Editor Reviews:

Description:
Following on the heels of his Palm d'Or winning Fahrenheit 9/11 and his Oscar winning film Bowling for Columbine, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Moore's new documentary sets out to investigate the American healthcare system. Sticking to his tried-and-true one-man approach, Moore sheds light on the complicated medical affairs of individuals and local communities.

Amazon.com:
SiCKO is more like a controlled howl of protest than a documentary. Toning down the rhetoric of past efforts--no CEOs, congressmen, or celebrities were accosted in the making of this film--Michael Moore's latest provocation is just as heartfelt, if not more heartbreaking. As he clarifies from the outset, his subject isn't the 45 million Americans without insurance, but those whose coverage has failed to meet their needs. He starts by speaking with patients who've been denied life-saving procedures, like chemotherapy, for the most spurious of reasons. Then he travels to Canada, England, and France to see if socialized medicine is as inefficient as U.S. politicians like to claim--especially those who receive funding from pharmaceutical companies. Moore finds quality care available to all, regardless as to income. He concludes with a stunt that made headlines when he assembles a group of 9/11 rescue workers suffering from a variety of afflictions. When Moore is informed that detainees at Guantánamo Bay--technically American soil--qualify for universal coverage, he and his companions travel to Cuba to get in on that action. It's a typically grandstanding move on Moore's part. And it proves remarkably effective when these altruistic individuals, who've either been denied treatment or forced to pay outrageous costs for their medication, experience a dramatically different system. Nine years in the making, SiCKO makes a persuasive case that it's time for America to catch up with the rest of the world. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Rating : - Great commentary on the American political scene, but could have used more statistics
I will begin this review by stating that I am a proud American citizen, an immigrant from a Third World movie who grew up in America. I have also traveled around the world, and have experienced the health care systems in other countries. I also have friends and family living in other countries, both developed and under-developed countries. From my own experiences in America and in other countries, and those related to me by my friends and family, I've come to believe that the US healthcare system is extremely inefficient, corrupt, and unfriendly to customers. If one were to consider slavery as 19th century America's national shame, then healthcare is probably the shame of our time. Many individuals have tried to capture the essence of America's health care system in editorials, books, and news reports. But this 2-hr long documentary captures the essence of these failures; both cause and effect, and the agents. Sicko correctly reveals the fundamental cause: greed, and the system whereby greed is allowed to take people's lives: a deregulated, privately run health care system. Taken together, this leads to a health care safety net with very big holes. Importantly, Moore focuses only on those who do have insurance, and shows the loopholes that allow health care providers to deny care. So instead of coming of as a paean to the poor and uninsured, this movie actually looks at those that have been insured; the working professionals both blue and white collar. And as a good liberal, Moore contrasts the American system with those in Canada, Cuba, France and England.

The failings of this movie are also numerous. First of, Moore fails to elucidate the specific laws that have created our current health care system. He only looks at one specific bill passed during the Nixon administration that sanctioned HMO's as the pre-eminent form of health care provider in the US. The movie should have spent some time presenting the origins of worker-provided care, the origins of France's present health care system under Vichy rule, and differences in the health care education in different countries. The US is unique in that one needs an undergraduate degree before entering medical school. This by itself dramatically increases the time and cost incurred by doctors in training, which in turn raises their salaries. Probably the biggest failing is the lack of time examining health care systems in Asia, such as those of Singapore, China and India. The latter two produce many of America's best doctors and medical researchers. The former, Singapore, has probably the world's best health care system in terms of cost/benefit ratio.

The biggest surprise of this movie was the complete absence of mention of patient privacy. I suspect Moore examined Iceland's system and came away with more questions than answers as to the need of patient privacy.