Blog #21: “Healthcare in the United States”

After viewing Michael Moore’s “Sicko” documentary, I immediately wanted what he recommended—Universal Healthcare for everyone in the United States. By comparing the US to countries such as the UK, Canada, France, and even Cuba—all of which had “better” systems in place then us, he initially won me over. But as all of Michael Moore’s documentaries are, they only present one side of the situation. After viewing the supplementary documentary, “Dead Meat,” and reading the Slate article, “Michael Moore and the Beige Bomber,” it is clear to see that this situation is one of immense complications.

While Moore presented the positives to Universal Healthcare, such as everyone receiving coverage and free to very low priced prescriptions, he failed to mention the disadvantages that the Beige Bomber article is quick to point out. This article mentions that “giving free health care to everyone costs a lot of money.” Perhaps most relevant in today’s terms, money is at an endangered state and spending that kind of it would be impossible to overcome.

As with most industries in this country, the healthcare industry is way over complicated. As the “Beige Bomber” article mentions, “[To implement a national health care system], you would need to do more than just overcome the insurance industry. You would need to cut the salaries of doctors, reform the legal system, enrage our allies by causing their prescription drug cost to escalate, and accustom patients to a central decision-maker authorized to determine what procedures they are and are not allowed to get.” All of this seems preposterous, but in today’s world, very true. I’m sorry to say that I wish it wasn’t this complicated, but it is. To fix the problem, it’s going to take more than overhauling just one related industry such as the healthcare industry. While it would be a good first step, the amount of work that would lay ahead would be enough to frighten even the toughest fighters. It is certainly a corrupt system—wealthy HMO CEOs making money off of the people most in need and forcing them to sell their homes, cars, and dignities to save their loved ones’ lives. I’m not saying that other countries are perfect either, however we have a long way to go before I’ll be satisfied with ours.

To recommend a system for the United States that would a) work, b) not cost a tremendous amount of money, c) provide care to everyone in need of it, and d) make everyone happy seems like the impossible task. In fact, it is. It is impossible to please everyone and implement a system that would benefit everyone and make them 100% happy with what they are receiving. While total approval might seem like a fairy tale, major steps must be taken to ensure that we are moving in the right direction. First, as the “Beige Bomber” tells, “we should start fixing the most glaring problems of our system without junking it and starting over.” While starting over might seem like a better solution, in the end it would provide a bigger headache and an emptier national savings account. “We could use pooling to move away from the dump-and-deny insurance we have now. We could reward doctors for doing a good job. We could focus more on preventing sickness.” All of these tips make sense to me, and wouldn’t cost a large amount of money. They seem like a solid step in the right direction.

After taking in all the information, I can say that I agree with Michael Moore when he says that the American healthcare system needs to be changed. I, however differ with him when he proposes that the entire system be thrown away and a clean slate used to start again. As the “Beige Bomber” and “Dead Meat” sources say, fixing what we already have is the best way to move foreword. I think major changes need to take place in the next couple of years. Listening to President Obama, I believe that he has the capacity to take this issue on and change it so it fulfills the needs of all Americans. Hopefully, someday soon, the American healthcare industry will be one that other countries look upon with jealously, instead of the other way around.