Sicko Is a Quintessential Michael

Sicko is a quintessential Michael Moore documentary. The filmmaker broadcasts his views unequivocally and unabashedly. As a result, viewers are treated to an argumentative, persuasive form of documentary fused with political activism. Sicko is an important film for Americans. Moore reveals his infatuation with Canada just as he did in former films like Bowling for Columbine. In Sicko, Moore points out how the Canadian system of health care, while not perfect, still provides for all citizens equally. Moore also details the French and Cuban systems of health care to show that the United States lags behind even one of the poorest communist countries in the world in terms of providing affordable health care for all its citizens. Sicko is a scathing critique of the American health care system.

The reason for America's paltry performance in health care insurance is the capitalist medical industry and the pharmaceutical companies that sustain it through formidable political action committees, or lobbying groups. Moore shows how the medical system in the United States is a profit-driven one rather than a care-driven one. Showing a slew of homeless people without the money to afford their health care needs, Moore also offers case studies of middle class Americans whose insurance companies let them down. For example, one woman got into a car accident and expected insurance to pay for her expenses related to the accident, minus the deductible. The insurance company denied her claim on the spurious grounds that the woman had a "prior condition" that was unrelated to the accident. If private insurance companies are not fulfilling their obligations to consumers, then public insurance becomes the only solution in a free, just, and democratic society. Profit-driven health care means that unethical business practices can too easily creep into and cloud what should be a care-driven system.