rays done among other things, none of which I remember. I must have been completely under the influence still, because I woke up in the waiting room, not knowing how I got there. My wallet was gone. I guess they just discharged me to the waiting room because I was taking up a bed.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I am a Vet and have Veterans Health Care. It is the best. I have numerous issues and they have addressed them all. It is the model for the single payer plan for this country. Govt. subsidised medicine is a lot better than Govt. subsidised Oil companies and a lot cheaper in the long run.
My daughter is insured through her empolyer with Kaiser. One of her medicines required a $250.00 deductable payment and a $35.00 copayment. This is financially impossible for a minimum wage person living from hand to mouth. This medincine was billed out at $3.65 per pill in the U.S. and $.89/pill in Canada. Most new drugs are developed in Universities with government funding. Pharmaceutical companies pay little in new drug research often using R/D monies to reinvent drugs currently on the market. They are the largest lobby in Washington and both Dems and Reps are in there pockets. This could also be said for the Health Care industry. Which includes Hospitals.
Ask yourself why big business doesn’t support universal health care? It would seem wise as this would take all burden off of the corporations. Heck Ford could save(according to them) $1500 per automobile. They are suspiciously silent about universal healthcare as is Walmart, GE and all the rest. County club conspiracy?
June 12th, 2007 at 3:49 am
Hello,
I work at a hospital and spend a great deal of time in the Emergency Department. I have seen and experienced both ends of the spectrum: those that are abusing the system (drunks who repeatedly deliberately get themselves taken to the ER so that they can get a free 3-night stay at a detox facility complete with beds, showers, meals, and medication) and Trauma patients that are taken to the ER who genuinely cannot afford insurance because of a large number of financial factors over which they have no control.
I have seen RN’s, MD’s, and PA’s all giving half-assed care to many patients that don’t have insurance, and I’ve seen spoiled little brat college kids get the royal treatment and get given totally unnecessary treatments (such as a chest x-ray for a kid who drank too much at the party and passed out) simply because his daddy was in the military and the kid was covered by his daddy’s government insurance.
I am generally a very healthy and active person. I do not have a regular family doctor because I do not get sick. I do not take prescriptions unless they are absolutely necessary, and I do not go to the Dr unless it is absolutely necessary.
However, recently I have had a very typical dental surgery turn into a hellish nightmare of infections and severe pain. 3 prescriptions of penicillin, 1 script of cephalexin, and 4 scripts of vicodin, all from the ER. The dentist? No. The dentist chose not to give me any antibiotics even though he knew there was an active infection. He refused to treat me because I owed him that outrageous $150 fee for the simple extraction of the infected tooth that was done 1 week ago. He gave me terrible treatment because I am not rich and I do not have a dental plan. He even told me to win the lottery so I could get my teeth worked on.
After all of this, the infection is still present, and the ER Physician had to call the dentist and instruct him to take care of the problem.
This has all cost me over $2000 in just one month from one infected tooth. Had I been able to afford proper treatment to begin with, it would not have gotten this far.
Michael Moore, I applaud you for your fantastic work and for showing the typical gullible and paranoid American public the truth in your documentaries, but I think you’re fighting a losing battle.
The only thing that matters to anyone in control of anything in this country is money. The media is controlled by money, and so is the government.
We’ve dug our gullible asses so deep that there’s no way out.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:39 am
Hi Michael:
My experience has to do with a family member who has been struggling with a rare tumor. The only option now is a surgery in Europe that has not been FDA approved in the states. My question is: how does the FDA determines what type of surgical interventions are approved? How many others in the states and Puerto Rico have been in the position to go out of the US to get treatment that should be available in the states?
On another note, if you want to see the way the health care system has failed in the US, I welcome you to visit Puerto Rico. Services for the low income population are under terrible stress. You will never believe that this is a territory of the United States of America. Come and take a look! More a more Puerto Ricans are moving to the states because of employment, education, and yes, better access to health care.
June 12th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
My mother lost her job at age 59. She later broker her wrist at age 60. The Dallas County ER put several permanent screws into her wrist during surgery. She is an American citizen and has worked full-time paying taxes for over 30 years. Yet she still had to pay over $2,000 Co-Pay to state Medicaid to cover surgery, therapy, and prescription medicine. During this whole 12-month ordeal , I noticed that the ONLY people getting FREE healthcare throughout Dallas Parkland Hospital were the “Illegal Aliens”. People were leaving the maternity ward and getting their broker arms fixed without paying a single dime. Conclusion: To get FREE or AFFORDABLE healthcare in America, you must renounce your U.S. Citizenship.
June 12th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
There is an aspect to this issue that I haven’t seen mentioned here. I lost my job at a giant software company after my health started to decline due to adult onset asthma (a genetic condition in my case) which has been tested as the most severe level of asthma. Before I started having health problems, I routinely worked 70 hour weeks. But then I got very sick and had to go on short term disability while I underwent treatment for inflammation in my lungs. I haven’t been the same since then. I am often exhausted and am very limited in what I can do. I had to have a workplace accommodation to limit my work hours to 50 hours a week. When the accommodation was in place for 6 months, HR asked me when I was going to remove the accommodation. My doctor told them that the condition and the workplace accommodation would be necessary for the rest of my life. My manager proceeded to start daily e-mails to tell me my job was in jeopardy if I did not start to produce at my previous level, when I was working 70 hours a week. I became very depressed and suicidal and walked off the job within a few weeks after the “your job is in jeopardy” e-mails. I have been unable to find a full-time job since then and I believe that it is because I have to put on my application that I am disabled.
I have Cobra insurance which is $518 a month, but it will run out in a few months, at which time, I will have to buy private insurance which costs over $700 a month plus has a $1500 deductible and much higher out-of-pocket costs for medicine and doctor’s visits. I have to visit the doctor at least once a month, plus I usually have to go to the emergency room twice a year for severe attacks. My medications cost over $600/month out-of-pocket.
I have seriously considered going to the Canadian embassy in Seattle to ask for medical asylum by the Canadian government!
June 12th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I have had juvenile diabetes for sixteen years, and when I turned eighteen, I found that because I lived on my own, worked full-time (w/o benefits) and didn’t have any children or live on the street that I didn’t qualify for any sort of coverage. I am currently in the same situation almost three years later, and I have had to go to the emergency room twice in the last month to try to get insulin. My health is getting worse and the kicker is, unless I stop paying my bills, lose my job, get pregnant and live on the street, I’m going to have to keep fighting to find something to help with recieving some sort of care. I know I’m not the only one falling through the cracks. Thanks for making this movie.
June 12th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
About seven years ago, I was living in the U.S. as a Legal resident. I broke my hand in an accident, in the E.R. they did not know what to do with me due to my physical problem (C.P. Cerebral Palsy.) They referred me to a Orthopedist whom just for receiving me was going to charge me $200 after that he had to see me first.
I did not loose the only hand I am able to use only because my older sister’s father was the medical director in hospital that had a hand surgery clinic and because of his referral they did not charge me until I was able to get Medicare to pay for must of it.
June 12th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
My sister went to the emergency room when she had a miscarriage. After they did an exam and determined that she had lost a lot of blood and thus iron and was therefor anemic they left her alone in a hospital room. While alone, she needed to go to the bathroom so she buzzed for the nurse. No answer. She buzzed again. No answer. She decided to go to the bathroom herself. She got up, got queasy, fell down, and busted her head open. They found her on the floor alone, bleeding out both ends, passed out. They woke her up and stitched her up and apologized.
But what if something worse had happened?
June 12th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
I’m Canadian. On a recent visit to the US I contracted cystitis (bladder infection) and decided to go to a clinic becasue I wasn’t sure where the nearest hospital was. I am not giving the name or location of the clinic, but I will say it is located in a city whose economy is based on tourism. From the moment the staff at the clinic discovered I was Canadian I was treated like garbage. I was yelled at and berated. I waited around the clinic for four hours to finally see a doctor. Upon checkout the nurse (?) took my credit card from me and laughed at it. I was told that they couldn’t run my card because it was Canadian. So I had to pay cash for the visit. I should point out I had purchased insurance before leaving on this trip, just in case such a thing happened and the clinic refused to honour it. I was told to call my insurance and request a form that according to my insurance company, does not exist. Not fun.
June 12th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
After having a baby only four days before. I began bleeding profusely. I sat in the waiting room for three hours in the ER. Then another hour in a room waiting for a doctor. When there where only two patients with colds. I could have bleed out waiting on a doctor to come and see me. I am just guessing but I believe it was because I was on medicaid.
June 13th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
One simple fact that I believe tells a lot about the healthcare in USA. My employer pays significant portion of the monthly cost of isurance. I, on top of that am paying $320/month as my coinsurance. My wife got pregnant, we had a baby. Do you know what I still owe after a 3-day hospital stay? (By the way in Europe, a new mother stays in the hospital for a week). $3000. The cost of delivery and hospital stay over $30,000. Think twice before having another child, b/c if complications should arise, you may loose a big time. This is not healthcare - this is businesscare - at it’s worst cruelty. I have to wait 3 more years and I am out of here - I hope I or anybody in my family do not get sick by then.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Looking at the American health care industry (so weird that it should be called an industry) I feel really lucky to be Canadian and it makes me appreciate our health care. I truely believe that being the riches country in the world, the US should try to adopt a similar health care system. Health care should be a basic right that every individual should have. Focusing on keeping the American people healthy and alive should probably be the top priority rather than putting all the countries resources and effort into fighting “Terror” and securing oil. I feel bad that your administration doesn’t seem to value human life as it should. I know it is a harsh statement to make, but reality is harsh sometimes. I do hope the best for the American people, I just think they need to wake up to what is going on around them. You keep doing what you’re Mr. Moore and help wake the people up.
June 13th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Over the past years I have had 14 operations. Many at Johns Hopkins Hospital and others at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Phila. Pa. Many are not aware how unsafe we are in hospitals. I was sexually assultid in Johns Hopkins and at Thomas Jefferson. I am disabled in a power wheelchair and these events happened after I had an operation. Johns Hopkins tried to put it aside and blamed me that I was making it up. The person who assulted me was a male tec. who had worked for JHH for many years. I do feel I was not his first victim who he assultid. I was then in Thomas Jefferson Hospital and was assulted by a male physical therapist who has worked there for many years. I was in my bed when he came in and assulted me. The staff knew right away but tried to put the blam on me for I must have done something for him to do this. I am paralized and can not move. I found out from my lawyer that 4 nurses came forward after I was assulted and made a statement that they also were assulted by the same person. My lawyers also found out that he had also assutled another patient in the hospital and the hospital did nothing. I just can’t understand how a hospital can keep someone who they know has assulted another patient and staff. They argued against me for they felt they did soooo much for me to get me back to health so I should not go after them because of this incident. I have never been the same since. I am so afraid to go into hospitals for I know if it happened in these 2 hospitals it can happen in any hospital. Thomas Jefferson had to settle out of court for they did not want the public to know this event had happened. But the hospital still billed my insurance company and I am never allowed to go back there again because of the settlement. I am still in therapy because of this for my disability makes it so easy for someone to take advantage of me. People have to know that this can happen to any patient who enters any hospital. The man who assulted me at Thomas Jefferson is a minister today. Aren’t we all safe!
June 13th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I have Crohn’s disease and with all of the hell I have been through just trying to get my meds from my small group insurance company Blue Cross through my job, I have gotten sicker. I had to quit that job so I could get insurance through a LARGE group so they would accept me onto the HMO so it would be cheaper for me. I am awaiting treatment called Remicade and I am still in my propationary period (sick all the time) waiting for the new insurance to kick in and then hopefully get referred back to my gastroenterologist and hopefully the insurance will pay for my infusion therapy to hopefully put me in some kind of a remission. Through my last Blue Cross PPO plan, each infusion every two weeks costs $5,000. I am a legal secretary and own a home? I had no choice but to quit my job and look for a bigger corporation that would hire me to basically save my life.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
it’s time we looked on medical care as a shared resource, rather than an appropriate venue for profiteering. limited space in medical school, expense of medical school get participants ( doctors) looking for a high income, no looking to “maximize” income.
the knowledge imparted is not proprietary, it is in the public doamin. much of the knowledge was subsidized by grants form our government ( our tax dollars at work). eqitable sharing would be if qualified people were accepted into medical school and were trained, and then applied their knowledge, and developed their skills, practicing medicine.
i konw at least one doctor, an OB GYN, who has delivered thousands of babies. he is giving up ob gyn, to do cosmetic surgery. you can make more money, he explained. you see, cosmetic surgeryis elective, and people with the money pay the asking price. they pay the doctor, they pay the hospital, they pay the anesthesiologist…. they just pay for what ever they want in the realm of cosmetics. this former doctor who has now become a prostitute, gratifying the egos of the wealthy, took someone elses place at medical school. someone who might still actually be practicing medicine.
additionally, the price fixing of pharmaceuticals, and the laws protecting the pharmaceutical companies from such un american activities as people buying their pharmaceuticals outside the country is obscene. i don’t think much of the whole WTO thing, but come on here. what’s with the protectionism of the pharmaceutical companies.
and, lets get some public awareness going on the rate of iatrogenic disorders. conditions CAUSED by the doctor. i wonder how that compares, iatrogenic conditions in the US compared to the more civilized nations. i would write more but i am out of battery.
i am glad i am healthy.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
My stepdaughter (11 yrs old) is on 8 maintenance meds for allergies and asthma prescribed by her PCP. I was concerned and contacted her PCP to discuss any special care (allergens to avoid) and to find out what allergy and asthma testing was done. His reply was that he advised her mom that she should see an allergist but never followed up. He said these prescriptions were common in treating the allergy symptons and the asthma was allergy related.
June 14th, 2007 at 1:26 am
Everybody seems to have complaints about the system but the doctors, nurses and technicians that are responsible for delivering healthcare here in the U.S. are among the best in the world. The main problem with the U.S. healthcare system is the involvement of the insurance companies. Moore’s film will address this in greater detail but 30% of our healthcare dollar goes to insurance administration, executive salaries and insurance company profits. The U.S. spends twice as much per capita as the average per capita amount spent by other industrialized nations. Eliminating the insurance stranglehold and replacing it with the system used by these other nations (either single-payer or non-profit insurance cooperatives) will reduce the substantial amount of waste in the current system. Approximately 95% of the heathcare dollar goes to actual healthcare delivery in these countries and only 5% goes to administration. The same is true for Medicare here in the U.S. which is our version of nationalized healthcare for those who can survive until age 65. Moore’s film will hopefully inform Americans about the scam that exists now and will galvanize the public to demand significant reform including a Medicare for all system. Only 16 days and counting until Sicko opens. Can’t wait.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Why are so many hospitals owned and operated by churches? Yet although they claim to do good for the poor they still continue to charge premium prices for services??? So much for doing good for humanity! No wonder the church and the Republicans are so closely tied!
June 14th, 2007 at 11:32 am
The worst story I have doesn’t involve myself, but my neighbors. First of all, I work in communications for a hospital and cannot even begin to describe how unprofessional it is. When I called a code blue once (adult cardiac arrest), no one moved. The nurses debated on which one of them wanted to deal with it instead of one of them jumping in to take the initiative. There should be NO debate when someone is possibly dying.
My neighbors have 3 children. The wife used to be a school principal, but quit to be a stay at home mom, especially difficult since one of her children was classified as “borderline autistic.” Her husband holds a master’s degree in computer programming, but works for a family counseling center because he enjoys it.
Even though he loves his work, they weren’t making much money, so he began looking for a new job that paid more. Every place he applied told him the same BS story: “You’re over-qualified for the job.” So they continued to struggle and the wife began teaching again, so they were getting along all right.
One night, their autistic son began acting strangely. He had dystonia and couldn’t stop crying. He began having seizures and lost all of his verbal and physical skills. (I was babysitting the 3 kids that night and witnessed everything.) He was rushed to the ER and eventually transported to a specialist in Miami. (All this is happening in Florida, by the way.)
Doctors were puzzled by all of his neurological problems, with causes ranging from encephalitis to a genetic mutation. I swear, he had a million different diagnoses and no solid answers. Eventually, they brought him home in a wheelchair. He still suffers from seizures, dystonia, and has difficulty doing even the most mundane things like walking. They were in Miami for a year trying to figure things out.
Unfortunately, their insurance was not very good and the medical bills to save their son were astronomical. So they were in a catch-22 situation. Does the father get a new job making more than $10/hour, but lose his insurance, or stick with the bad job and keep his insurance? No place would insure his son because the condition was considered “pre-existing” and he was therefore “uninsurable.”
Now the father is STUCK with the job he has, barely able to make end’s meet, and his wife is a constant caregiver for their son and other 2 children. Luckily, her parents are able to help out a lot, and they have an amazing support system. It just makes me so sad to see them struggle and try to keep their son healthy. I know they’re willing to pay any amount of money to keep him alive and well.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I belong to Kaiser, a large monster health care entity in southern California that chomped a bite out of my heart at the worst possible time with it’s asinine procedures.
I was pregnant and lost the baby. Kaiser told me that they would cancel my appointments, to “not worry about a thing”. I was told to call psych for a refill of Xanex if I wanted it…I thought they were doing right by me.
However, since the tragedy, I have had not one, not two, but THREE calls to remind me of upcoming appointments to tend to the baby I am no longer pregnant with. Today, I was called with a cheery reminder that tomorrow I am to go in to find out the gender of the baby I am no longer pregnant with. I finally lost it and told them I don’t care how large their colony is – their lack of being organized has led to them behaving in a way that is mentally cruel — if they call me again, I will complain to the BBB.
On top of which, when I called psych to gain the Xanex, I was berated for not calling the pharmacy directly. “We have a set system here that is a well-oiled machine that only works when everyone follows protocol” I was told. Are they KIDDING? I asked the nurse, “I’m calling for Xanex, do you think you could be a little less nasty? I’m obviously stressed in a crisis if I am calling for anti-anxiety and you are talking to me like I’m a criminal!”
If my medical weren’t completely paid for at Kaiser by my work, I would leave in a heartbeat.
June 14th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
I have a good job with great medical benefits. Maybe the people who complain should negotiate with their employer to have better benefits instead of the highest possible salary. I feel bad for some people who have poor health care, but this is not a communist country. This is a Republic and you are given many freedoms by living here. If you like the health care in Cuba, renounce your citizenship to the US and take the first plane to Havana and visit the hospital and enjoy!
June 14th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Recently went to doctor complaining of fatigue. Dr diagnosed me with “major depression” (which she selected from a list of options on the computer), prescribed anti-depressents without asking me about my lifestyle, diet, exercise, etc. As an afterthought, she said “You can go ahead and get some bloodwork to rule out other causes.”
This *after* she prescribed the anti-depressents.
Are doctors nothing more than legal drug dealers???
June 15th, 2007 at 1:01 am
Thanks to the other RN’s out there that voiced their opinion!
We aren’t saying we like the insurance companies any better than the next guy. My insurance doesn’t even cover me at the ER I work in - go figure that one!
But on the medical side, we are doing the best we can. A toothache, not an EMERGENCY, kidney stones, painful yes, not an EMERGENCY.
We understand pain, and discomfort, most of us have been there, but if you come in having a heart attack or from a major trauma, aren’t you glad the guy with a toothache had to wait?
Sorry, just a judgement call we are forced to make every day, several times a day.
So please don’t take it out on the nurses that made you wait in the ER. Or complaine about how long your visit was, next time you might be the one in an ambulance needing every minute of our time.
June 15th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
I am 45 years old and thanks God haven’t had a close encounter with the American health care system except for routine exams. But I do see problems there too. Doctors seem to be not better than cold “robots” that given an “input” spill out a mechanical reply of their assessment of your health. In the fastest time possible. 70 dollars in five minutes seem to be the desirable goal of some doctors I have come across. The system is too profit oriented and very unpersonal. A doctor should be someone than is interested in you as a person and a human being and not just an organic machine that needs some adjustment every now and then until time comes and they can not do anything about you. Thanks Michael for bringing this complex subject to the big screen…
June 15th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Let’s go back about 17 years ago I was knocked down by a bigger kid during gym class and I broke my wrist in the fall. I think that waited somewhere around 3 hours to just get some xrays and another two to get the cast. Oh and by the way the kid who knocked me down got some friends to lie for him and he got away with it.
June 15th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
This is what the movie “SICKO” is all about! Read this story! It is all true!
www.medical-malpractice-fwb-fl.com
June 15th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Thanks Mike!!!
June 15th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I work for a pharmacy in a hospital in Louisiana. I went into this field with hopes that I could help people, only to find that the hospital I work for charges $7/pill for regular strength Tylenol, oh by the way, WE GET IT FOR FREE!!
Some drugs aren’t free though, like the 10 bags/day or so i dispense of a certain antibiotic that costs $15,000 a pop. Btw, that antibiotic is used for a cerrtain strain of hospital borne infection.
June 15th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
We lost our employer-provided insurance coverage when my wife’s hours were reduced at work. (My employer does not provide insurance.) When we applied for private insurance, we were turned down because I have asthma.
That’s the real problem: If you have any significant health issues (or even insignificant ones), the insurance companies will not even issue you a policy. If you do manage to get coverage, you get really lousy coverage for close to $1000 a month. Who can afford that?
June 15th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
The posts from the Nurses are really scaring me here. I do understand that a cut or toothache is not life-threatening vs. a heart attack, but you Nurses see the whole spectrum and a patient does not. A patient feels their own pain - and quite frankly they shouldn’t have to have your perspective. Nurses - if you have no empathy, please quit your jobs and become something else - maybe an executioner would be a better fit.
To the Canadian and the European: I totally agree- the US system and all American logic is based on economic principles and that will be their downfall. I’ve lived in Canada for 12 years, US for 15 years and recently in the UK for 2 years. No one has a perfect system but the US system only works for rich people. UK system works if you use the national healthcare in combination with private care. Canada - don’t remember as I was too young.
June 15th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
I have a simular story to the one shared in the movie regardign Kaiser. I had been a member for many years. My Daughter Tiffany was hit by a cardin front of our home. On the way to the Hosptial, I actually thought I had pre-approval to She was taken to Long Beach Memormial by ambulance. I call the emergency number and ask the technican where I should take my daughter for treatment. The amblance driver was authrixed to take her to the nearest emergency room. Which was Long Beach Memorial Hosptil. Long Beach Memorial was ready to provide treatment. Her father and myself both had insurance. He had private insuracne and I had Kaiser. His private insurance would have paid for her treatment, but because of the “Birthday Rule” I was determined to be the primary provider. As part of my daughter’s child support order he was instructed by the cour to be the primany health care provider for my child. But because my birthdate is August 3 and his is the 18th the court order meant nothing to Kaiser I was the primany insurance provider. Kaiser would not authroized care for my 10 year old daughter, so she screamed in cried in the ER at Long Beach Memorial for hours while the health care breaucrats decided who would be financially responsible for her care. Kaiser demanded that she be transported with her severaly broken leg and other injuries to Harbor City Kaiser. Becasue I work in the labor movement, I knew that SEIU 399 was going on strike at midnight and by the time she arrived at the hospital there would be no-one there to set her leg or provide the other treatment she needed. Kaiser acknowleged the strike but demanded that she be treated by them anyway.
When the arrived at the hospital, the workers were clearly preparing for their stike. I begged the workers not to abandon my daughter, despite the intent of Kasier to do that very thing. The ortho tech came into the treatment room working feveriously to beat the midnight deadline. Strike leaders were reminding to complete his treatment by midnight and to leave the treatment at the appointed strike line. The techinicial found pitty on me and quickly treated my daughter to help relieve her agony. As a mother and a trade unionist I wsa completly torn. Begging a worker to violate his and my principles for the need of my child. Kaiser officals told me that she would have to wait until they secure staff to set my child’s leg. The technician stayed 20 minutes pass the strike deadline to set my childs leg.
There are so many myths about health care and how it works. Thank you for doing this, it is important that we all work to get the message out that when any american needs health care they should recieve care at the point of request and bithday rules and the like should take a back seat to providing care. If we have universal health care my daughter and myself could have been spared this nightmare. Thank you Micheal. Leslie Curtis
June 15th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
The health care system in America sucks. I was having nausea and couldn’t move my legs and I was refused treatment because the clinic didn’t file the proper paperwork for my insurance in the past. They told me that if I couldn’t pay the $200 then they would not see me. I ended up having to go the ER (by the way the hospital that I went owned the clinic that refused treatment). I finally got seen. Come to find out my potassium was low. After doing research on low potassium I found out that I could have died if my potassium had dropped too low. The healthcare system needs a serious overhaul.
June 16th, 2007 at 12:41 am
My experience is pretty calm, so I suppose I’m glad and lucky. I taught for awhile and therefore had amazing benefits, including dental. Then, when I had kids, I went to Blue Cross and signed up for independent insurance. I chose a plan with a fairly high deductible since we are all healthy and I knew that if someone broke their leg or something, we could afford the deductible and then would be covered if surgery would be needed. Our monthly is pretty low. My husband gets insurance at his work. Some of my friends expect their husbands’ work to cover the entire family with outstanding insurance. Ridiculous. I also have friends who don’t have insurance, but have motorhomes, new trucks, etc. Stupid. They will be the first to complain that they aren’t covered and America sucks. With all of this, though, I do acknowledge that the way our government works with lobbyists and drug companies running the world…we are screwed. But is this a reason to allow the govt to stick their noses in our biz and run healthcare for all? Yipes! I wish there was an easy solution. I can play devil’s advocate for any situation. It ain’t easy!
June 16th, 2007 at 3:10 am
When my father died of cancer, the hospital entered the wrong date of death (I think it was one week earlier than his actual death). Consequently, my mother was billed by his insurance company for the days my father was STILL ALIVE in the hospital. The insurance company and the hospital was very ugly and insisted that my mother submit my father’s death certificate, obituary, and autopsy report before they would stop harrassing her for payment. Even after she paid out of her own pocket and was trying to get reimbursed by the insurance company, THEY WERE STILL CALLING her for nonpayment. Now my father had been sick with cancer for years and my parents had always paid promptly. To date–this was 1986– the insurance company nor the hospital has apologized to my mother for their errors or the stress and anguish they caused my mother.
June 16th, 2007 at 8:19 am
We all need to stop paying for health care/doctors bills then the whole system will crash! Remember if we have enough money to kill them, we have enough money to heal them! I don’t care if I am horribly sick and have $100k worth of medical bills, I am not paying them, or living in the street or taking away from my retirement or taking anything away from my kids! The medical/insurance industry can kiss my a**! Wake up americans!
June 16th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I’m a math teacher (algebra through calculus) in Northern Colorado.
“Hey, good news all you hard working folks who have dedicated your lives to teaching the young people of America: We’re increasing the cost of your healthcare benefits by 11% because four people in the school district had babies last year.”
My son has a congenital disorder called MCAD that requires him to be hospitalized several times a year, particularly during flu season. Even being fully covered by Pacificare, we’ve accumulated $25,000 in debt alone in the three years since my son has been born. We can’t find secondary coverage to help with the expenses because as a teacher my income is “too high” to qualify. Nevermind that a substantial sum of my monthly check already goes to my health care benefits.
Enough is enough. If these right-wing twits truly believe in genuine competition in the free-market, they wouldn’t object to allowing the government starting an alternative health program at competitive prices.
There used to be a time when, right after the second world war, a man could get a teaching degree aided by the GI bill and raise a family from an educator’s salary. That’s no longer a reality, folks. Our standard of living has significantly dropped and taking on these bastards who profit from other peoples’ misery is the first step to genuine progress.
June 16th, 2007 at 9:47 am
I went to the emergency room and got health care unparalleled in the world. I had to pay for it, but I expect to pay for good health care. I don’t expect to get it for “free” and I don’t expect discounts. Unlike most of the saps here, I plan ahead and figure medical care as part of a budget for which I plan.
June 16th, 2007 at 10:33 am
A couple of things to remember:
1. Healthcare outside of the US is not “FREE” it is “PREPAID” through taxes of the people.
2. CHeaper drugs are available in the US, called generics. Generics are older, but may, in some cases work just as well as some newer meds, but may have more side effects or more complex dosing. Interestingly, those generics are often more expensive in Canada.
3. There are several patient assistance plans available for prescription drugs. The most comprehensive is www.pparx.org, a one stop shop for those who cannot afford necessary prescriptions.
4.ER room visits are expensive so as to deter the unnecessary visit created by not using preventative care. If insurance companies would lessen the barriers to access for preventative care (low, flat copays on prescription meds that the DOCTOR has decided is the right med) would greatly decrease the necessity for ER access.
5. Dont get REALLY sick outside the US. Try waiting for 6 months for your open heart surgery in Canada. We have 16 MRI’s per capita for every 1 of Canada’s. Ask Canadians where they go for procedures if they can afford it. Ask Canadian Dr’s who will accept cash for a quick appointment. Universal health care sounds nice, but would you trust the president or congress with your health care? THat is what you are asking for!
June 16th, 2007 at 10:47 am
My 5-year-old daughter had been ill for a few days and by Christmas Eve morning had a very deep congested-sounding cough and fever which made me worry about pneumonia. We took her into the ER and were put in the hands of a physician who barely spoke English. He did not examine her, simply glanced over her vitals and then ordered a multitude of tests including a catheter, which I dared to question. He threw around words like sepsis, meningitis, etc., and said she was extremely ill and would probably be admitted. Hours later he returned to the examining room with a diagnosis of ear infection (he never looked in her ears) and sent us on our way with a scrip for amoxicillin and instructions to follow up with our family doctor in a week.
Our family doctor examined her and told us she never had an ear infection, she had the flu.. He was so disturbed at what took place in the ER, that he contacted the hospital on our behalf. Regardless, I got billed over $4,000 for the half day in the ER and an incorrect diagnosis by a ‘doctor’.
June 16th, 2007 at 10:53 am
I see a lot of people bashing the healthcare system, when the blame should be solely placed on insurance companies and lack of governmental funding. I too work in the healthcare industry like Brittany and get tired of people bashing the people who are in the industry for the sole reason to help people. Yes, there are going to be bad eggs everywhere you work no matter what the industry is, but you can’t stereotype the entire industry for those bad eggs.
As far as not being treated as soon as you think you should…it is called triage. When you enter the ED, the most critical people are seen first. Yes it sucks that you have to wait such a long time to get seen, but if you were the person that entered the ED with a minor heart attack that if treated properly and quickly can result in many more years of life, would you be willing to wait, and probably die, because someone with a stomach ache wants to be seen now, or would you want the neccesary treatment first?
People in the healthcare industry do care. To prove this, find yourself a nursing or med student who is going through a living hell just to do the thing that they love to do and talk to them. It is not easy or fun to complete school, but we do it anyway, because we have a genuine love for helping people. What makes certain people in the industry bitter is having to follow pathways for diseases that insurance companies set. Because of many of these pathways, MDs and nurses aren’t allowed to care for a person the way that they would like. Often you have to discharge sick people early or deny minor comfort measures, because WE DON’T GET PAID FOR THEM! Each and every person that has replied on this blog has probably held a job at one time, and I would be willing to bet my life that none of you would work for free or operate a business that lost millions each and every year. Supplies and staff have to get paid for somehow. I know that hospitals should be places of care, but they don’t run on pleases and thank yous, they need funding. If you don’t want to go to a “for profit hospital” than don’t. Many hospitals are run by cities and counties and every dollar goes back into that hospital, and more often than not, if you truly can not afford to pay for care at these hospitals, you don’t. Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis covered all treatment costs for my 4 year old cousin when he passed away from cancer a few years back, because his parents truly could not afford it.
I realize that many people do have bad experiences with staff at healthcare facilities, but (for the most part) those people are working as hard and as fast as they can to serve you, but you have to realize their hands are severely tied. On one end of the spectrum we have to figure out what we can do for the least amount of money possible. On the other end, we have to constantly worry about lawsuits by sue happy lawyers. It is a fine line that we walk every day and love every minute of it. If part of our job means that we aren’t appreciated for what we do, we will take that in stride, because if you truly went into the healthcare industry for the right reasons…it won’t bother you.
If you truly do think that there are problems with the healthcare industry you need to understand that the industry is not the problem, it is the insurance companies and malpractice lawyers that are destroying it. Direct your angers at them. I hate to say it, but if you are acting on facts rather than emotions you should realize that the blame and changes need to be directed to our govenrment to change the way hospitals are funded. Universal healthcare could help, but it isn’t perfect. Ask sonmeone from Canada who needs to come to the US to get cancer therapy, because the tumor they found can’t get treated for 6 months, due to the Canadien healthcare system being overwhelmed with patients.
That’s all for now.
June 16th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Thank God that someone has for once BLOWING THE WHISTLE on the Heath Care Industry…
This movie may have a few scenes that may be put in for humor, but it is 100% TRUTH the heath care industry is taking us to the CLEANERS!
June 16th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Hi! I’m 22 and I have lupus. I’m currently being treated with chemotherapy and several other drugs. For the moment I have pretty decent insurance (UPMC) through my job. The problem is that I’m looking to leave my job to attend school full time. I’ve looked into getting private insurance and they all have a pre-existing condition clause which means I would have to pay fpr all of my lupus treatment(around $70,000 last year). So what am I to do? Do I stay in a deadend job and never better myself so that I can stay alive or do I risk leaving and put myself into never ending debt? What is wrong with this country that we allow insurance companies to put these kind of restrictions on people? If I’m paying the same as everyone else shouldn’t they have to cover my expenses? They’re almost saying that you’re only allowed to have insurance if you’re not sick! Thank you so much for exposing this problem and keep up the good work!!
June 16th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Back in Oct. I was mugged and attempted to be killed. I knew the men who attacked me, but they figured that dead men don’t talk. They hit me about nine times in the head with a lead pipe until my skull was fractured and I stopped breathing before they disposed of my body. A nurse found me, saved my life, and got me shipped to the hospital.
While I was hospitalized I had almost complete amnesia along with a very serious brain injury. Around a few days later I was slowly recovering, and made a joke when one of the nurses asked me a question. She responded by smacking me in the head in front of my sister which threw me into siezures. The police officer at the hospital was trying to NOT let my family file a report, and within 24 hours I was dismissed from the hospital.
The medication I was given by the hospital was actually inducing more siezures making my recovery worse. Soon I was later admitted to another hospital where I was given proper care as an in-patient for an additional three weeks before they considered me fit to leave. My neurologist also blessed me by recommending cognitive therapy.
I was very lucky through all of this to eventually get a doctor who was concerned with my health, but it is all the other patients that go to the trauma center which I was first admitted that worries me. Would you hit someone in the head whose skull was just crack… and you’re his nurse! What kind of health care is this.
Michael Moore, you are a very admirable man for all of your work to help our country, and most importantly the people who work so keep us going. Thanks to you from all of us.
June 16th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
When I was self-employed, I was eligible for some insurance through a small business group of which I am a member. It wasn’t great insurance, but I was grateful to have it “just in case”.
I read the fine print and noticed that it specifically did not pay for birth control, did not pay for any pre-natal visits if I did happen to get pregnant, and did not pay for delivery of the child. It only paid for any visits for that child after he/ she was born.
1. Isn’t it cheaper to keep me from getting pregnant in the first place?
2. If I do get pregnant, isn’t it cheaper to make sure I have a healthy baby by having pre-natal visits BEFORE the birth?
Doctors will tell you it is much cheaper in the long run to nip a disease when it is minor than to wait until it gets really severe.
So, why won’t insurance companies pay to keep people well? If they are “for profit” entities, isn’t it cheaper in the long run to pay for “wellness care” ?
It doesn’t make any sense to me.
June 16th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
When my daughter was two I thought she had something wrong with her ear and her doctor told me on four seperate visits that I was just being ‘paranoid’ and it was nothing. Later in the week she had a fever and I took her to the children’s hospital where they told me it would be about six hours before even a nurse could see her. We left and took her to a hospital down the road and her fever was 103.5F. They saw her and told me it was a dual ear infection and that waiting those six hours could have caused her to go into seizures. After that I was charged $80 dollars for a bottle of amoxicillon and sent on my way. When I took her to the doctor that called me ‘paranoid’ she said there was no way for her to know. The free clinic I go to now treats us better than the insurance company’s health plan ever did.
June 16th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Dear Mr. Moore,
I’ve had several small (but bad) health care experiences.
Because I’ve worked for a bunch small startup companies — the kind that politicians claim create a lot of jobs! — I’ve had a series of health care plans over the last 12 years. Some HMO, some PPO, with a bunch of different companies.
One company purchased health care through a plan designed to group small business together so they can afford insurance (called HIPC, which was a California-specific thing). The insurance company covering my company, John Alden, dropped out of the plan (HIPC), forcing me to pick a new plan and get a new “primary care” doctor, after just a few months. They claimed in their letter that their participation wasn’t profitable enough.
All told, due to taking risks on jobs with startups, I think I’ve had about a dozen primary care doctors in the last 15 years. What good is a “primary care” doctor, if they never get to know you? (Two physicials in a row with the same doctor is my all-time record)
On switching jobs a few years ago, I acquired Aetna as my insurer. They did not cover my allergist or the supplier of allergens that he used. So I was forced to get a new primary care doc and get a referral to see a new allergist. The new allergist didn’t use the same allergen lab, so I had to take all of the allergy skin tests over again. (Otherwise there is greater risk of a bad allergic reaction!) I had to begin getting twice-weekly allergy shots, instead of the monthly “maintainence” program I was on for several years prior. If you’re familiar with allergy shots you know how silly that is. The cost and the number of appointments needed — not to mention risk to my health (from bad allergic reactions) — went up eight-fold.
Then Aetna claimed it was a “pre-existing condition” for which I had not gotten proper pre-authorization. The “approval slip” to see the allergist said “6 appointments”, when it is well known (from my case history and from standard practice) that if you get allergy shots you receive regular appointments for a long time. I had to fight Aetna for 3.5 years, by which time I had switched jobs twice more and gotten two more different insurers… and I was still getting threatening letters about bills Aetna refused to pay! I have a whole folder of correspondences. Eventually my allergist agreed to “give up”, as it wasn’t my fault they were not getting their money, and the allergist eventually stopped threatening to ruin my credit rating (I paid all my copays on time or early!)
One should note that Aetna’s stock has risen 4 or 5 fold just since President Bush was first elected. So not paying bills has helped their stockholders.
But it gets worse still! My most recent primary care doctor sent me a letter saying that as of January 1, 2007, she would not longer accept ANY health insurance (which she referred to as “managed care”, though technically I was seeing her through a PPO rather than an HMO this last time). Instead of accepting health insurance, she has now become a “concierge physician”. This is a growing plague in the medical profession that alone merits a special investigative show somewhere! She now charges $300 per month ($500 for a married couple), paid on your credit card, for the privilege of “doctor access”. There is a three month cancellation notice required, and a minimum committment of three months. Appointments are then “free” unless you need tests or vaccinations or referrals, in which case you have to either have insurance for those or pay in cash or have other “concierge doctors” “on call” for your wife’s pregnancy or cancer or whatever you need. Needless to say I cannot afford to pay $300 per month for “exclusive doctor access”, so now I actually don’t have a “primary care” physician. “Care” being a euphemism here for “bleed patient like a leech”.
Her letter informing me of the new “concierge” practice did say she’d “miss” me… but I won’t actually miss my last doctor because when my cholesterol was high she told me in a LETTER (not even a phone call!) saying only “change your diet” or “take drugs”, with ZERO information on how I should change my diet, or referrals to places to get such information. Nor did she ever make any inquiries as to what I was actually eating, or what I started eating after the cholesterol test. She said in the letter that the best approach was to immediately go on pharmaceuticals, which is needlessly risky and expensive for the insurers too, compared to eating more broccoli and less Kentucky Fried Chicken. And it was silly to prescribe drugs without knowing anything at all about my diet.
Because of these kinds of issues, and knowing people who’ve had far worse (like being told to bring $4000 for their cancer operation or face dying of skin cancer…) I signed up as a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, and sent them my “Bush Tax Rebate” as a donation.
Thanks for making this movie!
June 16th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I am a 36 year old mother of 4. I live in California with my children. I have chronic back,neck and shoulder pain from a major car accident. I also suffer from a rare diease called Hydradenitis Suppurativa. Along with the chronic problems, I have had a complete hysterectomy as a result of multiple tumors. One with a growth unlike the others that led to damage of my bladder, which is now positiioned near my side in a hammack and my uritters (tubes leading from my kidneys) are taked up due to the weight of the tumors. I now only have one ovary that is starting to shrink., I have high blood pressure as a result from pre-clampsia during my last preganacy in 96′ with nearly led to me nearly having a stroke.
With all that said, I have no insurance. I cant get insured by anyone. Pre-exsisting conditions. I have gone to all of the major insurance providers on line and they either deny me or offer me the lease amount of coverage for $500 or above per month, just for me,not including the kinds. Since my last surgery in 2002, the hysterectomy and bladder surgery, I have had to file bankruptcy.
I applied for Medi-Cal during the time that I had my surgery. The surgery was covered. I was sent home from the hospital 3 days after my surgery. I became very ill over the 2 weeks that followed. Fever, horrible pain, I had to walk using a walker,I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t stand up straight or bathe myself. The doctors office told me I just had scar tissue and was healing and that I would be fine. Well I wasn’t. I had a seisure from a 103 temp and rushed to emergency less than 2 days after my doctor sent me away. I had developed an absess at the site where my bladder was sutured. I had a massive infection that was starting to shut down my organs. My doctor sent me home when I was slowly dieing. The ER Dr. told my family that I would have died if I had waited another 24 hours. I spent another 10 days in the hospital. More time than from my major surgery. I later found out that I was given a share of cost from Medi-cal. At the time I worked straight commision and was off work for 2.5 months. No money, no follow ups. Then I was denied at my dr.s office, the next month I had no medical at all.
I am in pain every day, but I have a $1600+ share of cost with Medi-Cal. I only make $2000 per month for the five of us. I have to pay the first $1600 of the bills and prescriptions before the “insurance” kicks in. What insurance?
It has been five yeas since my surgeru come 7/9/07. I haven’t gone back for my check ups in over 4 years. I have pain at the site where my bladder is when I stand or lift my arms over my head.
I have constant pain from the HS. They cause large sist in my breast, and lymph noids. I started getting that after I went to planned parenthood for birth control. They gave me the depo shot after I told them my previous doctor said the horomone levels where to high for me. When one of my breast swoll up, they refused to see me again. Thats a whole nother story.
I am swollen with edima in my legs from not having the lasix that I need for my high blood pressure pills. I am a walking mess because I can’t afford the $75 dr visit, $100 to $200 prescriptions per month and the anual mamgram to make sure the sist in my breast aren’t cancer and the list goes on.
I thank God every day that my children are healthy. They were all breast feed so I think that helped alot!
All of my kids are over 6 so they have no full Medi-cal benefits either.
I hope that this film will open the eyes of the politicians and the health care industry. There are so many people in this contry that are dieing every day for no reason. If the president spent more money on health care and the evrironment and less trying to kill anyone who doesn’t see the world throguh his eyes, maybe our kids wouldn’t be dieing. Maybe we couldn’t be slowly dieing because we cant go to the doctor or because the hospital see’s me as a welfare case and I get the “generic” health care.
I could go on all day but i am just getting pissed!
June 16th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Our health care system is definatly falling apart, people afraid to go to drs or hospitals for fear of not being able to pay, I know in my own case I am still paying on hospital bills from when my child was in the hospital,she was in one hospital an trasnfered to another farther away by ambalance, the second one they transfered her to was not in network so insurance only paid at 60 percent after deductables were met, then dr was not in network that they used there, an since they bill them as separate an not with the hospital you have to pay alot more,
Price went up for the insurance but insurance changed also to having to pay more deductibles out and copays. where use to be everything dr did was covered u just paid a 20 copay, now it is 25 dollar copay an if they do any extra blood work or exrays or what ever at the drs off u pay deductibles on them to, that is if the dr is still in your net work,lol, or then u have to pay even more. and everywhere u turn u lose, my health insurance is amalamated life out of new york, we have a drs book which we are supose to get our drs from an tells us what hospitals an other health care places we can use, but in this book it also tells you that at anytime these drs or other places may get out an not use your insurance any more, so you can call the insurance company too an get referals, ooo but when you do that they also tell you in a recorded message that what ever the real operator tells you may be wrong to when you get to the drs or other place they may have gotten out of your health care plan so you had better talk to the dr or place, then o yeah they have a web site you can go to to see all the health care providers, oh yeah but dont forget to read the fine print it also tells you that you may get there an they may not be in the network so check with the drs an hospitals. almost every time i have had my child to a dr i have had to send it back to the insurance for something, last year we got a new provider book that was supose to be handed out in jan we got it in feb, april i had to take my child to new dr because the old one was not in the network that seen her at the hospital, under the drs name was hospital that was used to, the dr sent her for test to this hospital, ended up they said dr was no longer in net work, i sent it back, it was finally decided he was in the network an i had to pay big deductible because our insurace changed an was activater retroativated back to when she was in hospital so i ended up having to pay alot more, but the hospital that dr sent her for test was not in the network no more, plus they only allowed so much of the charges plus i had 400 deductible, an we hadnt even had the durn book that long, i called the hospital an the insurance company trying to find out when exactly they got out of the net work, think i could find someone to tell me, ya right,lol, i asked the hospital was this test precertified, they looked an said no, i said why not on my insurance card it states things must be percertified, an if it wasnt percertified why was i not told that it wasnt, of course no one could answer, was directed to another party who could not answer, an one time accidently hung up on,lol, I THINK INSURANCES SHOULD BE HELD SOMEWHERE RESPOSIBLE FOR OUR NETWORK PROVIDERS, I can totally understand them not being able to send out a book to everyone when a provider gets out, but when they are online or as in one instance the real person i was talking to even made me an appointment with a dr,but when i got there was told by the dr they was no longer in the net work, so i could leave or pay more for the visit it was up to me, they gave me a name one time for me to take my child to, i had to take the day off work her outta school to get there an find out they were no longer in the net work, it was an hours drive from my home,an i had had the appointment for a few weeks an my child needed help,so of course i had to pay alot more so she could get some relief, there was only 2 drs in the book of that kind anyway an both in that same area, more than likely the other one wasnt in the book anymore either,lol, i did get lucky in the fact that the dr did give me alot of free medicine for her, THE INSURANCE COMPANYS NEED TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE, I think so too the more they save the better bonuses they get at the expense of health care for me an my daughter, i dont make that much money,im swimming in bills, i am paying them alittle at a time, one has already turned me over to one of them credit things,an i am just a drop in the bucket i know there are alot of people out there that are alot worse off then me,my heart really goes out to them,an woe to them that make these bosses make there workers try to save at the cost of some of these poor people, they just cant feel the concept of what it is really like to be poor or be afraid when you need to go to the dr, or afraid your not going to be able to eat because you have to go to the dr
June 16th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I had been waiting in the emergency room at Los Angeles County Hospital after being rushed there for severe complications of high blood pressure. After waiting 12 hours, I crawled outside the hospital gate and called for an ambulance. I was seen in the next hour.
I was unemployed, sick, had no insurance and was going to a county free clinic.
prologue
The hospital staff forged my signature to payment papers and 2 weeks later I receive a bill for $5,000.00 the hospital that nearly cost me my life wanted to bill me for the privilege. I had told them I was indigent and could not afford to pay. Oh, I paid all right.
June 16th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
My wife and I are 50 years old. We’re used to having no access to healthcare. I think the last time my wife managed to see a doctor was 11 years ago. I receive no health insurance through my job. I cannot afford health insurance. And when we did get health insurance through other employers in the past the deductables were too high so you could never get any tests or treatment, and the copayments were just like out of pocket for a doctors visit. So you’d pay to talk to someone, but beyond getting your blood pressure and heart rate checked there was no care. And if you got fired or quit, poof! There went your insurance. Not that it did much good anyway.
We’re raising four daughters. Luckily, they are covered by Medicaide (CHIPS). But, when these kids reach 18 they too will be cut off. I worry about them all, but mostly about my 15 year old, Sharon. She has type 1 diabetes and her pancreas doesn’t produce insulin. She needs insulin daily to stay alive & access to healthcare. But when she turns 18 she will be cut off. Oh, there’s some rule that if she goes to college they will extend it until she is 22. But if you get student financial aid they won’t extend it. So much for that option. We can’t afford the tuition.
Here in Idaho there is nothing for Sharon once she is off CHIPS. They will let her die.
Why does every western industrialized nation have healthcare as a righ of citizenship and our country promotes this immoral, healthcare for profit system?
We must change this.
June 16th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Michael Moore is going to wake up alot of people that need to know what can & does happen in our hospitals & nursing homes!
www.medical-malpractice-fwb-fl.com ALL TRUE STORY!
June 16th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Thank You!
June 16th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
I am an X-ray technologist, and after reading the comment from Sharon Pines, I wanted to make a comment. You talked about how your PCP didn’t order and xray because it wouldn’t show anything unless there was a “bony” issue, and it would be a complete waste. He’s correct! Unfortunately, your insurance company probably will not pay for the MRI that you really need until you have the xray first. This is because they want to go the cheaper route(not for you) before they pay 80%(if you are lucky) of the thousands of dollars it will cost for the MRI and the radiologists interpretation(always a separate bill). I see this EVERYDAY, and it makes me sick! When physicians order chest xrays for people that are having surgery, most of the time they do not give a diagnosis other than, “Pre-op”. This diagnosis doesn’t cut it in the insurance companies eyes. So I ask these patients ” have you had any problems with your chest or lungs?”, “have you been short of breath?”, ” have you had any chest pain?”, after asking a multitude of questions, and the patient still says no to all, i finally have to ask, ” have you ever coughed in your entire life??” haha that way i can put the patient has a history of cough, and that way their xray will get paid for! in my opinion, all pre-op chest xrays SHOULD be paid for! who’s to say that there isn’t a pre-existing condition in the lungs that the patient doesn’t know about that could interfere with the anesthesia? but, what do i know? America’s insurance is a JOKE.
June 16th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Last week, I went to my doctor’s office in Beth Israel Hospital for Benign Positional Vertigo. I have GHI HMO. After being seen for BPV, she decided that I needed some blood tests and urine analysis. Then she wanted me to make some appointments with a head and neck doctor, the breast imaging department and the gynecologist. Well, I made my appointments for head and neck and breast imagining. When I went to the gynecologist/ob department, they asked me what insurance do I have. I said I am referred by Dr. ______ and I have GHI HMO. The receptionist said, I don’t think we take that. I said to her that I have GHI HMO Medicaid. She looked in some book and then said to me that she does not take GHI HMO. I asked her if this department takes Medicaid. She said “We take Medicaid, but not Medicaid with GHI”. I walked out, tore up the appointment card and then called my doctor. I left a message with my doctor telling her I don’t know if I am going to have problems with breast imaging and head and neck because of GHI being attached to Medicaid. It was so much better to be without a job and have welfare and then get straight Medicaid. Medicaid covers everything without a problem. The only hitch is that in order to get covered without a problem, you must be destitute and on welfare or just be unemployed. It is a disaster that you have to be so dependent that you are kept out of the mainstream, kept dependent on society and never encouraged to excel because if you become a better person, your health care goes up or it is attached with loopholes, hitches and disclaimers. I am so disgusted and I cannot wait to see this film. I am sure most of the citizens of the United States give a thumbs up to Michael Moore. The only people that would not understand or feel that there is nothing wrong with this dispicable health care system are the rich or persons who have tons of health insurance that they don’t need.
June 17th, 2007 at 1:06 am
I have no experience with health care……I have no health care.
June 17th, 2007 at 1:30 am
My husband has had double hernias for over 15 years, and has put off getting operated on because we just haven’t have the money to pay for it. Our income is very sporadic and unpredictable. He has been using trusses to hold the hernias in.
Fortunately, he is going to be going on Medicare and Medicaid in the next year, so he will finally be able to get taken care of without worrying that we will lose our home. We have been thinking about what a relief it will be for him to not have to worry about paying for the first time ever.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Insurance is another example that our Government is NOT “for the people” (From Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address). So, what we are learning/have learned in history is wrong. I was on low income insurance, but, I thought I had a job that provided insurance - wrong. So, when I re-applied for my ‘low income’ insurance I was given unbelieveable stipulations. My present medical conditions would not be covered for one YEAR from my last appointment. However, I was expected to pay for insurance I would not be able to use! Hugh? And then when I get it back, I am only entitled to 4 doctor’s appointments a year. What is insurance for - certainly NOT those who truly need it. Rest assured, our Congresspeople and other high ranking governmental officials have no need for insurance, so, apparently, they do not believe anyone else does. If I had their income I am sure I could afford it. But, those of us trying to make a descent living without the help of Welfare… or those on Social Security are forgotten about - except at tax time. We deserve to get what we pay for and for our ‘powers that be’ to be held responsible. I have no interest in their jobs, but, I was not the one who went begging to get it (otherwise known as campaigning)! They are in office to SERVE, NOT to be served.
June 17th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
There seems to be a common thread of complaints running though most of these blogs.
1) Long waits in Emergency Rooms - Emergency Rooms are for emergencies and patients are seen on the bases of their emergency - tooth aches, drunks needing drying out or things that have been bothering you for days etc are not emergencies. However, the time taken up seeing these patients makes your waits longer. A car crash, chest pain, broken arms will come before a tooth ache in every ER in the country. Beside Tooth Aches should be seen by a Dentist, ER MD’s are not trained in dentistry - the most they can do is give you antibiotic.
2) Cost of emergency room visits - I agree they are very experience; however, what most people do realize is that only 4 out of 10 people in the lobby with you will never pay their bill. Therefore, those with insurance and the willingness/ability to pay their bills have to carry that burden so that everyone can get care. If it can wait till the next day or two to see a private physician, or if it can be handled by a urgent care center that day (what we in the industry call a ‘Doc In The Box’) your wait will be much shorter, it will cost less, and if you have insurance it’s more likely to cover the visit.
3) Hospitals have no control over the cost of drugs they are a consumer/purchaser for medications the same as their patients.
I have worked in private hospitals (own by corporations) and public/county hospitals. I agree as it appears it looks like Roger is going to show in his film the corporate hospitals are looking out for the stock holder. As we used to say they do a ‘wallet biopsy’ before they agree to treatment. Also, I’ve worked in corporate owned hospitals where your Insurance determined if you got ‘top shelf’ treatment. For that reason I’ve elected to spend most of my career in non-profit charity hospitals even though I could have make more money across the street at the corporate hospital.
You can’t look at the Health System in its entirety and come up with one solution.
IE: Hospitals are held hostage by the Insurance Companies the same as the patient and the Physicians. Unfortunately, these costs are passed on to the patients.
Physicians are customers to Hospitals the same as a patient is. Hospitals have to encourage Physicians to use them or to come to their community if they are the only Hospital in the area. This cost is passed on to the patients. Yet people want to lump them all together.
Insurance Companies have tried to lower Health Cost by refusing payment etc. on certain procedures. This practice of refusing payment is not strictly to the patient its applied to Hospitals as well, the in turn have to employ staff to fight these rulings and this cost is passed on to the patient.
The refusal to pay for a service or delaying the delivery of a service is not much different then Socialized Medicine as found in Europe and Canada. Both systems have their good points and bad points. Example:
I worked for an U.S. Company in Canada for 4 years. My Canada co-workers were tickled to death to have U.S. Health Insurance. When I asked them why they told me they were then able to get a room with only one other patient in it with them, the waiting list for “elective” surgeries were eliminated. IE: One coworker would have had to wait 9 months to have his “free” knee surgery so that he could walk without assistance. He went to the U.S. saw a Doctor and had the surgery the next week. Had he had U.S. Health Insurance at the time in Canada he would have gotten the same treatment in the same time period in Canada, because it would have been paid for by someone other then the Canadian Health Care System.
June 17th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I’m from New Zealand. Our population is about 4 million people, kinda like a big city really, and we have a healtcare system that a lot of people have problems with. But from my own experience its pretty good.
When I was 15 is dislocated my left knee playing rugby for my high school. It was a serious injury that has left me partially paralysed (below the knee), and has required another operation to enable me to walk without the requirement of a brace. After the injury I required around a years worth of physio, three times a week.
The two operations were around 4 - 5 hours in length (each)and required a stay in hospital of around a week (each), now to be honest I have no idea how much the operations cost, but I sincerly doubt that they were cheap. Couple that with a two week stay in hospital, all the food, drugs, x-rays and so forth I really start to think it costed far more that what my parents could have afforded (Mechanic and Market Researcher). When I got out, my mother had to take time off work to look after me and take me to my tri-weekly physio appointments which I know are around $40 each.
And what did my parents pay in total?
$2 for the physio trips each, my mother got paid by the New Zealand govenment to look after me (go social welfare) and the operations and hospital stay cost absolutly nothing at all. Other than presents for me….
If I had hurt my knee playing football (soccer) or american football or ice hockey or something I would dread to think how I would have fared in America.
Maybe the example isn’t something that can be compared between the two countries, maybe the cost and treatments would have been the same, I don’t know. What I do know is that the treatment I recieved is what I consider to be the standard. It was stressful enought for my parents and I, with-out the overhanging fear that in the end my health was going to come with a heafty price tag, after all that’s why my parents pay tax for all their lives, to use the health care system.
My father passed away about 5 years ago (evil cancer). He had recieved a kidney transplant 20 odd years ago (free) and dialysis (spelling? but free). For reasons unknown to me, the kidney effected the treatment of the cancer somehow, meant he couldn’t receive a certain type of radiation treatment and as such he was turned away by the health care system, saying that whatever this treatment was it would not work, it would only cause him pain.
My dad’s GP however thought otherwise, and wrote a letter demanding that he should recieve the treament regardless of the outcome, as he deserved to recieve whatever healthcare was avalaible, regardless of the odds. Providing of course that in him recieving it it didn’t deny someone else from having it. He recieved the treatment, he passed away anyway. And it still cost my family nothing (financially). An example I like to think of as person first, money second.
I would hope that this type of care would be standard in America, and Europe (would be nice for it to be like that everyhere…). If it isn’t then there is something seriously wrong. If a small county like New Zealand can do it, it shows if nothing else that it can be done. Im not trying to blow my own tumpet, and New Zeland has its share of trouble if you ask around, but personally it’s done me well.
Basically
Excuse + poor health care system still equals poor health care system. And the old saying actions speak louder than words apllies too……..
June 17th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Thank you, Michael for making this movie. You are more important to humanity that the sum of the warmongering Bush administration! Please liberate us.
And, I can say to all from experience - never leave the side of your loved one when they are in a private hospital. And never get sick - because you truly have everything you need as long as you have your health.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
I worked in the medical field in Las Vegas for just over seven years. I worked in the administrative end handling insurance, referrals, etc. I have read through some of the commentaries above and most of the stories are familiar and repetative. What I find interesting is that no one has mentioned the gross disparity between the costs that insurance companies pay for medical services for their clients vs. what cash paying patients are forced to pay for treatment.
Insurance companies contactually agree to certain fees for service and regardless of what the hospital or medical centers charge for said service, the insurance companies only have to pay the agreed to amount. The same discounts do not apply for cash paying patients. Examples:
1) Let say a standard doctors visit (not hospital) was $80 and the insurance contractually agreed to pay $39.50, then that is all they have to pay and the rest is “written off”. — NOT for a cash paying patient. They are responsible for the entire $80; no discounts apply.
2) I once checked out a patient and was entering their charges in the computer; office visit, shots, gauze, etc. I was shocked to see that the patient was charged $11.00 for a band-aid. I am sure an insurance company agreed to pay $.12 cents for that band-aid but this poor cash paying patient had to pay the $11.00.
I could list a whole slew of other offenses regarding this issue but I am sure you get the idea. Where are the discounts for the under-priviledged? Why are the discounts for the insurance companies? This seems a bit lopsided, doesn’t it? If an insurance company gets to pay $.12 cents for a band-aid, why doesn’t everyone pay that amount? Why are cash paying patients, the ones in need of the most financial assistance, left holding the bulk of the medical financial load?
June 17th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I’ve had spontaneous pnuemothorax twice, once in each lung. The first time I was still under my parents insurance. The hospital bill was 30,000. Almost a year later I had the exact procedure on the other lung. But that time it only cost 8,000 because I didn’t have insurance.
I was disgusted at how hospitals can have such an outrageous price difference for the exact same procedure. I understand that business is business, but people should always be before profits. Greed will be this countries downfall if obscene profits and money hungry corporations continue to run the government.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:03 am
I currently work in healthcare in an medical intensive care unit. I can tell you from lots of experience the system is awful!! It is so broken, it is sad. I just want to go to work and take care of my patients. But, it seems impossible. Hospitals themselves are run by corporate america. It seems to me that patient care doesn’t even take the number one priority. We work short staffed with high expectations from upper management because corporate is on their butts. There is a major shortage of nurses, which is due to in part to the lack of funding by our government to produce nurses. We are overworked, under staffed, and under paid. To all of those who have had a bad experience, I am sorry. We are worked like dogs. It’s all about numbers and money.
Having to deal with all of the uninsured breaks my heart. A majority of people I take care of are uninsured, especially the mentally ill. The financial workers are like devils. They will come into our unit, an ICU and ask patients about their bill (if they cannot provide mnoney, they ask them if they have a credit card). They are ill and should not have to deal with that added stress.
Health care should be free, or at least not a choice between food and medicine. Why do we take care of our illegal immigrants with no social security number, and not our own citizens?
Why are our pockets getting littler and theirs getting deeper? It is corrupt and the federal government SHOULD fix it, but those who have everything seem to forget those who keep this country running. I would like to see our administration live a year as a regular citizen of this country who has to work 3 jobs just to tread water and prevent drowning from bills…..
They suck!!
June 18th, 2007 at 9:03 am
MY RECEINT HEALTH CARE HORROR STORY
Currently between jobs and therefor uninsured, I want to scream whenever someone tries to push another makeshift stop-gap low-income insurance plan on me. Last winter I had strep throat and sat for an hour after running around to get and give proper income/address records while the representative of one of these low-income plans figured that the $800 per month i receive in unemployment benefits was $34 too much to qualify for the plan.
I waited a day thinking maybe I would get better and save the $100 the clinic wanted up front. When I got worse…I hurt so much I started to not care how much it cost. What difference would it make in I died debt free, I realized.
I went back to the clinic and said I would pay up front and wait until a doctor or nurse could see me. After an hour or so a nurse called me in and asked me what the problem was. I could barely speak and was choking back tears.
“Strep Throat.”, I croaked.
She asked how I knew. I said that I had had it before. She told me I would have to make an apointment and come back the next day.
I hurt so bad I really WANTED to die so as to be in less pain…I walked to the emergency room and waited eight hours for a shot that instantly made me feel better.
The bill was $400.
I had strep several times as a youth and a quick trip to Wilford Hall with maybe an hour wait was all it took to walk away with a filled prescription for anti-biotic or a shot in the rear. There was never any bill.
June 18th, 2007 at 11:46 am
American health care is a joke. It has become nothing more than shopping for any important item, like a car. If you don’t do your own research, you will get screwed (and screwing with your own health is certainly worse than buying a lemon). You pretty much have to go into the doctor’s office knowing what is wrong with you, especially if it is something uncommon. Every doc has so little time that they diagnose the first thing they can think of that fits, resulting in more trips to the pharmacy for meds you don’t need cause they got your diagnosis wrong. Conversely, if you really want to, you can work the system to your advantage, getting pain meds, sleeping pills, etc by sounding intelligent and leading the doctor to the conclusion that gets the pill you want. THIS IS ESPECIALLY PREVAILANT IN THE MENTAL HEATH FIELD. Psychiatrists are now simply writting scripts to patients they see once or twice a year. Of course, lots of people like this approach better cause they like the pills, but come on, what ever happened to actually helping people, not letting them get hooked on meds they don’t need.
June 18th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
The simple fact is that no one sector knows how the WHOLE system works…people in the operations division(i.e. MD’s, RN’s, etc) have no clue how the financial division works(i.e. the profit margin required to build another facility), the finance people have no clue what health care is required(i.e. accountants making medical decisions), and the drug companies have absolutely no intention of creating cures…healthy people don’t pay into the system…when everyone becomes aware of the sad cycle of business that is health care it becomes clear…we wait in long lines because of UNDERSTAFFING(ask any doctor or nurse when they last worked a forty-hour work week), we pay hefty bills because you can’t buy a-la-carte products, but instead need the package deal to get the single item you need…we pay ridiculous prices for drugs because we subsidize the world’s research and development of new drugs…we pay ridiculous room charges because HEalth Companies are trying to expand their business, and the typical cost of a hospital room, indeed the unit by which bean-counters do their calculations, is currently over $250,000(I’m in Construction Mngmnt and these figures are low-ball, believe me), and the trend is to construct smaller hospitals in more places with each having a specialty…these are just the tip of the empirical evidence…when ANYTHING has a profit motive it seems to corrupt the whole system, figuratively and literally…despite what people may think about competition in a capitalist market, don’t be so naive and realize that there are HUGE business concerns functioning as pseudo-fascist conglomerates…what kind of society allows plastic surgeons who augment breast and noses to make more than an ER doctor? What kind of scoiety pays actors and athletes the kind of money we should be paying health care providers, teachers, law enforcement, soldiers, construction workers, factory workers? WHO?: AMerica…where we need bigger and better everything and pay non-producing people millions for mostly crap. Steven Spielberg may be a great director, George Clooney may be a great actor, but do they really produce anything that we can tangibly utilize as huamns and find the value in? Personally, I think the US looks like the late Roman Empire more, and more…prepare for the internal collapse.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I know and understand the poor condition of our healthcare system. With all the negativity, I thought I could add a positive for once. I feel rather fortunate we have a good health insursance provider. Five years ago, I underwent a liver transplant. Before the transplant, I was assigned a special care provider, to help take care of anything I needed, in the way of medical issues. After the transplant,I started to receive pages upon pages of bills from all that were involved. After contacting my insurance provider, I was informed all those pages were just copies of the billings and to just place them in my files. I paid nothing, not even for any phone calls I made at the hospital. I received excellent care at the transplant hospital,and I have always received excellent care from my regular PC and from all involved in my recover. This probably won;t be posted since it is a positive instead of the negatives that Michael Moore wants. By the way, I am a member of an HMO…
June 18th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Also, in England you pay less taxes and you do not wait in the emergency room. I lived there and it was much better for my health care maintenance.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Lucky for me, I live in the Netherlands. Here insurance companies are not like in the USA. YEAH RIGHT, NOT!
Insurance companies are getting more and more like in the US. First they charge almost 2x the money it was before the reforms the goverment did and now they are complaining the do not make a profit.
Think this madness is contagious?
June 18th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
You did not even mention the military/government healthcare, Tricare. You ought to look into that system what a joke. Sometime waiting for a referral and you still do not get it. Look into that.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
I had horrible stomach pains for 10 hours and had my husband take me to the hospital. They insisted I was having a bad pregnancy i told them no and that i have a history of chrones disease in the family…they ignored me, tested me with blood tests and ultra sounds and decided i was not pregnant. They then sent me home and told me to see a stomach specialist. Even with insurance the bill i received for the hospital to treat me meanly and send me home… $700. The moral is I will never go to the ER again unless i have a limb hanging off of me.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Health Care in America means medical care for the rich and death bed for less than rich. I hope I never have to be admitted to the hospital. Medical sickness may or may not kill me but doctors bills certianly would.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
After reading many of the comments above I can sympathize with much of them.
Some of you are worried about socialized medicine causing taxes to rise yet I have to wonder if you have ever added up the cost of your premiums, co-pays, unapproved expenses and out-of-pocket expenses (i.e. over the counter meds and supplies)that you pay out each year to have your insurance coverage. I think that if you did you would find that you are paying more than you can imagine for your health care privileges and that paying more in taxes instead of all those costs would cost you less overall per year.
Example:
Your family premium is $450.00 per month=$5400.00 per year
Your deductible is is $2500. X 2persons =$5000.00 per year
Without all the co-pays and the out-of pocket, non covered, and out of network expenses you are already suppose to pay $10,400 per year before your insurance will cover your families healthcare needs.
Surely, paying a little more in taxes would be less expensive than paying all of that.
June 18th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
After a routine phyiscal, my very healthy husband was told over the telephone three weeks after the fact, that he had Hep. B, his blood could not be retested, and he had to go to an infectious control doctor right away. He went to a hospital that his relative works at to have it retested since he is very healthy and nothing in his lifestyle would support his having Hep. B. Guess what? It was a mishandling of his blood by the first lab. We no longer have confidence in the health care system.
June 18th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
The US system is a corporate welfare system that’s why it dosn’t work. However a socialist system dosn’t work if you want to have liberty. The only system that will work in a republic is a free market system where the federal government is not in the wallet of the insurance companies & pharma!
June 19th, 2007 at 7:18 am
My daughter was put on anti-depressants. These anti-depressants increased the severity of her depression, and she became suicidal. She cut up her arms and legs beyond belief. So what do the doctors do? Increase the medication! They told me it wasn’t a strong enough dose! She ended up in a mental care facility! I read online that anti-depressants can increase the severity of depression, and I had to argue with her doctor for over an hour, that I wanted her OFF this drug! He didn’t want to take her off! I finally got my way, and she was taken off (over a four week period of time), and has been FINE ever since! No more cuts, no more depression! But could I SUE the drug company and/or doctor that had almost killed my daughter, and caused her to have scars on her arms and legs, and attempt suicide from this drug? The very people who put my life through 8 months of living hell? NO! Absolutely NOT! Because in MICHIGAN, if the FDA approves the drug, you cannot sue the manufacturer or prescribing doctor! My life has been a financial hell since, paying for all the medical bills and facilities that wouldn’t cover her care. GREAT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM WE HAVE HERE. JUST GREAT. THEY ALMOST KILLED MY DAUGHTER, AND WALK AWAY SCOTT FREE.. If you’ve had similar incidents and need to talk, contact me at sdumbaz@yahoo.com. I understand your pain! God Bless.
June 19th, 2007 at 7:59 am
The problem with the American health care system is analogous to the problem with the American government, which is analogous to the problem with the educational system in America. Number one, the wrong people are running it, and number two, put the professionals in the system truly in charge. Our health care system started to go downhill as soon as the insurance companies started running it. The lawyers are running our government, enough said about that. However, if we can put the teachers in charge of our education system, and the doctors in charge of our health care system, and tax the bejesus out of those who are not health care professionals (I am one, admittedly), specifically the lawyers and insurance companies, this may help.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:13 am
I am a 29 year old law school student (not the one who commented above), and for my entire adult life, I have only had health insurance for 1.5 years. During my early twenties, I worked sh*t jobs in restaurants and customer service, often holding down two jobs at once for upwards of 80 hours per week. None of these jobs provided health insurance.
After years of hard work with little reward, I landed a dream job that provided health care at a reasonable rate. A year later came the attacks on 9-11. Six months later, due to a sharp decline in sales as a result of 9-11, they closed my customer service center for good.
I finally wised up and went back to school, putting myself through by working as a security guard at night. I did not get insurance during this time, because the rates were approximately 1/4 of what I made per month and the copays were obscene. This resulted in great personal hardship, and a lot of times in which I did not go to the doctor when I should have. Student health only covered basic medication for illnesses such as the flu, but that is better than my current school, which provides nothing.
Just after my undergraduate career, I met my wife. During our first year together, she was diagnosed with gaul-bladder problems. The hospital refused to help her, because she did not have health insurance and her situation was not an emergency. A year later, when it finally did become an emergency, they removed her gaul-bladder and sent her a $45,000 bill. By this time, I was beginning law school.
My wife dropped out of college to work full time, since I am only allowed to work part time. The hospital has now caught up with her and is garnishing 25% of her pay each pay period. As such, she cannot afford health insurance. I cannot get health insurance since the school will not allow me to work more than 20 hours per week.
Our current plan is to wait it out through my last three semesters, then for my wife to return to school full-time and not work. It will take four years for her to finish her undergraduate and master’s work, during which time we intend to force the hospital to settle.
The health care system in this country is a joke. The idea that only lazy people can’t get health care is a myth. I have worked harder than anyone I know, and I have never had adequate health care. It is only my good health that has saved me. I just feel sorry for the cashiers, customer service reps, janitors and other working class heroes that will never qualify for adequate health care under our current system. In three semesters, I will finally have health insurance and be able to start my family. Until then, I just hope that I don’t get sick.
June 19th, 2007 at 11:52 am
my mother had cervical cancer and NO doctor would operate on her without insurance (which neither of my parents have ever had, or me and my sister). it took months and months to finally find someone who would do it, only because they knew my grandfather from the military. and she’s had to lay outside the emergency room as well, for HOURS because they wouldn’t admit her right away without insurance. also, i had a mole removed from my leg that cost over $400 dollars because i had no health insurance.
also, its definately true that there will NEVER be a cure for cancer or aids in this country because of the profit system. the american pharmaceutical industry will never allow it, because only treatments that you have to pay for the rest of your life, will ever even come into existence in this country. we need a change and the time is now.
June 19th, 2007 at 11:55 am
oh and you people are idiots if you think this is bush’s fault. this country has NEVER had free health care for all citizens. its ALWAYS been a problem, and only we can change it. this has nothing to do with the war, it has to do with the profit system and the american health care/insurance/pharmaceutical industries greed!
June 19th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
I am a retired Paramedic. I have seen it all as far as patient care. I have had Dr’s hold the back of our ambulance doors closed preventing us from bringing uninsured patients into the E.R. with head injuries. I have been turned around inside the ER with a OBGYN/Breach in progress and told to go to a public hospital. I have seen patients die due to lack of ins. in the hospital. 25 years of BS because of insurance co. and hospitals who wont treat. Thanks Mike for bringing this out.
June 19th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Okay, the first thing that has happened recently: I went in to take a pap test, found out that it was abnormal, but by that point, I had been sent lab fee bills for a total of $540. And no, I don’t currently have health insurance currently.
Second thing that happened: I had an accident, where I had gashed my thumb with a super sharp knife at a friend’s house and had to go to an urgent care clinic for treatment. They used dermabond glue to seal the wound back together. This was all that they did. A few weeks later, I get a bil for $777!! Yes, indeed, that was one expensive little tube of dermabond! That’s quite a mark up: from $24 per tube to over seven hundred dollars. I also got a break down on what I was being charged for the pap test lab fees, and they charged $80 for a lab tech to take a swab of one of the cultures. Now keep in mind all, that these tests are crucial for women to have taken to ensure health, and to detect cervical cancer early. This is serious business.
Ironically, I am studying inregrative medicine and acupuncture, so I can help people stay healthy, but this country certainly doesn’t seem to have my back covered, does it?
-An annoyed and and angry citizen.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:42 am
There is no excuse for our Government to not be providing Americans with the best healthcare coverage in the world. This requires that the healthcare providers be rewarded, the healthcare profiteers curtailed, and the American people lavished. The Michael Moore movie will awaken the public in ways that can make a difference and ultimately save millions of lifes by fixing the most important service we need: Healthcare
June 20th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
If this White House dares to so much as touch Michael Moore they will generate even much more buzz around the US release of SICKO scheduled for next Friday and Moore will become a martyr in the best sense of the word.
Moore is untouchable now as SICKO, his best movie to date, will generate energy that will keep health care as the domestic issue that will elect our next president.
Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa
http://medicalcrises.blogspot.com
June 20th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
My husband had to have emergency surgery 3 years ago for a ruptured colon. It was caused by the first emergecy surgery for a ruptured colen. At that time that took in apendex without his permision and then did not properly close the area. So 18 months later that area became infected and then ruptured. The second surgery was done by interns without the supervision of resident doctors. My poor husband was not able to protest and he had no family members to speak in his behave. In the process of correction there error from the 1st surgery they cut his prostate which remains damaged. People need to know that this is just a industry of butchers in business to make a profit. Thanks Micheal Moore for speaking out. Joyce from Madison WI
June 21st, 2007 at 7:52 am
My beautiful Son Nathaniel was diagnosed with Diabetes at 6 Months Old… 6 MONTHS OLD!!! I was working at Wal-Mart and my husband had just lost his Job, We could not afford cobra insurance and we were approved for Medicaid, Fairy Tale situation right? Well, turns out, I got a way better job, My Husband went back to work and of course we made too much money a month to sustain medicaid. Because I had just started my job I would not qualify for company paid insurance untill 90 days..THREE MONTHS.. My INFANT SON needs Insulin to LIVE. He will DIE without insulin. So, I could not keep Medicaid and I had no insurance through my work. Anthem quoted our insurance premiums to be more expensive then our RENT. I turned to my Social Worker…SHE TOLD ME TO STOP WORKING OR GO BACK TO WAL MART MAKING MIN. WAGE!!!!!!! SO Basically I either sit at home and not pay my rent, or my car payment so my son can have insurance OR Pay for Insurance INSTEAD OF MY RENT!! So what can I do? I Got a SECOND job to pay for the Insurance…Do NOT even get me started on CHILDCARE!!!!! I am so Angry, Michael you are my HERO. PLEASE PLEASE be our Voice!! I cannot WAIT to see your movie. Next topic should be STEM CELL RESEARCH!! A Woman makes 4 million eggs in her lifetime..Does that mean she should have four million children? According to Bush each embryo is a life, Hell, the eggs I don’t get fertilized in my body go down the Toilet Ha ha…He surrounded himself with children, Healthy wonderful children, and used them as the reason why he Veto’ed the bill for funding stem cell research…I bet I could have filled the White house with Sick children, those with Diabetes and shown him a hell of a alot better reason to FUND Stem cell research. Diabetes has stolen my son’s childhood. I feel sometimes like a pacreas instead of a parent. God Bless you Michael Moore.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I have read all the postings here and cannot anything but nod with recognition of it all. As a Primary Care Physician that sees these tragedies EVERY DAY, I can only add that for all these stories, I have worse ones and more. The biggest problem with our healthcare system is that prevention and comprehensive healthcare is non-existant. PCP’s are forced by insurance agents to see 30 patients a day whther they want to or not. Specialts are there whenever things are out of control, because we did not practice good care to begin with. Unneccessary tasts and hospitalizations that often are not needed become a neccessity in order to cover every single microscopic incident so the lawyers don’t bite us in the back afterwards.
One one hand, some insurance-clerk with a bachelor’s in “healtcare management” tells me I CAN NOT send a child for respiratory lung tests, or that a terminal cancer patient’s hospitalization for chest pain is “not covered” and on the other hand lawyers are circling above like greedy vultures waiting for us to do the tiniest mistake.
I have scaled down practicing medicine and is strongly considering leaving medicine for good and do something else. I feel horrible for my patients every day I see them in the eye and have to waive them out of the office after 5 minutes when they have been waiting forever to see me. The politicians are unwilling to do anything of real value and it doesn’t matter whether they got an R or a D behind their tag.
I am looking forward to Mr Moore’s movie. In most other issues, I disagree with most things MM says, but this in this issue he seems to have focused the laser beam of reality RIGHT ON.
I
June 23rd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I can’t wait to see this movie!!
I’m an R.N., and I see the healthcare system first hand, and it is beyond messed up!! I don’t even know where we would begin to fix things.
Maybe Michael Moore’s movie will help. Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth brought alot of attention to global warming and inspired many to take action, maybe Sicko will do the same.
June 24th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Dear Mr. Moore,
Just saw a sneak preview of your movie and LOVED it! Wanted to tell you how entirely vindicated I felt, as you said things I have been saying for YEARS and others have fobbed off, and I think you said them in ways that people will hear. Thank you so very much for this much-needed consciousness-raising.
One issue you captured indirectly, if not naming it specifically, is the extreme classism that seems to be growing like a weed in our beloved country. We not only hold people financially responsible for sickness and injury, we hold them morally responsible for sickness, injury AND their financial situations. This is destroying the innate lovingkindness in or fellow citizens.
Now a little bit about my story. I’m a disabled physician who can’t do anything she trained to do, can’t pay off my crushing educational debts (I grew up in a middle class home; my parents didn’t have money to send me to med school and I couldn’t work enough THEN to pay my own way through med school as I had through college), had to declare bankruptcy due not only to medical debts but a bad business deal with a rural practice (the health insurers didn’t pay me for a vast majority of the work I did in a SOLO family practice), and I can’t even get Medicaid or Social Security for Disabled People, because I “could” work (Sure, I could, but no one would hire me because they couldn’t pay for health insurance for a person disabled by the complications of a rare genetic disorder). I live in a friend’s basement in exchange for dog-sitting and what few household chores I can do–which, technically, I’m supposed to have help doing for MYSELF, much less for someone else.
My doctor is someone I used to work with who is getting frustrated because she doesn’t want me to have to make the decisions between food and medicines–I’m a DOCTOR, for heaven’s sake!–but I still do. I’ve been out of my pain medicine for 3 months–but I haven’t really needed it much, as I haven’t worked in that time. Oh, well.
At least I’m happier than I was while working as a doctor for indigent patients, fighting the health insurance companies for needed services and medicines. Can’t say I don’t miss my old life, though, and standing up before a conference full of family doctors and asking the gadfly question, “Why are there so many seminars on ‘working WITH the insurance companies to ___’? Doesn’t EVERYONE see the insurance companies are there to keep the money FROM us so they can report record profits to stockholders?”
Ah, yes. Those were the wild, good-old liberal days. Early 1990s.
Keep up the great work, Mr. Moore! I LOVE to see you prove the Emperor has no clothes.
Might I suggest you “go after” what passes for capitalism in this country and the invisible, secret class war next?
Much love from an adoring fan!
Sheri D. Wahlen, MD, “young retired/disabled”
June 25th, 2007 at 8:07 am
I have been writing my Republican Congressman, Peter King, asking for support of the Universal healthcare bill proposed by Congressmen Conyers & Kucinich (HR676)for several years.
In 2001, a friend of mine had his 28 year old daughter-in-law, the mother of three young children, die from drowning in her bathtub. She and her husband were between jobs,uninsured, and chose ‘incorrectly’ between her anti-seizure medicine and food for their kids. The electric company turned off their power the day of her funeral. If she lived in Canada, she would still be alive.
In this very wealthy nation, full of resources, this woman’s death, and the 28,000 similar ones per year, should be considered murder.
I hope this movie shakes the stupid, greedy healthcare system of America down to its roots. Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Detaching insurance from employment will create jobs and improve the economy. Employers think twice about creating full time jobs now.
I am still waiting for my Congressman’s reply. Maybe I should send him a complimentary ticket to Sicko.
June 25th, 2007 at 10:47 am
As for the extremely long wait in the majority of ER’s across the U.S., this is because most of America abuses the ER. What I mean by this is rather than go to their primary care physician for the chest cold they have had for 3 weeks, they go to the ER. The ER should not be used as a clinic, but so many people in America abuse the use of the ER, then complain when they have to wait for extended periods of time. I mean after all the is an Emergency Center, shouldn’t that mean we are taking care of emergencies?
June 25th, 2007 at 11:24 am
I had an epileptic fit in 2004, in which I was rightly taken to hospital, had 1001 checks, and came out. I was billed by NOT ONLY the hospital and the ambulance, but by the ****ing fire brigade in Bristol, TN, who felt the need to come out with the freaking ambulance.
I had another one in 2005, where I had to tell the ambulance people that I had had an epileptic fit, and didn’t need 1001 scans. In fact, the only way they managed to stop giving the scans- which I didn’t want - was by me saying that I would REFUSE TO PAY FOR IT. It worked!
In the UK (where I live), you are asked what happened and a judgement is made. In the USA, they don’t bothere to ask you, they just give you a hell of a lot of scans and charge you later. Hmmm…and we wonder why companies such as Wellmont do so well, eh?
But the problem is not just with the healthcare, it’s with the ambulance-chasing lawyers and patients who want to sue someone for a mistake…It makes things even worse. What happened to “Let your no be no, and your yes be yes??”
June 25th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
I once had a allergic reaction from MSG (after eating at a chinese resturant). It felt like a heart attack (with some the same symptoms). I passed out on the floor and was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. After brought in the ER, they felt nothing was wrong with me for the time being so they put me in the waiting room where I waited for 2 hours before my parents decided to take me to another hospital. Good thing it wasn’t really a heart attack.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
GKC:
Amen
June 25th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
ALL I AM SAYING IS “SOYLENT GREEN” 1973 CHARLTON HESTON,NYC YEAR 2022,CHECK IT OUT.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
I worked in the hospital industry for over 5 years. I’ve seen some things that would make the average person sick.
In New York, patients without healthcare coverage are assessed at higher rates than patients with coverage.
I should know, I’ve seen it and billed health care bills for people for a long long time.
Anyway, self pay patients as they’re called, are billed at a rate that’s up to 30 percent higher than patients that have health care coverage. Primarily because hospitals negotiate rates with insurance providers for procedures, laboratory testing, among other services.
The insurance companies won’t tell you that they send you a bill that says something like 5000 dollars paid, but in the end, they only pay 20 to 50 percent of that cost and the hospital is “writing off” the rest.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield is a prime example. They pay less than half of what a procedure or test “actually” costs, well, half of what the hospital says it should cost.
Hospitals also mark up procedure costs up to 100 percent depending on the insurance company and the patient’s health care coverage. Basically, if they can pay and will pay it, the hospital will take every cent they can get for it.
So, it’s not just the insurance companies raking in the money, it’s also the hospitals and think twice when they say “Not for Profit” on them as well, because that’s what they’re out for, profit. Most of them are managed and run by corporations, the names of which are kept secret from even the employees.
I mean, I worked for one facility for over 3 years, no one ever mentioned which non profit corporation owned the facility, but all I knew is that we reported to a faceless, nameless “overlord”.
So…thank you Mr. Moore, it’s about damn time someone said something about this mess.
June 25th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
So, the US market-driven healthcare system is supposed to provide the best secondary and tertiary care at the drop of a hat?
Its going to take me 2 frigging months to see a dermatologist about a ugly wart on my face. A wart my GP tried to get rid of for 3 months. And I have the best insurance a person of my income level (Graduate student) could have. I even work in a medical center. Truth be told, I’m googling “wart removal home remedies”
June 26th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Because I was monitored for 23 hours in the hospital, medicare wokuld not pay for the medicine that I take daily. The hospital charged me $711.oo for these medications. How unbelievable is that?
June 26th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Go easy on the government and corporations, Mr. Moore. The bourgeois of this country can’t afford to give us decent health care AND have two personal jets at the same time now can they?
June 26th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I see there are many stories about healthcare running amuck! Well my story is probable no different that most people on this page. I share this story in memory of a wonderful lady I spent my whole life loving…. my mom!
My mother had a car accident that almost took her life. With the love of our family and friends we nursed her back to health over a years time.
About 15 years after the accident, we where planning my wedding and she was feeling ill. We went to the hospital and Her doctor decide to take her into for test. To our suprise and dismay,the doctor found surgical gauze that was left in her body by accident during her surgery 15 years ago. The gauze started to decay inside her body and that was the cause of her sudden illness. While they where doing the surgery they also saw same harding of organs(pacreas and liver) around the gauze but no one mentioned that to us at that time. After the surgery Her doctor claimed she was fine.
About two years later my mother was diagnosis with 4th stage pancreactic cancer, of course she died about 7 months after the diagnosis.
The healthcare system her doctors who every you want to name let her down. With proper care and two years lead time on the diease she could still be alive today or at the very least extended her life! Maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part, but I still think
she had a shot at a longer life.
Thank you for letting me share my mom’s story!
June 26th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Yeah, it’s broke. The health care system in America is broke. But the elite fascists in this country have broken it on purpose so they can fix it and bring us a government-run health care system. (you know - build the dragon - slay the dragon kind of thing)
Just ask yourself - Has anything good ever came out of more government?
June 26th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
My little brother kept saying he didn’t feel good, but he couldn’t afford to go to a doctor. This went on for two weeks. I told him to go anyway, and he said he’d make an appointment. I got a call two days later. He was dead from liver failure.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I have had insurance deny everything from a prescription for insulin for my Type 1 Diabetic Child, to Synthroid for my Thyroid disease. I have had them tell me that I had to take other medication because it wasn’t covered.
Just 2 weeks ago I sat for 10 hours in the emergency room with my 12 year old diabetic child waiting to see a doctor because she fell down the stairs. I wound up getting up because her blood sugar was going too low and telling them I needed to see a doctor immediately or I would be forced to leave with my daughter. They then told me that there were no doctors available to see her with my insurance. So I would have to wait until morning to see one. I left the hospital at 1am. Went to my PCP at 9 am and it turns out my daughter broke her tail bone. The PCP put her on pain killers and kept her out of school for a week.
I HATE INSURANCE Companies. Making money off the pain and misery of others is wrong. And it must be stopped. But sorry to say this movie will not change the minds of millions of Americans who just say “the grass isn’t always greener” and start listing all the problems that happen in socialized medicine. Even with this movie proving most wrong, there are many who live in other countries who DO come here for better medical care. But they are the ones who can afford to come here.
I just hate that we are cannot really change things because the minority actually rules the majority in this country.
June 26th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Mike you said “We have a population of 300 Million People, Canada has 30 Million People, the UK has 60 Million, HUNGARY has 9 Million People, that is like comparing apples to oranges. Where do we come up with that much money? Where do we come up with money to cover a flock of immigrants that will come to obtain free health coverage?”
We already pay for socialized things, fire department, library, police. These are all things which we pay for with taxes. Thousands of dollars are paid each year to insurance companies for medicare, and other “premium” insurances. However we could easily pay the same amount across the board so that all are covered.
Illegal immigrants should not be covered and should not get coverage. Yet they do now. They go to the hospital and they get treated just like any other citizen. Just like CRAP!
My daughter is a Type 1 Diabetic. She was diagnosed in October of 2006. Since that time the insurance company has denied claim after claim and they are starting a process of researching if she had diabetes before we got the insurance. Now of course she had diabetes before coverage, it was just undiagnosed and no one knew she had it. Now they can deny everything. She was hospitalized for 2 weeks with DKA. Intensive care and the works.
But my insurance company denies her blood testing supplies, insulin, a pump. Why because she doesn’t need to test her blood more than 3 times a day, she doesn’t need to use a novalog pen jr, she can just use the standard insulin and needle. She doesn’t need anything to make sure she doesn’t suffer later in life due to diabetic complications. Why because the insurance company doesn’t care.
Why is Bush and party so against stem cell research. Because it may cure something. Why cure a disease when to keep people sick will guarantee an income. Why cure anything if you don’t have to. Money is the root of all evil and it would seem that America is turning evil by the day. So keep on going America becuase Money will end us all.
June 26th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I can’t wait for the movie to come out. I am from France and can say for sure the US needs help with health care…
June 26th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
When I was 12, I was diagnosed with clinical depression. I was on a cocktail of Pazil, Prozac and Wellbutrin for almost ten years. I was never given a blood test to check for other problems until I was 21. All my symtoms pointed to something besides depression as they would raise the dosages of my meds but it wouldn’t help. I went to five or six medical doctors and three or four mental heath doctors, and none of them gave me a blood test. My hair was falling out, I had mood swings and extreme weight gain. Finally when I 21 I was given a blood test and was told that I depression was an incorrect diagnosis. It was hypothyroidism, and that the anti-depressants I had been on for years were just agravating the situtation. If I had been given a blood test for a very common hormone inbalance when I was young, I would have saved thousands of dollars on expensive anti-despressant medication and would have never have gained 200 pounds.
Another problem I had was when I was having severe back pain. My doctors never did any x-rays or scans of my back and kept telling me that it was muscle damage and that I’d have to do physical therapy. Well, physical therapy didn’t work. When the pain got so bad that I was passing out, I went to the ER where they did a scan of my abdomen. Come to find out I was about an hour away from going into a coma from my gallbladder. It was one big gallstone and I had to have surgery immediately. Again, one simple test could have prevented all this. Doctors in America really need to step it up and don’t fall back on the common diagnosis such as “depression” or “ADD”. It’s gotten so bad that I know several people who have gone to Canada for health care as the US doesn’t really care.
June 26th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Being a Full-Time American worker, I cannot afford health insurance. After filling my gas tank, paying my rent, and getting my groceries, I am lucky to have $10. left for anything else. The health insurance through my employer is a 80/20 cafeteria plan that costs $30. bi-weekly which x 26 pay periods = $780. yearly. I am also obligated to pay the first $500. of expenses each year and then they only pay 80% and I pay 20% up to a measily $4000. I then am obligated to pay 100% of expenses after the $4000. How can this be called health care? They also tell me that I make too much to qualify for medical assistance.
What does this all mean??
This means that I have had cavities for more than 10 years,, needed root canal for more than 5 years,, and needed a hernia operation for more than 2 years. Some farmers would have already “taken me out in the field and shot me to put me out of my misery and suffering” I sometimes think about doing that myself. I swear if I come down with anything else I will be at my wits end. I am an AMERICAN! Born and raised in AMERICA! What’s wrong with this country! The Free & The Brave & of course the Underpriviledged, Underhealthcared, Suffering “Sick-O’s”
I can’t wait to see the movie as, I am sure to learn so, so much that “the truth of the matter lies within the problem”
,Paul
June 26th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
I am looking forward to seeing this movie and appreciate the attention it gives to the atrocious state of Health Care in the United States.
My Mom, who is now 85, said our system started going down the toilet in the late 70s when heath insurance companies started classifying individuals according to risk so they could charge anyone with any health issues higher premiums. The overhead associated with measuring risk costs a fortune and is an excuse for explosive increase in health insurance premiums for all, bloated bureaucracies, and my doctor’s complaint that he and his staff spends more time filling out forms so my insurance company can increase my premium than he does treating me and my family.
My solution is pass a law that says any insurance company : private, public, non-profit MUST charge a single premium for all insured for a particular class of insurance, regardless of health history; and compete in the free market within that constraint. The most efficient company that delivers the best care wins. Also, let the government compete with the private sector. I, and my Mom :-), would argue it would be cheaper to do this for all of us because it would eliminate lots of bureaucracy (insurance company VPs), paperwork, red-tape, and other inefficiencies.
Problem is, Harry and Louise has a son or daughter that works for the insurance industry…
June 26th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
I’m paying $3,600/year to a health insurance company that boasts a picture of Dubbya shaking hands with it’s CEO. My yearly deductible is $10,000. A policy with a co-pay would have been about double. I can’t get anyone in my family to go to the doctor. All the while, my taxes and yours are subsidizing this industry of leaches to the tune of 60%.
Times have really changed. I yearn for the Kaiser-Permanente of my childhood when health insurance wasn’t just a sick game played by sadistic parasites.
In spite of all the abuse, Michael Moore still stands up and fights for us. If he ran for president, I would vote for him.
June 26th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
I got a good story a few years ago I had something stuck in my ear and had to remove it from a Hospital in the Same state the current President of the United States came from in which it is called Texas. My mother thought the state sponsered medical insurance program called medicaid would of paid for the whole thing what a bunch of lies. The bill was $900.00 dollars American and with this so called medicaid it should have been for free. I hope I get to see this film along with the rest of America and hope one of these days the United States government gives people free healthcare in which Medicaid and Medicare programs would automaticaly absorbed into the Universal Healthcare system.
Sign,
John from Cumberland,Maryland also former resident of Arlington,Texas.
June 26th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
I know so many good people that can’t get coverage due to a very minor “nothing” pre-existing condition.
Also, I think we need to really look at the root of the problem and figure out why health insurance is SO costly here. I mean, doctors offices bill for 3 times the amount they would normally charge so that the insurance companies will pay their normal amount, since the insurance companies will pay for 1/2 or 1/3 of the billed amount. I mean, now I’m even seeing doctors offices posting signs saying the bill will be less if you pay for cash. This is absolutely out of control.
Is the real cause of this lawsuits? Is it attorneys? Really, it shouldn’t be the case in this country that if somebody looks at you funny, that you have grounds for a lawsuit.
I really feel that it is because everyone goes around suing each other that elevates the cost of ANY kind of insurance. And the attorneys are just loving it.
June 27th, 2007 at 12:20 am
i lost my transplant kidney because my insurance got canceled. the Insurance said “since i was working i was able to support myself. DAMN transplant medication is not cheap. i was getting over $3,000 worth of medication. i was making $1,000. How in the world would i be able to pay that kind of money.
June 27th, 2007 at 12:28 am
I was dropped from my parent’s insurance before I finished school. Now because of my “pre-existing condition” I can’t get affordable coverage.
Apparently I am applying for health insurance to not take care of my health.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:44 am
I have IBS, and sometimes it gets real bad, becomes very painful. The one night I thought I needed to go to the ER, and for me to think that the pain must be pretty bad for me to go-and I had to think-what about the bill? I endured the pain because it made me so worried what would come after. In most cases I tend to suffer rather than get help. I have too many other bills to worry about.
June 27th, 2007 at 3:02 am
No matter how lousy medical practice and providers can get, it’s consoling to remember that it’s always worse somewhere else. The Tort Reform Act of 2003 Florida Statute 766.118 ‘Settlement agreements; prohibition on restricting disclosure to Division of Medical Quality Assurance’ is about as distasteful to the bottom as I’ve seen in this state, allowing and promoting respectable physicians to become legal thugs to murder at the price of $500,000, a text-book example of what happens when insurance lobbyists, medical practitioners and paid off politicians trumps any pretense at meaningful debate and negative action fills a void of public indifference.
No such indignities have been spared by state legislative reform act by rewriting #766.118. It does not appear to cause undue concern for those people who are not affected by the negligent actions of indifferent, greedy, lascivious practitioner and their insurance carriers. No one seems to care to open up the inner workings to public scrutiny and ethical standards. The worst kind of dirty politics upheld by a network of political operatives determined to prevent true victims of negligence their due by not disturbing their cozy existence. It is no secret that Florida politicians are all supportive of insurance lobbyists as they are the big payoff. This Tort Reform Act is very far from a confidence builder in justice. We all have a stake in Florida’s political practices. Voters are sweet talked by tongue-in-cheek reformists being given completely inappropriate advice to voters. When scrutinized, it will show an unwilling acceptance that the economy and basis of approval for this legislative act would find a lax attempt at reform. This kind of vindictive, very personal politics is far from unprecedented in Florida. Intimidation, fraud, and lack of merit are front runners and is of no concern for those not taking responsibility for their lax actions and ethical lapses and irregularities. I accuse the legislation in Florida of placing key decisions on the so-called “Consent Agenda”, which means they get discussed and decided behind closed doors without public debate.
As I was not informed of this legislative Tort reform act by my representatives or attorney until two years had passed upon my suit of malpractice action was filed in 2004 in Martin County.
It is a clear to the core of arrogance of power and manipulation. They act as judge and jury, they police themselves and nobody holds them to account. Heinous! Sight unseen defense raise suspicions that the records were either incomplete, shoddy or don’t exist or perpetuate untrue accusations made unavailable to the public. Attorneys for insured practitioners invest considerable energy in smearing victim’s rights. Pure extremists in undoing justice. The affront to justice and democracy affects us all fortifying themselves monetarily to shut out anyone foolhardy enough to propose smart and just policies. No such indignities have been spared in this proponent of ethics reform citing tax reform act FL Jur. 2d Medical Malpractice MANDATORY SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE
June 27th, 2007 at 7:04 am
This is the 3rd time I am having treatment for Hep C.
I contracted it a long time ago. I found out in 1993.
I have been refused Insurance and have been turned down for Medicaid to manage it. I finally hired an attorney for medicaid. I am just sick to death of the way we get treated in this country when you are ill and have put in your time. I worked 35 years and paid in. I suppose my last name should should be latin and I could get help. The people running the Family Services offices are either Latin or Afro-American and would rather give it to their cousin then me. If we keep up the (50’s year old )death rates, there will be no in-between age.
The mexicans are having babies like no tomorrow in Homestead, Fl. And they give them care for free. They look at me like I don’t belong there at that clinic, but I am a paying customer. It certainly feels like a third world city here now in Miami.
A blood test for this condition is $700.00, liver biopsy $3,000. They don’t have a clue.
Health Care Sucks. The one good thing is I can get the chemo drugs from the drug ompany, they love giving out drugs for testing on people.
My question is why aren’t there any Hep C clinics?
Oh, by the way, I have Cirrhosis now stage 4.
June 27th, 2007 at 7:08 am
And another thing, some people go to the emergency room if they stub their toe, people emergency means
bleeding to death or heart attack, snake bite, etc.
The emergency room is exactly what it’s called for emergencies. Life or death situations.
June 27th, 2007 at 7:26 am
By the way I never go emergency rooms, it’s way expensive,
And the time I went was for a fatal allergic reaction from being stung by jellyfish. I think that was 1988.
June 27th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Also, when you pay cash for care it costs more because the hospital can only get paid set prices on Insurance claims. So they charge more if you are paying cash. What a crock of ####. The Insurance scams go on.
Also, I had a client who was very wealthy and wanted to pay for his bill and the hospital refused his cash and insisted his Medicare pay it. What is this?????
They made a 92 year old man leave at 4:00am, he offered money to say until 8:00 and they refused.
What hospital “Kendall Baptist”.
June 27th, 2007 at 8:01 am
The Healthcare business is in the business to make money and that’s the bottom line. Of they get kickbacks from drug companies. Congress is the first to know about a new drug and they buy stock the day before the drug is announced. They are all a bunch of lying thieves. I say take away congresses’ healthcare for a year and see what happens.
America is now about survival, don’t get sick and definitely don’t take risks where you will get hurt.
I am no longer a risk taker of any kind.
June 27th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I think that one of the problems with our healthcare systems is that there are too many people the are taking advantage of medical facilities such as the emergency rooms, for non-emergency issues. This is mostly due to the fact that people are able to be seen without paying upfront, unlike you are required to do at a normal physicians office. This is a HUGE reason why people are having to wait 6,7, or more hours for things that deserve immidiate attention. I don’t think that people actually realize that in the end they wind up paying more for a visit in the ER for a simple sniffle or head cold than they would by going to their family physician. This could alleviate some of the hold up in our emergency rooms, instead of having people die in the waiting rooms they would be recieving the care they require in an adequate amount of time.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:56 am
I had the misfortune of needing emergency gall bladder surgery recently. The procedure was done with no problems, and my co-pays weren’t all that bad.
But get this: the hospital bill BEFORE the insurance company’s negotiated discount was about $35,000 … the insurance company’s rate was about $2,200!
This means that my very nice HCA-owned hospital would charge an uninsured person 15 times what they and the insurance companies agree is a fair price for the services. No wonder Frist has so much money. 15 times!!!
June 27th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I managed to fracture my ankle and I immediately went to the emergency room, mind you, I have good insurance as a school teacher. I waited 6 hours in excruciating pain in the waiting room, finally, I was let into the back where they x-rayed the ankle and confirmed it was broken. I was told I would have to Orthopedic Surgeon to have it set properly. They put me in an air cast and I was set up for an appointment the next day at 10 am. I got there at 9:00 am as I couldnt sleep too well. I waited until 7 pm that evening and I still hadnt seen a doctor. I had gotten progressively and progressively angry as the day went on and the throbbing increased. I finally walked up to the nurse station and told them to go “f** themselves”. They didnt care. I left and decided the thing would eventually heal. My wife, a woman who lived most of her life in China sat there and said “this could never happen in China”. The system is thouroughly broken. The doctor had the nerve to send my insurance company a bill for services rendered. I was LIVID!!! I wrote to the insurance company and told “dont you DARE pay them”. I dont know if they did or didnt because I got no more correspondence on the issue. I will tell you this, the system IS worse then the Chinese System. I went to China and twice haad to see a doctor. Both times I went into a Pharmacy (Doctors staff the Pharmacies in China and can see you, diagnose you and write prescriptions on the spot. Both times they did work that solved the problems immediately. The Doctors BOTH times told me that “American Doctors have no interest in curing .. instead they are more interested in creating chronics that will use pharmeceuticals indefinitely”. Both Chinese doctors spoke of American Doctors with contempt, calling them, basically, whores. My wife refuses to go to an American doctor and goes to a Chinese Doctor when she visits China. SHE went to her PCP ONCE, she made her wait 4 hours in the waiting room and then refused to return her calls when she questions about her BC pills.
June 27th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I severely sprained my ankle in China. I tried to walk on it for about a week, it got more and more purple and swollen. Finally, it started clicking and the pain was unbearable. I went into a pharmacy, a walk in, no appointment and the Doctor on staff, immediately, took me into the back and looked at it. She made her diagnosis and her recommendation. She put an IV into my arm (I asked what it wasn and she said “there is not English name, it is Chinese Medicine”) and then wrapped my ankle up with a brown paste that she mixed on the spot. I asked how many weeks do I need to stay off my ankle .. 6?? 8?? Ive severely sprained it before and its always been that way. She said “come back tomorrow and the day after and once more after that and it will be cured”. I was skeptical to say the least but, I did as she requested. Each time. I went right in, no waiting. Sometimes there were others there but I never saw anyone wait for treatment, not with 2 doctors staffing the Pharmacy. After the third day, lo and behold .. it was cured. Completely and, to this day, it works better then my other ankle. I told the doctor, you should come to America, you would get rich. She said “American Doctors have no interest in curing, just in creating chronics”, she said they would NEVER allow her to practice medicine the way she said it SHOULD be practiced. She said “In China, if I cannot cure you, you cannot work, if you cannot work, I do NOT get paid … so I may make it my business to cure you as soon as I possibly can”.
June 27th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
My mother passed away April 07, 2007 due to DAMAGED CARE!!!! We do not have health care in this country, we have DAMAGED CARE!!!! My mother was treated like a guineau pig literally. It is a crying shame that our lovely government does not believe in cures. Oh, that’s right there is no MONEY IN CURES!!! Instead, let’s keep giving the patient prescription medications. That is the answer for everything literally everything…..
June 27th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Everyone on this site writing needs to look at a bigger picture, for instance Chris Meyer blaming Iraq for the cost of health care. This discredits you right away in my opinion. Do you not see the world around you? A judge sues a dry cleaner for a pair of pants they lost for over a million dollars. Thank g-d he lost, but that shows the attitude of a majority of people I listen to now a days. I understand suing a doctor for making a grieves mistake that causes the death of someone, even then do you need a million dollars for that? I say that cause I did lose my father to a mistake a doctor made, and I actually did not sue cause that will not bring my father back, and he would have died anyways a couple weeks later then he did, but suing a doctor because the medicine the doctor prescribed gave you a tummy ache. You hear stories all the time about doctors getting sued for minor issues. Does no one realize doctors are human? They do make mistakes. And it’s not just doctors getting sued. Does anyone remember the “chicken head” incident at a fast food restaurant? They sued for that. Can anyone tell me how that harmed them in any way, shape, or form. It’s ok to eat the legs, thighs, wings, breast, or neck, but the head is off limits. I mean let’s look at people suing people, and put a stop to that. Let’s make it law, that if you are plaintiff against someone and you lose. You are guaranteed to pay all court costs, and the fees for your lawyer, and the defendant’s lawyer. I bet that would make people think twice before going for the “get rich quick” scam. I do want to say that I am with Blue Cross Blue Shield at the moment, and I have no complaints about the care I get from my doctors. If anyone agrees with me please let me know.
June 27th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
My mom had her galbladder removed under insurance from work and they found cancer. Because her recovery took soo long she was fired and we couldnt aford C.O.B.R.A.(NICE NAME RITE?). Long story short she qualified for S.S. disability but because of her age she couldnt get medicaid for 6 months. She died in three. No one from the oncoligist or surgons office called or avocated to get her some follow up treatment without insurance. No $$$??? Sorry *Click*. She paid into S.S. for thirty years and only lived long enough to collect $3,000. My only question is what are we paying for?
June 27th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
GKC said it best….. Nicely done.
June 27th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
A few weeks ago, I had a bug bite which I accidentally itched open. Within days, it had swollen up to the size of a softball and I could tell that infection had taken hold.
I just graduated from college but I haven’t been able to find a job yet because I’m a teacher and I graduated in the middle of the school year.
I lost my insurance from school (of course) and no one in my family has insurance either so I am and have been completely without insurance for the past 6 months.
With no other options and not wanting to loose a leg, I decided that I had to go to the ER.
After spending 7 hours there, they looked at it, told me that it was a skin infection and wrote me a perscription for antibiotics.
I recieved the bill about a week ago.
$666.00 even.
How fitting.
The American health care system is indeed broken. Thank you for this film.
JD
June 27th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
My wife had minor surgery. The hospital messed up our insuance id number, and they ended up saying we had no insurance. The total bill for 1 day for minor surgery was $24,000. That is insane!!!
These people are crooks and need to go to jail. Thankfully, we corrected the error in the id number. But, what if we had no insurance? It’s a scam. This needs to end. Enough is enough.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I have read a lot of the postings on here and so many people are missing the big picture. There are issues that come from the decisions made by both the Republican and Democratic parties.
Most people don’t realize that most insurance companies base their coverage of services and fees based off of the Medicare system. If you think that your current insurance is bad, then wait until you have Medicare (if it’s still around). You may not have a high monthly premium, but the coverage will be the same.
Medicare reimbursement is pathetic! But how many people out there know that Maryland is on their own little payment system and get paid more than anyone else in the country? (Why? Hmm…alot of Congressmen own homes there). How many people know that Medicare funds services for drug addicts and illegal aliens? How many people know that Medicare has limited coverage for Skilled Nursing Facilities? How many people know that Medicare funds the VI and PR, both of which refuse to be a state and don’t want to be a part of the US, but they sure as hell want our Medicare services? How many people know about the Billions of dollars each year in overpayment and fraud that Medicare pays out? How many people know that the people in charge of Medicare (Republicans and Democrats) have absolutely NO medical training, yet they are the ones responsible for deciding what is or isn’t covered? This is just the begining of the problems. I could tell you things that would shock and scare all of you (even more than you already are).
People need to realize that it all runs downhill. And in this case, it is “THE HILL”. Until everyone can meet somewhere in the middle, get people in charge of healthcare that actually know about something about medicine, and realize that not everyone is going to happy with every decision, this whole argument is worthless.
I’m disappointed that this whole film didn’t start with where all of the problems actually are…which is with 99% of the people in Congress.
And in case you are all wondering where my information comes from…I happen to review Medicare national policies on daily basis. The information is all out there and is public. It is all double-talk and there is a loop-hole in just about every other paragraph. Medicare changes it
June 27th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
About a year ago, I became very sick from food poisoning. I would have ridden it out on the couch with gatorade and pepto, but I had a law school final the next morning. On a Sunday afternoon, when all else had failed, I went to the minor emergency center nearby. Even with major health insurance, two iv drips and some anti-nausea pills cost almost $2,000! I’m just crossing my fingers that I never become really ill, because if a few pints of saline are running about a grand a pop - I can’t imagine what they would charge for say, a pint of blood.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:50 am
This was my note to Blue Shield
Shane,
Thanks for speaking with me in person yesterday. I’m still a little confused with the plans and which would be best for us? My figures show that 1 year would cost $6,804.00. This does not include about 15 copays at $20.00, an average of $520.00 of perscription drugs a year, doctors fees over 80% $675.00, and lab fees of $328.00. The cost over just 18 years, with all the adjustments in age according to your paper work (not including rate hikes) would cost $174,198.00 for the three of us. And we haven’t even been in the hospital yet! I wish there was a better way to make insurance work better for ALL US citizens. This is a shame. Who can afford this? There is nowhere else to go. WE should ask our senators why they have the best insurance available and why that forethought is not extended to the general public.
Best Regards
June 28th, 2007 at 1:46 am
I work for Kaiser and I know how poor their system really is. Do we care? No. Why, because we make money off members who never come in, not off sick patients.
Get real folks, if anyone here thinks Kaiser has stopped dumping patients, they are wrong, we just found an easier way to do it without the fall out. The doctors and nurses are bottom feeders who can’t seem to hold jobs elsewhere so end up at the Kaiser dumping grounds.
Make no mistake, this is for real.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:23 am
A young lady at work expecting her 4th child and is 8 months pregnant,,,Dr just told her she cant come back to her due to her now adding a secondary insurance (T19) !!gove insurance!! so that she can finally get a tubal done !!!
This Dr has no ethics ,,,,* months prgnant and the Dr wont help her find another one !
This lady will be presented at the MIlW premier on Friday !!
June 28th, 2007 at 6:55 am
Well having spent many years on the goverment health care system known as Military Treatment Facilities. Trust me you do not want to.
Lets see for the first 10-12 yrs promises that ‘oh our computers will begn talking to eachother this yr..” Course no mention of What year they were actually talking about. Major surgery.. yeah right.
Normally if one ruptures you die. Well Luckly for me I was able to use a MTF to have one fixed. But out of wondering I contacted Champus to ask what the coverages would be. now I had done research on this surgery so I knew the history of the who developed and profected the procedure and how long ago. As horrid as those people were I have the Nazi’s to thank that I am still alive. So I call and ask if this particular surgery would be covered. The response I got I will never forget. And this was several steps up the ladder.. It was ” Well if after the artery ruptures and you can muster up enough streingth to dial 911 then we will cover it at 100%.”
nice to know if I am dead they will cover the surgery.. Do you really want the same type of coverages that the US military and their dependants recieve?
Now that it is Tricare is it only slightly better not much but slightly. You have to go through them after getting a referal and if you are asking for a referal to another ‘zone’ they flip out. and do anal exams to figure out why you want to see Dr’s in another ‘zone’ then they only approve 1 appoitment even if it is an on going problem. gee one exam for a life long health problem wonderful…
Nope you can take socalized med and shove it. And trust me you do not want to use the modle of the military health care system For minor stuff like pregenacy you are lucky if you see the same dr 2 times during those 9 long months unless of course you have a complicated pregancy then you might be able to see the same dr all through. But generally you dont have that choice..
And with the failures of othe rcountries such as Canadas health care system which according to the Fraiser center in Canada will not be susbtainable in a few years and the waits are getting to long for simple non evasive testing which we here in the Us are used to perhaps waiting a week or so to recieve are up to 24-36 weeks tests such as MRI’s and the like.http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20368
Sorry I can not and many can not afford these typs of waiting..
June 28th, 2007 at 7:57 am
The problem with healthcare in the US is multifactorial. On the one hand you have individuals with healthcare coverage that will deny them a routine office visit but it will often cover emergency care…Thus you have to wait in an emergency room several hours because many individuals are utilizing the emergency room as their primary care provider. Add in the uninsured and the EMTALA laws that state that every person in the US must be seen and stabilized in the emergency room without regard to ability to pay….(they still get a bill)…It is for these reasons that E.R.s have now implemented Fast Track departments to deal with the non-emergent patient.
Another problem that is plaguing the US healthcare system is these 1-800-lawyer types that see the healthcare provider and hospitals as just another deep pocket for them to reach into. Add in the number of lawsuits that have changed the “standard of care” to cover your ass medicine….I will run a test now not because I think it is going to make a difference in my diagnosis, but because the shrewed lawyer will ask if I did….This type of cover your ass medicine has changed JACHO standards to demand certain numbers of staff, specialized staff etc. For example several nurses unions have decided that they will no longer do certain simple procedures like finger-sticks for blood glucose levels. They state that “It is an invasive procedure that requires certification through the medical review board of the Nurses union”…A 6 year old type one diabetic does a fingerstick on themselves every day without certifications…Now a specialized phlebotomy tech with a licence and their own malpractice insurance has to join the hospital labor force to get a fingerstick…These are the types of idiotic policies that raise the overall cost of medicine in the US.
Now for the managed care companies…Interesting title, “Managed Care”. It means that some-one in an office who has an obcious conflict of interest, who does not know you, your history, cannot see you, and is usually a Nurse Practitioner, is going to make a life or death decision about your health….I have seen how this sort of thing changes the practice of medicine…For example a patient in the OR, intubated, sedated and readied for the procedure, the orthopedic surgeon made his first incision, when he inquired about the pre-approval for the procedure…Because the insurance company denied the procedure, the surgeon close the incision and ended the procedure without repairing the torn meniscus in the patient knee. Although it would have only required a few moments more. Sad really.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:13 am
When all else fails, go to Mexico. Unfortunately, that’s what I have to do due to my asthma problems.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:37 am
I am an RN and would agree with most of these postings…America needs better health care! My concern when reading these postings is that #1 people are using the ER as their primary care (either because their PCP couldn’t get them in soon enough or they don’t have one) and these departments were not designed to be used in this way, there are for stitching up gaping wounds, treating acute heart attacks etc. #2 Anyone can have a bad experience anywhere, Arbys, Kmart, Macy’s, or a hospital. It all boils down to customer service and I think that if these people who were so outraged by the poor tx they recieved from 1 or 2 different health care employees would look a little harder backwards they would find that MOST of the people in health fields are very compassionate and caring individuals. Unfortunately the bad ones outshadow us.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:00 am
I know all about the health system in America, as I have a child ill with uncureable Tuberous Sclerosis, and a husband ill with Bipolar Disorder. We have regular Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance through my husband’s work, and I don’t think we ever had a simple case of just going to the doctor, or for a test, and not having to appeal and appeal and appeal a decision of the insurance company to pay for the service. As you imagine we go to the doctor all the time, my daughter needs test every 6 months, my husband sees a doctor once a week as well, so my “second job” is to appeal most of the denied payment cases by our insurance- it turns into a second job for sure. It’s terrible.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:54 am
I have had some great doctors that have done amazing things for me and my children. They have advocated on my behalf and my children. What burns me is when the doctor says this is what we need to do and then the insurance companies say no you have to do a b c and d first. How can they override the doctor. I had to have multiple surgeries when a hysterctomy would have solved all my problems. So what if I wasn’t 30 or had given birth. I missed so much work and life. What the insurance company put me through was wrong and painful. Thank God I had great doctors and they tried many other ways to help me while I waited to turn 30. Just so you know the end I didn’t make to 30 before I had uncontrolable bleeding and had an emergency surgery to remove my uterus. Oh yeah, I have two lovely four year olds (adopted) whom are disabled. So the battles goes on with insurance!
June 28th, 2007 at 10:22 am
My son, Gavin, was five years old and had First Plan Blue which is the state-provided health insurance, not necessarily medicaid. I looked all over for a dental office that would see him with that insurance and no one would in an area with a population of about 130,000 people. His cavity worsened and still no one would see him. Months passed. I asked First Plan Blue to find me a dentist that would take their insurance and they did not give me one name of a dentist that would accept new patients under First Plan Blue. By the time I could afford to pay for the dental exam, his cavity was so horrible that he now needed oral surgery to cap the tooth. The dentist’s office made me prepay for the exam (which I did) and it took about five minutes for him to refer Gav to a pediatric dentist that would perform the surgery who would take First Plan Blue. I was reprimanded for not “using preventive care.”
I met the oral surgeon who has his own private dental practice and when I told him about First Plan Blue and asked him what can I do, he accepted Gavin and my two other children as new patients under First Plan Blue. I will NEVER forget my son’s mouth bleeding, the gaping hole in his tooth and the excruciating pain he experienced all because I had horrible insurance. I do everything I can and I work full-time, having the same profession for 11 years now. I graduated from college and to have been treated this way and to see what my children have to endure because of poor quality health insurance is alarming.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:20 am
MY QUESTION IS,When is america going to stand up and take our country back?WE ARE LAZY AMERICA,WE HAVE TOO MANY CHOICES!!!OUR GOVERMENT DOES NOT CARE ABOUT US,THEY GET RICH,WE GET SICK,THEY LIE TO US,THEY CHEAT US,THEY ATTACK US.REMEMBER WE THE PEOPLE.STOP COMPLAINING,AND START MAKING A CHANGE.I belive this country needs a major renovation,starting at the WHITE HOUSE,then on to the FDA,then on to the CDC,OH and lets not stop there,We might as well open the gates to let all the sheeppeople out to GET A GRIP!!!
June 28th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I joined the Any Any Any II Plan by Universal Health Care in March. A week later, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. I had to end up writing to my governor, both senators, AHCA, Florida Legal Services, and the risk management departments of every hospital in the State of Florida before I could have my surgery performed in June of 07. Nobody would see me. By the time they operated, I had to have my entire bladder removed, 14 inches of my colon reconfigured into the shape of a bladder, a total hysterectomy, and part of my vagina removed. I had to fight every step of the way. Virtually no doctor in the State of Florida would see me. I am now on Lexapro and Clonazepam just to keep myself sane. This plan sucks, and Medicare is granting me a special disenrollment period to get out. Too bad I’m getting out without my bladder. I have been through hell and back, and I am mighty pissed off at the entire system
June 28th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Your movie will never be shown in this town since a military based is towns main support.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I have been having trouble with my energy level for about 10 years now, and it just gets worse every year. I am only 27, but I feel like I’m nearing 100. I take more naps than my 80-year-old grandparents, and I am always dizzy, sometimes even blacking out.
About 2 years ago, I finally started seeing a doctor who seemed interested in finding out what was wrong, and he sent me to get a sleep study done. As instructed, I called the sleep study center, and after 3 weeks of trying to verify with my insurance company, they told me that the sleep study was covered, and I made my appointment. They found nothing wrong (basically telling me that I don’t wake myself up in the middle of the night from snoring), and a month later I got a bill in the mail for $1000. It was the portion that my insurance did NOT cover. That’s a mistake, right?
So I called and reminded them that they had told me it was covered (I take “covered” to mean COVERED, like most reasonable people do, except for maybe there’s a small copay or something), and they said that they weren’t sure who told me that, but it was my responsibility to find out what my insurance took care of, even though the whole reason it took 3 weeks to make the appointment was because THEY were waiting to hear back from my insurance company. I could have had my dad sit up and watch me sleep all night for free to tell me that I don’t snore.
That year I was in school and only made $10,000 working part time. $1000 was 10% of my income that year, for NOTHING. I am still making monthly payments. Thanks, healthcare system! I’ll try not to make the mistake of seeking treatment again. What do I pay my monthly insurance premium for, anyway?
The sad part is, I have a good job and make a reasonable income and I do have insurance, but medical costs are still outrageous. I cannot imagine what it is like for those who can’t even afford insurance.
I can’t wait to see this movie. I really hope it can make a difference.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I’m a 25 years old, I’m been blessed to have good health up to this age in my life, so good in fact I was able to donate a kidney to my uncle(who had excellant insurance because he worked for the government throughout his career and is a vetern, but I wonder all the time what the scenerio would have been if he had chosen a different career path) , I haven’t finished college yet, but I was pursuing a degree in Health Administration, and I don’t want to pursue a degree in that any longer, I don’t place blame with any one on the front lines of the health care industry. I wanted to pursue a degree in that feild because I am very business minded, I love to help people, I can’t deal with alot of physical procedures doctors and nurses have to do, but I could have managed and had a business approach, because I understand a hospital, clinic, nursing home etc. cannot help anyone if they can’t stay in business, a hospital still has to be able to pay the bills as well, or its not going help anyone. I have high moral convictions, I care alot about people and quality of life, thats why I realized I couldn’t put myself in position to possibly be in management at such a facility. I honestly feel like Americans can’t place alot of blame on politicans, the only 2 sectors I would place partial blame is on the insurance companies and pharmacutical companies,but mainly ourselves. We are the citizens of this country, we have the right to vote and effect who goes into office, even if they let us down, we should learn and teach politicians like that a lesson and not let the same thing happen again. Everyone who didn’t vote the last election, everyone who ignorantly voted(didn’t study about what the canidate planned to do in office, or even what achievements the canidate may have already accomplished), and everyone that doesn’t love yourself and your loved ones enough to try and take care of yourself physically by the correct diet and exercise and recreational habits such as smoking and drinking, I even believe every american that does have reasonable insurance and doesn’t use it to go to check ups to do preventive care at fault as well, all of us are to blame for the problem we are in today, we can blame our ancestors who didn’t care about us enough to see what kind of path our health care system was going down, but most of the ones I would point the finger at are dead, so what good is that going to do me? There are so many factors as to why our healthcare system is ran so poorly…….. the more factors you figure out, the more factors you find, its easily a never ending cycle of factors. I am a 25 year old who has been working full time and I’m about to give up my full time job and benefits, to be able to go back to school full time. Its honestly a scary decision, I understand the risks, luckily at the moment I’m healthy, I’ve been blessed thus far in my life, I’m single no children to have to worry about being covered, but I realize if I don’t make progress with getting a degree, I probably will put off progressing in my life, such as maybe getting married one day and having children. I ask myself what can I do, to maybe make the healthcare system better for me and my loved ones….. I think thats honestly what every American should do Ask themselves, “What can I do to make the system better?” The first thing that comes to mind for me is to live as healthy as I possibly can, eat right, exercise the right amount, don’t smoke, don’t drink, if you have insurance go to the doctor for check ups to maybe catch things that be prevented or before conditions get worse. Secondly I feel like I can vote, the best canidate into office for the issues that concern me( Please believe me even me a healthy single 25 year old female with no children, our current healthcare system is in my top 3 concerns as to how I will vote in the upcoming election). I’m not saying that there is one canidate that has the solution, but if I want a better tommorow I need to put the work in read up on what the canidates stand for and what plans they have, if any, to start a reform on the system. I don’t have money to fund their campaigns, I know that there are plenty of interest groups and big businesses that have the money to fund these politicans, and politicans have a goal to get in office so they are going to want to go with what interest groups will fund their campaign but the point is there is still no sense in these interest groups funding a politican’s campaign if there’s a chance they could lose the election. My vote does count, if every other American exercises their vote will count as well. Healthcare matters to all ages, all races all backgrounds. Wether your rich or poor, man or woman, white, black, brown, or green. Healthcare effects everyone. Do I think the system will improve during my lifetime? Who knows??? Can I and will I do my part, to try and live as healthy as possible, to try and keep a job that offers the best benefits I can get, and live within my means,and will I vote the best possible canidate into office? YES!!!!!! I can try wether anyone else does or not, I can do my part, you can’t control other people, but you can live your life the best way you know how, you can try and prepare yourself for the unexpected, and you can count your blessings everyday that your healthy and still living.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
I take Lipitor. I am 5′9″ 150 lb. fit female. I work outside and exercise every day and I’ll bet my diet is better than yours. (My nutrionist).
My cholesterol problem is hereditary. it is not from incorrect eating and I bet there are many other people taking Lipitor for the same reason. Since you are in the health care field I’m sure you are aware of this.
Honestly, is that the best you can do to justify your job?
June 28th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
The simple fact of the matter is this. There are certain industries that should not be in the hands of FOR-PROFIT companies–with HEALTHCARE being at the top of that list–because profits will always come first.
When a TAX-PAYING American citizen cannot get help in their own country, especially from the same government they have been paying those taxes to, we have a problem.
What are people who can’t get insurance for ‘pre-existing’ conditions supposed to do?
June 28th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Okay, my turn. I had been illegally fired from a job, and had 3 teenage kids to feed. My kids went to a birthday party at the Pastor’s house, where the kids were not well-supervised. The boys had a football game on the lawn, and one of their tackles took them off the field, and landed right on my daughter’s foot, tearing ligaments. The hospital, Dr. and xrays were about $2000., and I didn’t have the $. No help at all. Not even from the church (*#@#**@!!!)
I went without dental treatment for so long because I couldn’t afford the Co-pay, my teeth got really infected and had to be taken out. Not Without Money… says the Dr. Never mind I was running a high fever, and was in excruciating pain… Not Without Money…! I had to borrow $2500.
My mother’s care was appalling. She was diagnosed with cancer, and then mistreated by the doctors who said they came to see her, and didn’t. They wrote Rxs that gave her side effects that she complained about, and the doctors wouldn’t check for an alternative. One of them caused vertigo, and she fell because of the dizziness and got hurt. By the physical therapist who stopped in to say hello, and billed for 2 hours, by the nursing facility that kicked her out when the insurance said she’d used up all her days, by another facility that fed her worse than dog food. Hospice, who wouldn’t clean her up or change her diaper… hospice let her get sick from pneumonia (which is what she died from in the end), and never even tried to help her breathe better.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
The problem with US health care system dates back to the early 1900s when the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Hospital Association(AHA) formed an alliance…they were later strengthened by insurance companies (which were initiated by the AMA) and pharmaceutical companies. After screwing Americans for the past 70 years, the AMA is now crying because their buddies (insurance companies)are now screwing them…boo hoo…They have all had their chance to lead the American health care system and have failed miserably due to greed… Now is the time for registered nurses to manage US health care. Nursing is the only discipline that historically has been committed to patient advocacy, not driven by greed…Check out the NNOC in California. They are creating FANTASTIC reforms while battling Arnold and all of the above….WAKE UP AMERICA!!! Support nursing as the leaders in health care reform. Thank you.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I’m basically on the liberal’s side when it comes to health care, with one exception: lawyers and their ability to sue without impunity.
People should have the right to sue a clinician who harms them. However, if they lose, they should have to pay the clinician’s legal fees. Too many times I see clinician’s settling lawsuits simply to avoid the hassle of court, not because they believe they were in the wrong. It’s costs like these that contribute to the ridiculous price of health care in this country.
Make persons who frivilously sue (and their attorneys), pay for their wrongdoings. Send a message out that the courtroom is not a playground for people who want money without getting a job, and make sure they suffer for the harm they’re doing to the price of health care.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Well!!! Do you all really think that being treated by a Doctor or a medical facility is a right? Go to another country, say in Africa and walk 50 miles to see the only Doctor around. Whine about not being able to get a prescription when the only thing that the facility has is maybe, just maybe a couple of antibiotic tabs and some Tylenol. Watch as old bed sheets are torn up to make a semi sanitary dressing for a wound that is covered with insects of every imaginable kind. Sounds pertty good huh? 3/4 of the earth’s population do not have even an elemental of health care. I guess that their governments are just like ours and want only to deprive them. I defy you to point out anybody in this country willing to walk 50 miles to obtain anything short of a large amount of money. And we complain about waiting to be seen by the best trained and equiped group of physicians on the planet. Ever notice how many third world doctors there are practing in the good old US of A?
I agree with the insurance guy. This country wants to be fat, lazy, and spoon fed without taking the responsibility for their own health. Europe and Canada. Good health care. BS. Mr. Moore has taken a situation that is rampant in our country and in his capitialistic way, is trying to make a buck. If not, then let the profits from the movie support a clinic or two or three. Gee, I never tried to sail a yatch into any sort of bay, little alone one run by a military dictator who has suppressed the Cuban people for 50+ years. I wonder how that yacht was paid for.
Capitalistic. That is what this country is all about. It is not socialist, Communist, Facist, or any other ‘ist’. Every body has the opportunity to better themselves either it be in their health or their economic situation. The opportunity is there, but you cannot obtain it by whinning about what the government is going to do for you. Was it not an enlighten Democratic President that said, “..Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. Guess the Democratics or just plain old Liberals want no part of that kind of thinking from their elected government leaders. Folks, unless you want to be a ‘ist’ type of government that limits what freedoms you have left, keep up the givme’ attitude. You’ll get what you want, but it will be at a price that you will not want to pay. Capitalism has and allways will be the only way that a people will or can achieve extraodinary things. Capital makes capital. People help people, not governments. Instead of putting your hand out to get something, put it out to help someone.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:12 am
As long as our health care dollars must support the insurance industry as well as our needs for health care, WE ARE SCREWED.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:35 am
My asthma medication prescription in my native UK including doctors visit, with no insurance - $12 for 3 months.
Same medication in the US without insurance - $75 for doctors visit, $112 per month for the medication. Total for 3 months - $411.
And of course the doctor only wrote a prescription for 3 months which means another $75 return visit. I have used this medication for 20 years, I probably know how to use it!
June 29th, 2007 at 12:42 am
I once contested a medical bill (I have no insurance and a doctor had the gall to charge me $140 to refuse to give me a letter for an insurance company stating that I deserved insurance because my blood pressure was under control). I tried to “negotiate” the charge. I was met by a voice mail response telling me to “have a blessed day”–this “blew my mind”… why shower me with right-wing Christian ideology. I complained to someone else at the institution and was promised that I could work with someone there to resolve the issue about the bill. Shortly thereafter, I received a letter stating that I was “persona non-grata” at the institution and would not even be treated there on an emergency basis if an ambulance brought me there as the result of an accident. Amazing, ain’t it?
June 29th, 2007 at 6:00 am
Someone said none of us are asking for free health care.
Excuse me, I am. My tax dollars are being used to pay for welfare for people who are financially ruined by the healthcare system in America, and who cannot work because preventive care was denied them. Denied to ME.
We can subsidize people on welfare, but we can’t give them healthcare that would keep them off welfare in the first place???? How does that make sense?
Furthermore, we all die sooner than the people in countries with socialized medicine.
I want it free. I want it now. It will save us money in the long run - higher taxes to cover it WILL NOT add up to the cost of insurance premiums plus out-of-pocket expenses.
By the way, Brittany, I worked with a woman who nearly died from blood poisoning resulting from an infected tooth. How come you’re a nurse and you don’t know people can die from infected teeth?
June 29th, 2007 at 6:58 am
What is different about Sicko is that this deals with an issue that almost all Americans agree on. Virtually everybody has had a terrible health care experience, or a friend or family member who has. What is different this time is that the industry Michael Moore is going after is really really scared. This movie is the spark that is going to light the haystack of revolution. Peaceful revolution of course. But you know what I mean. Just watch the industry hacks who are already spreading propaganda on YouTube and in the media - you can tell they are scared because even they are starting to talk about filling up the cracks that uninsured Americans fall through. What they won’t acknowledge is the fact that, as the guys in Sicko explained, the insurance companies create those cracks and deliberately sweep you towards them! They know things are going to change; it’s a matter of when not if. THey want to keep a piece of the pie, but the way they have acted is immoral and unconsionable and we have to keep them from messing up the solution.
People need to start realizing how much power they have! The insurance and drug companies are terrified of all of you people who have left your stories on this website, and everyone else. Terrified of them waking up and realizing that Americans are getting treated worse than people in other developed countries.
The health care industry has already accepted that change is coming and they are coming up with strategies and plans to stop it and keep lining their pockets. Presidential candidates like Obama and Edwards are seriously proposing medical plans, leaving Hilary in the dust and putting GOP policians on the defensive. Giuliani was on the air saying how profit ensures the best health care standards - next to Sicko his talk sounds so hollow and I can guarantee it will not ring true with millions of poor and middle class Republican voters who know in their heart that unregulated profit-driven medical companies are destroying AMerica. Number one cause of bankruptcies. Loss of productivity. High infant mortality rates. Lower life expectancy than in Europe. Money spent on profitable drugs rather than necessary vaccines.
THis movie can and will galvanize people to make a difference. Change can and will happen. It does not have to be like this.
California and Wisconsin already have very serious health care reform bills in their legislatures that have a chance of passing. If you live in those states, you can sign petitions, call your congressman or woman, join advocacy groups. If we pass reform in those states, you will have AMericans flocking there from other states, which will put pressure on other states to do the same thing.
ON the national level, the Democrats have a bill in the house RIGHT NOW that will give every AMerican man woman and child health care coverage. It is called HR 676 or ‘Medicare for all’. YOu can do all the same things - and if your Congressman or woman opposes it, start asking why.
Americans are sick to the back teeth of politicians screwing us over, but the solution to this has to be political, so take a big breath and get involved.
And remember, NOW is the best opportunity that America has had of getting universal health care in decades. Let’s make it happen!
Here are some groups you can check out:
Nationally: http://www.healthcare-now.org/
California: http://www.healthcareforall.org/
http://www.calnurse.org/
Wisconsin: http://www.wisconsinhealth.org/
Who’s my congressman or woman?
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Who’s my senator?
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
June 29th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
I have been going from one SPECIALIST to another for years getting test after test done and these clowns can see abnormalities on MRI’S, CT SCANS, XRAYS and they still want to treat me for bipolar, depression everything except Lyme. I don’t get it because it would probably be a lot cheaper to treat the Lyme but these USA doctors have to pay for horse back riding and $3700.00 saddles to use for their rent a horse so their kids can have a good life. Meanwhile they all make money on thse diagnostic tests and they keep each other employed. Unlike using western medicine and curing the problem. Who would pay for the riding lessons then? Oh to top it off, my son had stage 3 testicular cancer and Blue Cross Blue Shield of PA denied the protochol my son was a candidate for in Boston, for almost a month. Meanwhile the tumor markers were over 200,000 while these idiots were trying to fight not to pay. The normal range for a man is
June 29th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
I Live in canada and recently was involved in a car accident. I broke some ribs, arm, leg and spent 6 weeks in the hospital….total cost to me……0$. Heck, i even received a check from the provicial auto insurance board for coverage of lost wages due to not being able to work.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I work as a financial counselor in the health care industry (oncology), I wish I had training in another field everyday, the cost of anti cancer medications are outrageous, your Doctor writes a script and you can’t afford to get it filled, then I come in, I search for programs who will provide free medication, a discount card,whatever we can get, I am tired of people coming into my office, most days I want to run away why cant medication be affordable, even with insurance a great portion of my patients cannot afford the co insurance, and don’t get me started on the Medicare Part D doughnut hole, our system is hopeless
June 29th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
I served 20 years in the U.S. Navy and when I retired I was supposed to have medical care provided to myself and my family. What I got was medical care that is less than adequate and most doctors won’t accept it because it pays less than medicare. Doctors already have to take a loss with medicare and having to take less is just asking too much of them.
Granted I have medical care available at the Veterans Administration, but the nearest cardiologist is 100 miles away (Phoenix)and they are so busy that you are just a number to them and getting an appointment can take up to 3 months. The Veterans Administration is so understaffed that it is cheaper to treat a patient with medication than it is with a doctor. I have been on 3 blood pressure medications for the past 4 years, because there is a lack of cardiologist that can treat me and my primary doctor has tried to keep my condition under control, but has to add a medication to treat a condition that another medication is treating.
I am on total disability, have 2 children in high school and my wife going to college. I no longer have my military retirement health care benefit, because I didn’t sign up for medicare part B (I could not afford to pay the medicare premiums).
Congress and the White House has said that they are going to fix this problem, but I will probably die first.
I sure am glad that I spent 20 years in the Navy which gave me two heart attacks while I was in.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
When I was 18, I started having migraines. Now one night I had a particularly bad one. So my mother took me to the emergency room in Georgia. We sat in the waiting room for almost three hours. Then when we were put in a room it took another two hours for me to be seen. My mom said she tried to get help because I just kept passing out from the pain. What is sad is that while in the waiting room, another family had been waiting for hours with some one’s finger cut off!!!! We both had an HMO. I was on Aetna. Now on United Healthcare through the State of Georgia. I still do not like it, but did not choose Cigna or Kaiser Permanete because of stories.
Finally have uninsured husband on my plan. His compnay does not have one. It cost me an extra 200 dollars for him to be on their with me. Nice.
June 30th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
I am a US citizen, but lived in Canada for 5 years studying for my MA degree. While in Canada I had affordable, full coverage health care. I returned to the US in November and my husband and I do NOT have insurance. We are shocked at the health care system in America.
I am so thankful to Michael Moore for making this film… he atleast cares for the health of Americans, unlike those “leading” our country. This situation MUST change.
June 30th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
I’m current an ICU nurse in a large University hospital. I could not agree more with this film. I see prisoners receive life saving medical treatment from the top surgeons in the midwest. There’s something not right about the healthcare system in America…criminals are getting life saving transplanted organs and lifelong EXPENSIVE medications…for what reason? To improve their quality of life?
June 30th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
I think it’s overly apparent that the U.S. health care system is profit driven, which in my opinion is unethical and a blatant conflict of interest: there is no incentive for keeping the public healthy if people are profiteering off the health care system.
The government has the responsibility to protect and ensure the health of it’s citizens, which is why we have drinking water quality and air quality standards. But why does it end there? Why does a rich country like the USA not have socialized health care? It makes me very angry when I pay taxes at the end of the year, knowing that a substantial portion of my daily work efforts are helping to sustain a meaningless war. I can think of a hundred better ways all this money we’re spending in Iraq could be redirected, starting with socialized health care.
For the first time in my life, I am without health care, because I simply can not afford it. However, I still work full time and pay taxes. Some of these taxes are used to provide premium health care to state and federal employees, and our elected politicians. This is unfair to the colossus of hard working average Americans who can’t afford a doctor visit.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Okay. First of all, with a name like Brittany, you must be under age 25, therefore, a new nurse. Why did you become a nurse? To help people? Or to be have a condescending attitude toward those less fortuneate than yourself,whether that be monetarily, or intelligence wise? If you look at socio-economic and educational backgrounds of the populus in the inner city, they come to you for help. Just like the Wizard of Oz, and you should be ashamed for sending them to kill the Wicked Witch. Yes, nurses can burn out, & do over time, but you’re so young (guessing by your name), and it is sad. I applaud Michael Moore for having the guts to at least shed light on these issues. And oh by the way, guess what alot of nurses do when the patients are out of earshot? Make fun of, ridicule, and bad mouth, the very people they are being paid to help. Some nurses are in it for many reasons other than a sincere desire to help.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
I went in to the local ER with pain shooting down my left side, half of my face was numb I could not left my left arm, my blood pressure was up and my fingers were purple. I was told there was nothing wrong and was given a shot for pain and sent home. I was never hooked up to a heart monitor or anything. Later when I seen my family doctor she sent me to have a MRI done of my brain and then to a neurologist. The neuro doc said I was having several TIA’s (mini stroke) and they should have taken care of this in the ER. I’m glad this was not the big one or I’d be dead. The neuro doc said it was likely they did not suspect TIA’s because of my age, which I’m only 33 years old but they should be able to recognize the signs of a stroke.
June 30th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I had a freak accident a few years ago and broke my ankle so badly my bone almost came through the skin and my toes were pointing completely sideways. I could literally see the bone pushing through my skin. I was taken to the ER, admitted, xrayed and told I’d have to have surgery. It was a Sunday. I was in extreme pain and given some morphine to manage the pain. Well needless to say- I had to sleep through the night with my ankle mangled because the surgeon didn’t want to come in on a Sunday. I was doped up with morphine which caused me to vomit constantly and still in so much pain I cried through the night. Finally around 10 am the next morning they had a surgeon ready to fix me. Anyhow- my point is this whole debate over how quickly we get healthcare and how much Americans want to choose their own provider is nonsense. We already have NO control over our healthcare, I don’t know many Americans who do get to see the physician of their choice. This is just another ploy to keep the propaganda machine going but we are living the reality! Thank you Michael for the movie. Being someone who has worked in healthcare, spent a one week stint at an HMO (I felt pure evil being done) and had my own experiences with this bogus system. Oh yeah- and I too was told my ambulance ride was not preauthorized! Ridiculous!
July 1st, 2007 at 7:11 am
Judith and I saw “SICKO” yesterday…Odd, the theatre was practically empty. I expected to see more audience…Why was that? Could it be we in Massachusetts are better taken care of by our government than elsewheres?…I happen to think so and intend to remain here till the day I die…I suggest others do the same.
Yours,
Warren F. Kelley
July 1st, 2007 at 9:22 am
I worked in a hospital ER for about six months, I saw things that were in my estimation-done by what would be paid for..on behalf of the hospital I understand that they can not keep running if no money comes in.
However, the insurance companies have way to much to say about that health care, from when a patient is to be discharged to when they can be admitted and what treatments that patient should recieve. I am sorry but as a person who also has multiple sclerosis I don’t want some money grubbing uneducated (non-doctor) dictating to me,so, why should anyone else want that. We (americans) need to get corperate america out of our sick beds.
Doctor’s need to be able to make the decision’s about each individual case freely without DICTATED threat of income withholding being a concern or we will not recieve quality health care ever.
Our healthcare is in the hands of corperate non-doctor buisness major’s and wall street giant’s.
I currently work in a cardiovascular unit.
July 1st, 2007 at 9:39 am
American doctors seem to have an uncannily accurate internal clock that alerts them when they have spent close to 5 minutes with a patient. Over the past ten years, a visit to the doctor has become an intellectual exercise in how to present all pertinent information as quickly and with as few words as possible, because frankly, the doctor just doesn’t have time to hear it. (S)he has got to move along to the next patient in order to make a lot more money than I ever will.
Several of the MDs I have seen recently couldn’t even be bothered to speak directly to me. Two recorded their reports while occasionally glancing my way with raised eyebrows ( as if to say, “Are you getting this?”), dictating the nature of the problem and the recommended solution into their tiny recorders. This really is the height of arrogance.
July 1st, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Single white female thin- no history of cancer or serious disease in the family-I have had the misfortune of being mistreated that clearly demonstrates neglect and abuse. I was rushed to the emergency in severe pain. I was a college student and had no medical coverage at the time. They took me in gave me an IV and said they would be doing a test to look for a kidney stone, then one of the hospital staff came over to the doctor and told him I did not have insurance. He walked out of the room, ordered my IV taken out, and called for the interns because they needed practice giving a gynocological exam. I refused and said - you know it is a kidney stone. I don’t want all those people in here! They did not listen and I was foreced to undergo a humiliating situation. They sent me home with a vicodin and said I would pass the stone on my own.
I am now completing a graduate degree. I am a good citizen and I deserved to be treated like a human being. I had never been on welfare, always earned my way, and had even worked multiple jobs to make things work.
Last year, I had the misfortune of getting another kidney stone. This time I had full coverage. Again my mother escorted me to the emergency room. The first hospital said they were full and my wait would be hours. We left there and went to another hospital. After they asked what insurance I had- it was an HMO- I did not get to pick. I was told to be quiet- I was barly making noise! I told the intake nurse that I know what a kidney stone is like- and I could not take the pain much loner to please give me a place to lay down. (I was getting sick about every 15- 20 minutes) She told me that I was not in that much pain- she had checked my blood pressure and it was very low- I was forced to go back out into the waiting room and there was no where to lay down.
My mother pulled two coffee tables together and some chairs. It took everything I had to deal with the pain. People came and went and even someone with an injured ankle went in before me. I ended up going 7 hours without pain meds or help. When I finally got back to the room the doctor came in and touched my side and said- well we will send you for some tests. I said not until you give me something for pain! He acted as if I was pushy!-lol He said he would send the nurse to give me a shot- as I could not keep anything down. A few minutes later I began to get sick again- I called for help and no one came. I made a mess. About 20 minutes later- as I was guessing on the time at that point- a nurse came to tell me that they ordered a nurse from another floor to come give me the shot! I said no way! You give me the shot. She left I guess to get permission and came back a few minutes later and finally after all that time - I had some relief!! They ran tests- finally with me relaxed and then the doctor [peaked his head in and told me I could go. - no explaination- II want back out to the er waiting room- so they could process my discharge papers and I said - could you get my results for me- please. She siad - they did not tell you? I said no- The intake nurse the one that was an evil heartless woman- suddenly got nice and said - my you had one of the most painful expereinces. My mother wanted to rip her eyes out! She said that I needed to follow up with a specialist and gave me a piece of paper with a name on it. I still had not passed the stone. I went home in pain and with my stupid vicodin and then attempted to call the specialist. When asked what my insurance was I was then told that it would be 2 months. I called other specialists- they also said it would be from weeks to months to - we don’t work with your insuracne- no one would see me! I fianlly got in to see my primary care doctor and he got my results- not only did I not pass the stone, but the hospital sent me home with an enlarged kidney. He was furious! When he had my blood pressure taken it was even lower- evidentlaly I have low blood pressure and when I am in pain it goes lower. He admitted me to the hospital and said they should have admitted me. When the specialist saw me at the hospital- he treated me like trash. (How little did he realize I was a college teacher now!) My test results sat on my bed night stand and were never looked at by the hospital staff (He had me put in the first hospital that said they were full) They never looked at them! On the way out of the hospital room- the specialist said- well you’ll get your money’s worth- and I never saw him again. This was Christmas eve.
Also, my records at the hospital emergency that treated me forged documents. The evil nurse lied about the time of arrival, details fo the evening- the doctor lied about the exams that he did and questions he asked. My mother and I were shocked at how they lied!
I fear the next time I have to go to the emergency room. Who could possibly think this is worse care than Canada?
July 1st, 2007 at 10:06 pm
I am from Taiwan, and currently a US resident. Taiwan has a state-run universal healthcare system. You pay “a few US dollars” a month, and you are covered. Really!
In US, I am paying over $300 a month for a $3,500 deductible plan (and I still feel lucky), and the premium is rising every year.
About medications, you can buy them online from other countries and have it shipped to US by international delivery, and still pay only a fraction of the US retail price.
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:22 am
I am a thin gal with brittle diabetes and hypoglycemic unawareness. I take the best care of myself that I can. I was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes at age 8. I have had troubles controlling my disease due to the ramification of having diabetes for so long.
I must say that every time I’ve had to go to the emergency room, I dread it. I have to wait for about 5 hours. Usually the emergency rooms are packed with illegal immigrants who are having babies and who seek medical care for different maladies. Since the illegals cannot pay for their health care, the burden has fallen on us, the tax payers.
Many of our local hospitals are suffering and a few of them have closed due to the inablity to handle this medical crisis. Can someone please help us restore out medical system so that those of us who pay $1,000 a month for insurance get the care we need when we need it? I am afraid that one of these days I am going to die waiting for care that never comes.
Thanks for listening.
Lindsay
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:28 am
By the way, I think this fact might be interesting to some readers here. My step-mother is an anesthesiologist who makes $300.00 an hour giving people injections. She works three days a week and is not willing to consider the fact that maybe doctors are paid too much. She calls the numerous illegal immigrants that she has to treat, “Umpa Lumpas” after the short, fat characters in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. When the ‘Umpa Lumpas’ can’t pay for their care, it comes out of your pocket. Let’s face it, insurance companies are not the only ones to question.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:02 am
I participated in a clinical trial for a new type of pain medication. I was asked numerous questions before I was accepted for the trial. They were trying to screen out everybody who did not fit into their criteria. I told them I had had previous neurological damage from a herniated disc. My neurologist later told me he thought the drug had attached itself to this damage and grown from there (or something like that). When I signed the release it said that if anything went wrong they would pay all my medical bills relating to this. The medication they gave me in the trial poisoned me and caused me to have painful peripheral neuropathy on almost my entire body. This was in March of 2005. I gave all my receipts for medical treatment and medications to the company that had performed the trial. They reimbursed them all. But then, the pharmecuitical company that made the drug said that they wanted to take over my case. I sent in all my receipts to them by certified mail. I have never received even one reply from them, and the last letter I sent was returned “refused”. I have since contracted anal cancer from all the constipation caused by the massive doses of opiates I have been taking for the pain. I ahve not worked since July of 2005, at which time I filed for Social Security Disability. I received my first disability check in May of this year, after having been turned down 3 times and being forced to hire an attorney. I have also been forced to hire an attorney for my medical malpractice case and for the breach of contract from their refusal to reimburse me for my medical bills. Also, during this time the pharmecuitical company, Rinal Neuroscience, was bought out by Pfizer. My attorney thinks they will not prevail in the malpractice case since there is not enough proof that they actually did something wrong to me; that it was just a horrible accident. He does believe, however, that we will definitely win and force them to pay my medical bills. I had been almost ready to take my exam to become an American Sign Language interpreter, but now my hands go numb and burn whenever I move them for a couple of minutes. I am now walking with a cane and last month I had an Intrathecal Mophine pump implanted in my body, since nothing else was working on the pain. I have really horrible insurance, but I can’t let it lapse, since nobody else will ever insure me in my condition. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.
Thanks, Deanne
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:06 pm
A note on the American MENTAL HEALTH care system-
I haven’t seen the film yet, so I don’t know if it touches on this; I just wanted to say a word about our mental health system.
I recently got out of a private, for-profit mental health facility (the government-run nonprofit was recently dramatically downsized) which was such a racket. Many people needed to be there, such as the drug addicts, who were detoxing. However, instead of weaning these people off of drugs altogether, the hospital just put EVERYONE on new drugs which they told us we would have to take INDEFINITELY. Ironically enough, every day we would watch a film about an illness which would surely be sponsored by one of the drugs (for example, “all about depression”- sponsored by prozac) we were being forced to take. The pharmaceutical company was clearly the hospitals first interest, NOT the actual welfare of the people.
Secondly, as far as insurance, since this place was for-profit, EVERYONE there had insurance; since I know the vast majority of drug addicts are uninsured, I suppose they just don’t deserve to detox or recieve any therapy, social work, etc..? The hospital also as a general rule kept people as long as their insurance would pay. My friend who tried to KILL HIMSELF was there b/c of emergency medicaid, and they told him he was “good to go” after 3 days. He told me himself he wasn’t. On the converse, people who had hefty insurance coverage, but were obviously well enough to leave, were forced to stay, filling up a bed that could have been used for someone truly in need.
I am wholeheartedly disenchanted with our mental healthcare system, where corporate dollars obviously ran the show.
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:36 pm
The term inalienable rights (or unalienable rights) refers to a set of human rights that are fundamental, are not awarded by human power, and cannot be surrendered. They are by definition, rights retained by the people.
The United States Declaration of Independence promises the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. If nothing else qualifies, certainly having reasonable access to the tools needed to preserve and extend Life (Our founding Fathers were so progressively thoughtful enough to make Life the first of these founding precepts) would be a part of this promise.
If these are truly ideas that we believe, shouldn’t healthcare for all individuals no matter gender, race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, nationality etc. unquestionably and under any and all circumstances be one with these inalienable rights?
Healthcare is not something that anyone should have to ask or beg for, it should be just as natural as the right to breathe air or walk freely about this country. Healthcare IS one of those freedoms that our fore-fathers fought for so fiercely, it is an innate part of our national security and should be given the same degree of urgency. How are we so blind to this truth?
The spread of good health assistance is at least as important, if not more so than the spread of democracy. Illness certainly affects behavior, and an under-educated public (that’s a whole other issue) that makes decisions based out of illness in turn creates an unhealthy society.
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I do freelance work and was married to someone who also freelanced. We paid for health insurance ourselves for 25 years until last year when we could no longer afford it. The premium was going up to about $1000 a month to insure my now ex-husband, my daughter, and myself. In fact, our premiums basically tripled within a 7 year period. Also, our finances were depleted after my breast cancer surgery and treatment in 1998-1999. During my treatment I spoke with a woman whose mother had died from cancer. The head of the prestigious medical center in L.A. that had treated the mother said this: “I am afraid the cure for cancer if it exists or is ever discovered will never be allowed to be brought to the public. If that happened, who would fill all these beds?” In 2004 my daughter was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness. Our deductibles per person were $2000; therefore, the insurance company ended up paying very little for her treatment and did not cover medications. For 2 years I worked 3 jobs, over 80 hours a week with only a few days off each year to keep up with the bills. At one point I was so sleep deprived that I fell asleep at the wheel and hit a telephone pole. I totalled my car and was seriously injured. We finally declared bankruptcy in 2005. Having paid over $40,000 in health insurance premiums during a 7 year period, we would have been better off using that money to pay off bills and avoiding bankruptcy. The financial problems were also a major contributing factor to my getting divorced. I have not gone for any of my medical check ups for the past three years because I am paying cash for all of my daughter’s medical bills and medications and am behind on paying her medical bills. We have no savings left and no credit cards for an emergency. Fortunately, I have a friend who goes to Thailand on business and he bought all of my daughter’s medications for us over there. The drugs he bought were manufactured by Merck in Germany and cost only about $300 for a 2 year supply while it would have cost us almost $2000 in the U.S. My friend is preparing to go back to Thailand to get his dental work done because that is the only way he can afford it. Another friend has been going to Mexico for 10 years for his dental work. Someone else I know went to India for a month to have a surgery. I need about $10,000 worth of dental work done and my daughter needs some too but we have no dental insurance. Several of my friends have actually moved out of the country and gone to Europe and Asia, and several others are doing research now to retire abroad because they feel they cannot afford to live in the U.S. My friends in England have told me to come over there if I ever get really sick because by British law non-residents have to be given free medical treatment. In fact, many people referred to as “health tourists” go to England just for medical treatment. A foreign tourist can be assigned a doctor over there within a few days according to a documentary that I read about. My father just died from complications resulting from Alzheimers. He was in care for just over a year, and that cost my mom about $60,000. Had he lived a number of years longer, my mom would have spent all of her savings. Shortly after Dad’s death, mom who is 84 had a stroke, and I flew out to take care of her for 8 weeks. My brother in Hawaii has an invalid wife and they were going to relocate back home to be near Mom but have discovered that if they move, their health benefits would be severely reduced. Hawaii is apparently one state that has much better benefits than the rest of the country. In all practicality I should take a permanent job with a good company that offers health insurance, but should my mother’s health fail again, I might lose the job because I would be taking the necessary time off to help her. If I remain a freelancer, at least I can work my schedule around family concerns but I will have no health insurance until I can build my income up high enough to pay for private insurance again. Also, what kind of coverage would I be able to get since I had breast cancer in 1998? I suspect that my situation may be a fairly common story amongst Americans. In any event, my family is more important to me than any job or career. Being of Asian heritage, I was taught to revere and take care of my elders and to look after the welfare of the whole. In America, it seems we have evolved into a mentality of “every man for himself.” This is a fear based mindset, and it feels to me like human beings have become just another disposable commodity in the race to make bigger bucks.
July 2nd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Dear Michael: Loved Sicko, don’t love my doctors.
They are too greeday to every want to switch
to Universal Health care. Why you might ask?
Here’s a hypothetical - If Dr. A makes $280 for
15 minutes of his time in private practice to
see one patient - and Universal comes in - he
will make only 20% of that figure or $56 - so
why should he only see one patient every fifteen
minutes when he could see as many as 5 in that
same time span to equal what he makes now. Do
you see that the quality of care per patient is
reduced to 1/5th of the time for what he charges to see one patient under the existing system. So from his perspective, why change, why give inferior
treatment simply to meet some long-range program
that will cut down his income severly. He also
believes that the quality of care was reduced
greatly after 911, because all med students post
911 were trained to give quick treatment and
not follow through with the standard of care
previous established by the community of doctors
in the country including the AMA.
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:13 pm
I am a single mother and business owner who just bought a house in my home town. I have never been able collect any government assistance over the last ten years because of my (not so low) income. (shouldn’t that be a good thing?) I am defenitly not part of any tax breaks for the wealthy nor do I fall into the welfare system… but after the ad from the PA senator, on Blue Chip covering ‘all children’…I gave it a try. HA- It will be extremely low cost health care if my income were supporting a family of 8!!!!!
So I will continue to be part of the elite millions that fall in the the bottom half of what used to be the ‘working middle class’ and pay out hundreds of dollars for health insurance…just in case I might ever meet my $6,000 dollar deductible (per year) and let my insurance kick in. Since meeting that deductible will never happen, I have come to the conclusion that - affordable health care the self employed ‘middle’ class is an UNOBTAINABLE American Dream.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I am a french citizen, I live in the US as a student since 2 years. Beeing on a visa status means that I am not allowed to work in the US meaning that I get no income and have to pay my studies through my parents in France.
When I lived in France, I guess I didn’t realize how much the french health care system is generous and that I was always told to be careful of the american health care, and thise people were right.
Less than a year ago, I cut myself pretty deep on my hand. A stupid accident, I was trying to separate two frozen humberger with a knife.
I go to my local hospital, and everything was fine, I didn’t wait long, stayed 30 minutes, got 5 stiches. I tell them I don’t have insurance since I am an international student, but they are ok and says they would send me the bill in the mail.
A few days later, I receive a bill of $1800 ! That might not be a lot for some, but it hurts a lot for me since I don’t get any income.
I am sure some people are going to say that the trip to the hospital was unnecessary and that it would have been ok to just let it go.
If you american, claims to be the #1 country in the world, a country of freedom, then you should have the right to be cured for anything, and not having to choose to go or not to go to a hospital because of a money matter.
Health is very important.
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:07 pm
I have VERY poor vision (somewhere around 20/500). I have been told by my optomitrist that I am a perfect candidate for laser correction surgery, but my insurance won’t pay for that. My daughter is legally deaf but our insurance won’t cover her hearing aids. Yet, a family memeber of mine can get gender reassignment surgery free of charge, covered by the insurance. How unbalanced!! Where is the justice and equality?!?!? I am an ICU nurse and poor everything I have into taking care of my patients…that is not enough, in some areas my hands are tied. Please America help me fix this!
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:49 pm
I’d just like to tell you my bouts with the state healthcare in Michigan. First off, after you turn 21, your coverage is drastically reduced. Many prescriptions arent covered, especially if they are treating symptoms, like for allergies. Getting a referral is a nightmare, It took me a month to get referred to a doctor outside of my PCP, with many many calls on my part.
Also, the doctors that you are assigned to are normally ones that accept many people from the state healthcare system, and those people are considered “underinsured.” The offices that accept the state heathcare often have to raise funds by themselves because they have so many of these patients.
The office I go to is made from an old house, and I can HEAR THE CONVERSATION OF THE PATIENT in the next room over. How is that for patient confidentiality?
I dont want to go to my doctor any longer because she is a numbskull. First off, she’s probably over 300 lbs, and knows nothing about one of my conditions, since she wanted to prescribe something that would MAKE IT MUCH WORSE.
Also, to qualify for the healthcare, you have to be under a certain income per month. The problem with this is that many people either hide their income, or never want to better themselves and earn more money, just to keep their healthcare. Its an all-around atrocity.
Also, no dental or vision care is covered. Many health complications can be prevented through routine dental care, but no one is interested in PREVENTION, no….
One more thng for me to rant on: the plan doesnt cover birth control, so they are bringing more people into this world that will need the state healthplan! Yay, depletion of resourses that could be used elswhere, wooo!
(and you all know that all the major med schools in the US are owned by drug companies, right?)
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I care for my elderly Mother, now diagnosed with the evil Alzheimer’s. Last year, I found her on the floor and an ambulance took her in to the hospital. Very long story short, she developed diabetes - mostly likely because her doctor never monitored her 20-yr use of Prednisone for a medical condition. I learned that Prednisone raises blood sugar from the internet! Doctor tried to cover up his mistakes, which he did, and then she developed the obligatory hospital infection and had to be rehospitalized bec of it. They were ready to operate on something that doctor in Houston said wasn’t even there. The whole time in hospital was a serious of mistakes, irresponsibility and my Mother needlessly suffering.
A couple of years ago, stupid Texans voted an economic cap on “pain and suffering” - so no atty will even take a case of malpractice concerning the elderly because of cap.
The most frustrating thing is that there is no retribution for so many injustices committed by medical “professionals” every day.
Please let this movie - that didn’t even open in Beaumont, Texas! — give Americans the strength to get rid of those bloodsucking vultures, the insurance companies. I don’t know what to do about greedy doctors… and pharmaceutical companies who suck up to them, daily… and we don’t even want to think about the treatment of the mentally ill — my brother has been caught up in that nightmare system his whole life — hellish…
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:58 am
Our experiences with American health care were fine, but we were slightly confused when they refused to even consider treatment until endless forms had been completed and further beaurocratic nonsense fulfilled. The American system is far more beaurocratic than any other we’ve ever used.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:54 am
When I was pregnant, I was nine months and thought I was in labor. I went to the hospital and was told that I had pancreatitis-a life threatning illness. I had these attacks during my whole pregnancy and was told to stop my whining. If I had “coverage” instead of a medical card, I’m sure I would have received a plain blood test that would have told early on what was happening to my body. This illness was caused by a bad gallbladder. Once removed, I was fine but it took a year to get the surgery.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:11 pm
How many theaters did Sicko open at? I live in Bloomington, IL and I can go watch movies that are making less money than Sicko in this town that has more than 140,000 people in it. If I want to see this movie I have to travel 1hr and 25min. to see this movie in Springfield, IL.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:04 pm
I’m located in Jacksonville, FL and have been anxiously awaiting the opening of this movie. Sadly it is July 3rd and there are no theatres in this city showing “Sicko”! I’d be willing to bet that if the movie were to show at as many theatres as “Ratatouille”or “Evan Almighty” that there might be some serious reaction from the American public to “Sicko”. But alas, four out of five people I’ve mentioned the movie to never heard of it and know NOTHING about it!
I am axious to see if the movie addresses the situation with illegal aliens and refugees. I voulenteer with several agencies to assist refugees in our community. During the past year I have learned that we in Jacksonville, have the second largest population of refugees in the state of FL. I have a good friend who is employed by a state funded health care facility here in Jacksonville. She serves hundreds of refugees and illegal aliens each week and they receive FREE health care! I have a good friend who works for a hopsital in Nashville, TN who tells of countless illegal aliens being treated at the emergency room and TN Care ( a state funded health insurance) pays for their treatment. Why is the government taking care of refugees and illegal aliens but yet it doesn’t take care of it’s own tax paying citizens?
July 4th, 2007 at 1:41 am
A year ago I had a neck injury and fell through the cracks when my insurance company refused to authorize an MRI because they insisted that I “jump through some hoops first” meaning that I had to go through physical therapy (which the insurance company insisted I complete and authorized) and see an orthpedic surgeon first. After I completed physical therapy, they still wouldn’t authorize an MRI. Finally the orthopedist recommended the MRI but my insurance company stated that he had to refer me to physical therapy and complete it first. Of course I already had. This prooves that the insurance couldn’t even keep track of the treatments they insist I complete nor did they know what they had authorized. What a joke! I got sick watching SiCKO!
July 4th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
How come we can easily decide to spend 3 TRILLION dollars on a police force in Iraq but can’t get healthcare for every American? That’s certainly enough money to provide the basics isn’t it? Don’t you think we would make the world a whole lot more safe, secure and sane this way? I’m confused. How about you?
July 4th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
I have always had a mistrust for doctors but this was confirmed when my 25 year old neice was “misdiagnoised’ by a doctor at one of the “best” cancer hospitals in NYC. They said she has an extremly rare & aggressive cancer. The doctor with a wonderful beside manner told her she was going to die so get ready. Her father saw another doctor & this doctor has informed her that she was misdiagnoised & that he would try to help but because of 7 months of being treated incorrectly some of the damage may not be reversed & because of being treated incorrectly the cancer has spread. I am so angry i do not know what to do.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
It is a sad state of affairs when I have to go to India to get an affordable heart stent. I paid $35,000 for a stent here in the US and 2 years later had to go to India to have a restent for $7,000. One test hear was going to cost $4,000. In India I had multiple tests for less than $1,000
July 4th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I dont know why anyone would see a tax funded public health care system and a privately controlled, profit driven system as being roughly equivalent … same amount of money coming from different sources, tax or insurace premiums. A public system is democratically accountable and is NOT DRIVEN BY THE PROFIT MOTIVE while a private system is NOT democratically accountable and IS driven by the profit motive. The former’s reason for being is that of maintaining the health of the population while the latter’s reason for being is MAKING AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE, NO MATTER THE COST.
Thank God I’m Australian.