I’ve been really looking forward to Michael Moore’s new film “Sicko”. The film is basically a look at the American Health care system and how it fails. One of the reasons I’m curious to see how this one works out is that it isn’t really a partisan issue. Let’s face it, Micheal Moore is extremely anti-republican, but Health Care is an issue that both Democrats and Republicans have called a “problem” and a needs to be addressed. I’m interested in seeing how Moore handles something if the Republicans actually agree with him on something.
But as the good folks over at Cinematical point out… there are other problems Moore has been facing while trying to make this film:
“everyone knows that health care is a mess in this country.” His goal, then, seems to be less education than motivation: Moore hopes that Sicko “pushes health care to the top of the public agenda” and, presumably, forces politicians to get involved. The problem, though, is that all the health care companies know exactly who Moore is, so the moment he shows up to document the struggles of a family dealing with an outrageous situation, “they get free health care.” According to Moore, “There has been a 100% success rate of the people we’re filming of getting whatever they need from the HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, whatever.”
It’s hard to nail assholes when they act like saints when the cameras are around. Still, it’s an issue that both Repubs and Dems have been trying to bring more attention too… maybe this film by Moore can help. Or maybe it’ll be just another Republican bash fest. That would be fun… but it doesn’t look like that’s how this one will play out.