Sicko

So, yeah, oh my god socialists. That was pretty much the thrust of Moore's new movie. But in a tongue-in-cheek tone of "wait, THIS is what you guys mean by socialism?" Ostensibly (by the previews), it was about the craziness (and frankly, immorality) of the United States private health insurance / HMO system. In reality, it was more "if this is socialism, count me in" with health care as its focus.

The movie started out with the cute quote from Bush about OB-GYNs practicing their love, etc. Cue title. Then, he tells some stories about people without insurance, but says this movie is not about them. This was a good tactic since it increases the sense of solidarity (see below section on democracy). He then tells a few stories about people with health insurance. They are pretty well-known stories (in the sense that many people have had these things happen to them, not that I recognized any particular family):

• Denied a cancer treatment because it is deemed "experimental".
• Retired couple forced to sell the family home and move in with a daughter to pay medical bills.
• Pretty heart-wrenching: a child denied a right-ear cochlear implant (she only gets one) because cochlear implants are "experimental".
• Woman getting stuck with ambulance bill because she, unconscious after a car wreck, neglected to direct emergency personnel to get pre-approval from her insurance company.
• Retroactive denial of coverage (and payment for services) because of neglecting to mention incredibly routine health treatments (in this case a yeast infection).

Moore then spends a little time on these people and also various people who work (or did) in the HMO and medical insurance companies. But then Moore moves into what is really the point of this movie: showing us what other nations' systems are like and lots of incredulous conversations.

Moore of course does this all in a folksy, ignorant American just showing up manner. When he is in Canada, he talks with his own relatives (who won't travel to the US to visit him without getting emergency travel insurance), random people in various medical facilities, some nice old golfer who had an injury on vacation in Florida one year, etc. In every case, the Canadians are just incredulous when Moore asks questions like "well, how much is this?". One lady does admit that people complain about it, but that no one would really want anything other than universal coverage. The nice old man golfer has the most philosophical bent (i.e. he seems to understand the moral justification for a socialized health system). When challenged by Moore about whether he could have just paid for his injury and not pay (thru taxes) for everyone else, the man immediately looked almost hurt, only to reply that, no, those who have a lot take care of those who don't. People should take care of each other, etc.

The UKian section was similar, but somewhat amusing because they did all these semi-triumphant scenes of Moore walking thru various streets. The best part of the UK sections were:

• An interview with a doctor in a general practice (NHS employee) from whom Moore wants to find out if doctors have it "bad" under socialized medicine. Now, this doctor is pretty well-off (million dollar house in Greenwich, Audi, family, etc.) and I imagine most doctors even in (cue scary music) Socialist Britain do all right, but I'm sure Moore has gotten challenged on this bit.
• Tony Benn had extended interview segments with him going off on the reasons behind the UK getting the NHS and the power of democracy. Very inspiring, see later section. :)

The France segment was, of course, quite similar. The best part, though, were all the American expats on the French system raving about the quality of life in general: health care, vacation time, maternity leave, etc. Basically Moore sat down with 10+ expats over dinner (with the camera of course). Most amusing and everyone at the table came off as very genuine (which I suppose is important for a propaganda-documentary as this kind of thing is).

Anyway, back to Tony Benn (whom I didn't know the name of and had to lookup online) was an MP and held various positions in various governments. His role in the film was to explain socialism .. and that in many ways it is just an outpouring of a functioning democracy with a healthy, informed, challenging populace. Quite a bit about power moving from money to ballots and how this causes a re-thinking of everyone's position. The "we're all in this together" kind of attitude. Of course, he put it much better. I'm going to have to go read some Tony Benn.

And now the part you've all been waiting for: the random bullet list once I've lost all coherent organization!

• Jaw-dropping bit of 1996 testimony by an MD who worked as a medical claims reviewer (i.e. the doctor whose signature goes on the letter that denies someone coverage) saying her signature caused a man's death and for this she was rewarded with a fat salary and advancement. Yes, I knew this happened, but someone actually said it openly and I didn't hear about it? Guess I didn't really care about this stuff in high school.
• He played some scary recordings of Nixon being advised on the HMO Act. Nixon being all cool that Kaisar's HMO plan was predicated on the notion that if the company gives less care, they make a profit. Yay capitalism!
• Amusingly enough, a lot of the Canadians, Brits or French Moore talked with felt the need to preface their non-criticisms of the US system with comments like "I like America" or "I'm not criticizing America". Ha!
• One major part dealt with some 9/11 rescue workers (mostly EMTs / firemen) who have health problems due to working at the wreckage. First it was just about how they can't get decent help with their ailments. Then, Moore charters some boats to Cuba to get them treated at the hospital in the detainee facility (read: interment camp) at Guantanamo Bay. This of course fails, so they go into Havana and get treated by Cuban doctors (great stunt -- both for Cuba and Moore). The one lady is brought to tears when she finds out that the inhaler she was prescribed costs literally pennies in Cuba and she has been paying $120 per inhaler (while living off of limited Social Security disability payments).

Overall it was a very engrossing film. Moore was smarmy, but not too much. I'm sure he took some leeway here and there, but it's not like opponents of universal healthcare don't ("oh my god! people wait nine months for bypass surgery in Canada!!"). And I was continually amused by the incredulous attitude Moore maintained every time he asked someone (not in the US) if they had to worry about big hospital bills (or little ones, etc.)

This is all pretty rough, but I thought I'd set myself a somewhat useful task for this evening (other than drinking).

---

Cycling

Been biking everyday (everyday to-and-from work even, which is generally 16 miles or more depending on errands). It seems that when I am biking everything falls away and it is just me. There is also a great deal of physical pleasure in moving myself around. I moved myself from point A to point B. Or even just in a single moment when I'm tired and feel a little discomfort and realize it is part of me and it still feels good.

Anyway, today I took a break and only used it to get around town (to the grocery store, to the movie theater, etc). Some tips:

• Life is too short to never feel the wind in your hair. So, I'm not going to continue with my helmet wearing all the time. I will still wear it for commute and any long trips (especially lots of roads) and still probably most of the time. But today was just too dang hot to not have wind evaporating the sweat.
• It turns out that putting one end of the "U" on the U-lock through your pedal's platform (as well as around the frame and the rack) is not a good way to lock your bike and will result in frustrations detaching the U-lock for proper operation of your transportation device. And no, I have no idea how I managed to do that with out noticing until I returned to leave.

---

Paprika

I also saw Paprika a few days ago. See a recent diary from ana for a comment. Worth seeing if you like anime.