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Okay, so I finally saw the movie. I had to take my family with me as the only place showing the damn thing was 40 minutes away. My older boys (15 and 14) felt it was well done, but they were skeptical about some of the information. My 8 year old daughter was bored to tears. My wife enjoyed much of it but also doubted many of Mr. Moore’s accusations. She especially hated how he focused on the word FREE that people used when describing care in other countries. She is right. Nothing is free.
I let my thoughts percolate for a while. I rehashed some of the scenes in the movie (the term “documentary” really is questionable). I have also read the articles written about SiCKO as well as seen Michael Moore fight it out with both Wolf Blitzer and Sanjay Gupta.
Basically, SiCKO was a very good movie. It has opened the public’s eyes to many of the problems in our healthcare system. Personally, I agree with Moore that we need a change. I also agree with him that all Americans should have the opportunity to have healthcare. So our beginning point and end point is the same. What the real problems are and how to fix them is where we tend to split. I believe healthcare should be affordable and not free. I also believe in a 300 million payer system and not a single payer system.
I am grateful, however, that he didn’t hammer physicians in this piece. He could have. I envisioned him secretly filming a pharmaceutical sponsored dinner with a dozen doctors eating at a 5 star restaurant. The “expert” speaker could have been found to be a pharmaceutical whore. Moore then could have tracked the doctors’ prescribing habits over the next year and determined whether they were influenced by that dinner.
Moore could have also gone to a big ACP, AAFP or ACC medical conference and exposed how much big pharma was paying for their exposition hall. Moore easily could have tracked how drug reps are hired (looks?) and made that whole scene look silly. He didn’t.
Two omissions that were needed, however, were the trial lawyers/tort reform and patient responsibility.
You can see that my picture included in this piece is a parody I am putting in the next Placebo Journal. It is called LiTIGO and I pretend to go on a journey, like Moore, to discover how other countries handle the malpractice lottery. It turns out they have great answers for that as well. Without tort reform and malpractice insurance reform, doctors in this country will continue to order tests to cover their asses instead of being cautious but fiscally responsible. This issue is real and adds to the bankrupting of our healthcare system. A point Moore left out.
Lastly, the big issue of patient responsibility needs to be addressed as it is a huge piece to solving the puzzle. On many occasions, Moore points out how unhealthy we are and how we rank low compared to other countries. What he doesn’t say is that the diseases that we rank poorly in are all behaviorally determined. We are a fat, gluttonous and spoiled country that wants quick fixes but continues to ignore our own personal health. I often tell patients, “Ask not what your doctor can do for you. Ask what you can do for yourself.” No fix to our healthcare system will ever work when the people of that system smoke, eat poorly and rarely exercise. Add to this the mentality of “I want the best and I want it now or I will sue” and you have the perfect recipe for imperfection. Which is what we have now.
Finally, I have thought long and hard about this. I am not a huge fan of Michael Moore. I also have a lot of disagreements about this film. I do, however, respect the fact that he focused on a topic that our slimy politicians have been skirting around forever and brought it to our attention. He provoked the healthcare debate and hopefully we can all use this for good. He also made HMOs and managed care look disgusting, which they are. For that part alone, I am awarding Michael Moore the 2007 Placebo Journal Tenesmus Award.
I let my thoughts percolate for a while. I rehashed some of the scenes in the movie (the term “documentary” really is questionable). I have also read the articles written about SiCKO as well as seen Michael Moore fight it out with both Wolf Blitzer and Sanjay Gupta.
Basically, SiCKO was a very good movie. It has opened the public’s eyes to many of the problems in our healthcare system. Personally, I agree with Moore that we need a change. I also agree with him that all Americans should have the opportunity to have healthcare. So our beginning point and end point is the same. What the real problems are and how to fix them is where we tend to split. I believe healthcare should be affordable and not free. I also believe in a 300 million payer system and not a single payer system.
I am grateful, however, that he didn’t hammer physicians in this piece. He could have. I envisioned him secretly filming a pharmaceutical sponsored dinner with a dozen doctors eating at a 5 star restaurant. The “expert” speaker could have been found to be a pharmaceutical whore. Moore then could have tracked the doctors’ prescribing habits over the next year and determined whether they were influenced by that dinner.
Moore could have also gone to a big ACP, AAFP or ACC medical conference and exposed how much big pharma was paying for their exposition hall. Moore easily could have tracked how drug reps are hired (looks?) and made that whole scene look silly. He didn’t.
Two omissions that were needed, however, were the trial lawyers/tort reform and patient responsibility.
You can see that my picture included in this piece is a parody I am putting in the next Placebo Journal. It is called LiTIGO and I pretend to go on a journey, like Moore, to discover how other countries handle the malpractice lottery. It turns out they have great answers for that as well. Without tort reform and malpractice insurance reform, doctors in this country will continue to order tests to cover their asses instead of being cautious but fiscally responsible. This issue is real and adds to the bankrupting of our healthcare system. A point Moore left out.
Lastly, the big issue of patient responsibility needs to be addressed as it is a huge piece to solving the puzzle. On many occasions, Moore points out how unhealthy we are and how we rank low compared to other countries. What he doesn’t say is that the diseases that we rank poorly in are all behaviorally determined. We are a fat, gluttonous and spoiled country that wants quick fixes but continues to ignore our own personal health. I often tell patients, “Ask not what your doctor can do for you. Ask what you can do for yourself.” No fix to our healthcare system will ever work when the people of that system smoke, eat poorly and rarely exercise. Add to this the mentality of “I want the best and I want it now or I will sue” and you have the perfect recipe for imperfection. Which is what we have now.
Finally, I have thought long and hard about this. I am not a huge fan of Michael Moore. I also have a lot of disagreements about this film. I do, however, respect the fact that he focused on a topic that our slimy politicians have been skirting around forever and brought it to our attention. He provoked the healthcare debate and hopefully we can all use this for good. He also made HMOs and managed care look disgusting, which they are. For that part alone, I am awarding Michael Moore the 2007 Placebo Journal Tenesmus Award.
