michael moore's new movie 'sicko' (in Off-topic)

http://www.onegoodmove.org/1gm/

im sure plenty of you have heard about this, and some who have not, the link above is to a website where mr moore is on Oprah, for me i live in Canada, i love our medical system and im no a fan of insurance companies already, but this takes the cake.

this movie is for Americans, how do you feel after watching this... will you see the movie? are you insured and scared at all that your medi-care coverage maybe revoked or a claim denied. this deserves a lot of support.

id like to heard constructively what the community has to say about this(i know not all of you are from America, but there are a lot of you)

if anyone wants to link it, thanks in advance

I'm heavily torn, which is a sure sign I'm an undereducated idiot.

Universal health care is a must in my mind, the current medical system has lost it's way completely. Profit cannot be the goal of medical care, it simply doesn't work.

I also think that Libertarianism is the most attractive form of government.

Therefore I'm confused, and stupid.

As a physician, if you would have asked me 2 years ago, I would have said no freaking way to universal health care.

Now, I changed my mind.

Quite a few reasons actually.

1) Right now I spend about 12% of my income trying to battle Insurance companies over claims and just the routine billing. Universal health care will likely drop that to 2%. So even if I get less money per study, which will likely happen, in the end I may break even due to the overhead going down.

2) I have seen quite a few friends of mine in jobs they hate due to the medical insurance. Universal insurance will let people move more freely from jobs they hate to other ones they like.

3) Right now people cannot start their own businesses due to the extra cost of health insurance. Universal insurance will cover that and let people try to start companies and with it, the economy will expand.

4) I see it all the time, people not getting the medicines, studies, appointments they need due to the lack of insurance. In the long run, it is costing us more to fix the problems we fail to take care of early through preventive medicine.

Personally I do not like Mr. Moore. His other films were very propagandist. But he does hit the nail on the head this time. The medical system in America is broken, while the best in the world, it needs fixing.

A number of doctors in my area are going to a system where you pay them a retainer for 24/7 access. They make house calls, you can call at 3am, etc. The retainer seems steep but if something big happens it'll cover you and you know there is no insurance to mess with.

Oh, more on topic:

I echo the opinion that most of Michael Moore's stuff is propaganda but this is an issue that crosses political lines more readily. Something has to change. The costs continue to inflate artificially and good care is out of reach of many-maybe even most?

phrog,

That system where I live is called MDVIP. Docs around here charge about 1500 a year to be a part of it. However, it is not a supplement to insurance as that only covers access and routine visits to your primary care doctor your paying the 1500 to. If you visit a specialist, you get some bonus access as much as the doc your paying can arrange.

ANYONE who treats Moore's films as anything other than leftist fiction is seriously biased. And going to universal health care is not going to reduce beurocracy, but increase it. We need some government involvement in the health industry just to guard the public from quacks, charlatans, and haphazard processes, but the less government the more efficiently it will run.

miteke,
I disagree.

Yes, government is 100% bureaucratic, however, as a person working in the field, I see the bureaucracy of insurance companies and their arbitrary decisions every day.

One study will get approved for xxx diagnosis and the next, for the same diagnosis will get rejected. This happens within the same insurance and cross different insurance companies.

With one payer, at least the overhead in the medical system, which some people estimate is up to 25% of costs will be reduced to less then 5%.