(no subject)

[primroseburrows]

I don't know why this is here or how long it will be here, but Michael Moore's Sicko is up on Google video. I debated whether I wanted to see it now, but then I decided I would, since I'm sure I'm going to end up seeing it on the big screen anyway.
I'm just ten minutes into it, so I don't have a review.

Whether or not you're a fan of his, it's about time someone in popular media addressed the subject of healthcare in the US. It's one of the main issues, if not THE main issue, that's going to affect my choice for President this time. Those of you who live in a country with a national health system (read: every other developed country in the WORLD), I'd especially like to know what y'all think of the film.

ETA: Um, yeah. Watch this, if you have any time at all. It's not perfect, but it's hella revealing, and it's about time.

Comments

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I'd love to talk to you about the med issue, because I really think the pharmaceutical companies are in bed with the insurance companies (who are having a grand old threesome with a lot of the doctors as well). In your case it looks like they were at odds, though, but I wonder what was going on underneath.

I work in a private psych hospital and patients tell me that they can't get their insurance companies to pay for their stay unless they say they're suicidal. The problem with that is, that when I get report on a patient, it almost always says they're suicidal, and I don't know whether to believe it or not when the patient says he/she isn't. Things like that can cost the patient their life, because how we do our safety precautions is very closely based on how safe the patient feels.

I've also seen patients unable to get the treatment that might mean the difference between recovery and relapse and not be able to get it because they don't fit the criteria. It's like it says in the film, these people aren't slipping through the cracks, they're being dragged toward the cracks and pushed in. And people wonder why I balk at the whole "the US is the best nation in the world" theory. Because quite obviously, it isn't (apparently it's Norway these days, according to the UN). The sad thing is that the US has so many good people and really good things about it, and we could be so, so much better. [/rant]

[erebor.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree that it's a nice collusion between the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies. The doctors sometimes get stuck in between (one of my doctors used to go on rants about insurance companies and how they tried to fuck with his patient's treatments without his permission). I think the concept of major medical coverage as it is practiced in this country was originally dreamed up or championed by pharmaceutical companies because it makes it so convenient for us to give up our power. I mean, we never really shop around for the best priced medications, we just abdicate that control and pay our $5 co-pay. And that's a LOT of power and a LOT of money. We shut our eyes until the day we are in big trouble.

My pharmacist back in New York was a prince of a guy. An old-school pharmacist. He once told me in all confidentiality that things were "going on" with the insurance company that he couldn't tell me about because he had to adhere to a non-disclosure agreement in order to get their business. But he impressed upon me fervently to BE CAREFUL and TRUST NO ONE where insurance was concerned.

And yay for this film for saying nice things about the French. I am SO SICK of people dissing the French. And all they are doing is repeating by rote what they have heard on the media. When I confront and ask for specifics, they are at a loss. It's just another area where Americans act like sheep.

I've been thinking a lot lately about getting out of the country. I'm thinking about applying for a transfer to Hamburg after Rikya passes away.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking a lot lately about getting out of the country.

Dude. I think about it all the time. If it weren't for the fact that I love my family and wouldn't want to be so far away from them, I'd do some real research in the matter. Like hiring an immigration lawyer.