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TechnoratiBlueCross Secret Memo Re: 'Sicko'
Friends,
An employee who works at Capital BlueCross has sent us a confidential memo written and circulated by its Vice President of Corporate Communications, Barclay Fitzpatrick. His job, it seems, was to go and watch "Sicko," observe the audience's reaction, and then suggest a plan of action for how to deal with the movie.
The memo, which I am releasing publicly in this email, is a fascinating look at how one health care company views "Sicko" -- and what it fears its larger impact will be on the public. The industry's only hope, the memo seems to indicate, is if the movie "flops."
Mr. Fitzpatrick writes: "In typical Moore fashion, Government and business leaders are behind a conspiracy to keep the little guy down and dominated while getting rich."
No. You don't say! That can't be!
BlueCross V.P. Fitzpatrick seems downright depressed about the movie he just saw. "You would have to be dead to be unaffected by Moore's movie," he writes. "Sicko" leaves audiences feeling "ashamed to be...a capitalist, and part of a 'me' society instead of a 'we' society."
He walks out of the theater only to witness an unusual sight: people -- strangers -- mingling and talking to each other. "'I didn't know they (the insurers) did that!' was a common exclamation followed by a discussion of the example," according to Fitzpatrick.
He then assesses the film's impact: "[T]he impact on small business decision makers, our members, the community, and our employees could be significant. Ignoring its impact might be a successful strategy only if it flops, but that has not been the history of Moore's films ... If popular, the movie will have a negative impact on our image in this community."
The BlueCross memo then suggests a strategy in dealing with "Sicko" and offers the BCBS "talking points" to be used in discounting the film.
My heartfelt thanks to the employee who sent this to me.
And now a word from me to Capital BlueCross:
How 'bout a debate? No more secret memos and hand wringing about the millions seeing "Sicko." Just me and your CEO openly debating the merits of a system that kills thousands of innocent Americans every year.
In the meantime, I hope you don't mind me sharing your thoughts and impressions in your well-written memo. And if the rest of your executive team hasn't seen "Sicko," it opens in an additional 100 cities tonight for a total of over 700 screens across North America. Attendance went up a whopping 56% on the 4th of July, higher than any other film in the theaters right now. But don't be scared, and certainly don't be ashamed to be a capitalist. Greed is good! Especially good for you. There's nothing like having the pre-existing condition of being rich, should you ever get sick and need help.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Join me at noon EST, today, when I'll be chatting with U.S. Steelworkers, the California Nurses Association, and whoever stops by to talk about "Sicko" and the industry's attempt to stop this movement. Check my website for details.
[The following memo was written by Barclay Fitzpatrick, VP of Corporate Communications for Capital BlueCross]
I was able to see Sicko last night in Lancaster. There were about 30 other viewers in the theatre covering all age groups. I have attached the well-written memo from one of our partners, which describes cases used in the movie, to the end of my memo. Also attached are the latest talking points from BCBSA. I will focus on impact to our brands, issues, and suggested strategies in this memo.
The Movie
You would have to be dead to be unaffected by Moore's movie, he is an effective storyteller. In Sicko Moore presents a collage of injustices by selecting stories, no matter how exceptional to the norm, that present the health insurance industry as a set of organizations and people dedicated to denying claims in the name of profit. Denial for treatments that are considered "experimental" is a common story, along with denial for previous conditions, and denial for application errors or omissions. Individual employees from Humana and other insurers are interviewed who claim to have actively pursued claim denial as an institutionalized goal in the name of profit.
While Humana and Kaiser Permanente are demonized, the BlueCross and BlueShield brands appear, separately and together, visually and verbally, with such frequency that there should be no doubt that whatever visceral reaction his movie stirs will spill over onto the Blues brands in every market. Here are some examples:
Horizon BlueCross/BlueShield is picked out early in the film in a collage of stories citing bad treatment of members.
BCBSA is cited for rejecting a woman for coverage due to a high BMI - "too fat" is written across the screen over a copy of her application denial letter, which describes the BMI rejection.
BlueShield of California denied coverage for a diagnostic test, which the patient later received overseas. Patient sues BS of CA and medical director admits to not 'seeing' the actual denial letter, which was given an electronic signature.
BlueCross of California denied payment for a major surgery after they discovered a previous yeast infection, then dropped the person for coverage. This is followed by an interview with a person who claims to have been a specialist at finding inaccuracies in applications to enable post-treatment payment denials.
A BCBSA card is shown while the narrator describes how they (insurers) got wealthy.
In typical Moore fashion, Government and business leaders are behind a conspiracy to keep the little guy down and dominated while getting rich. Nixon Oval Office tapes are used to show how the initial idea of a 'less care = profit' enterprise was supported by the administration and became the HMO paradigm. Legislators are presented as bought stooges for the political agendas of insurers and big Pharma. Insurers are middlemen in the Medicare Modernization Act - which is presented as a trick to charge seniors more for their prescription drugs.
Doctors are barely touched - only in the course of discussing the AMA's work to sink early efforts in the 40's and 50's to start universal health care. He takes efforts to show that doctors live well in other countries despite the existence of universal health care. In follow-up interviews, Moore has stated that he has spoken to and knows many doctors, and "doctors aren't the problem".
In the second half of the movie, Moore walks us through individual stories of the Canadian, British, French, and Cuban health care systems where everything is free and - he reminds us repeatedly - no one is ever denied service because they can't pay. In addition to health care, the government provides free day care, college, and someone to do your laundry. Everybody gets along and takes care of each other and life is beautiful because there is universal health care. As a viewer, you are made to feel ashamed to be an American, a capitalist, and part of a 'me' society instead of a 'we' society - and the lack of universal health care is held up in support of that condemnation.
The Impact
Moore's movies are intentionally intense and his objective in Sicko seems to be to revive the earlier Clinton efforts - not to achieve universal coverage with this movie, but to push the topic to the top of the agenda. He will be just as successful whether proponents mount momentum or discussion entails key stakeholders defending why it won't work.
As a health care industry educated viewer it is easy to pick out where Moore is cultivating misperceptions to further a political agenda, but you will also recognize that 80%+ of the audience will have their perceptions substantially affected. In demonstration of its impact, an informal discussion group ensued outside the theatre after the movie. While some people recognized how one-sided the presentation was, most were incredulous and "I didn't know they (the insurers) did that!" was a common exclamation followed by a discussion of the example.
The unfortunate reality for Capital BlueCross is that as the market leader, we will be affected both in brand and as employees as Moore's efforts in the movie and surrounding PR activity are seen by more of the community. The impact on industry savvy Sales' contacts should be minimal, while the impact on small business decision makers, our members, the community, and our employees could be significant. Ignoring its impact might be a successful strategy only if it flops, but that has not been the history of Moore's films nor the way this one appears to be headed. If popular, the movie will have a negative impact on our image in this community.
There should be no doubt that many of our employees will be asked what they think of the movie by friends, family, and neighbors. We should anticipate that our customer service people will be asked about particular cases from the movie and if we follow similar policies. Word and phrases we have routinely used to date in policy change communications or denial letters, such as "Investigational", will be seen as affirming the film's contentions. The national BCBSA response - while coming out against the film's divisiveness and focusing on the positive work of the Blues - steers media inquiries about policies and denials back to the plans themselves.
There are 4 key areas of misperception cultivated by the movie that we should consider in any messaging strategy:
That the industry is all about HMO's. Moore cultivates this further in his interviews. The reality is that HMO's are a minority product and have been for some time.
The movie attacks insurers for a profit motive, but makes no distinction among for-profit and non-profit insurers, and in its execution places the Blue Plans together with the for-profit insurers.
All plans and employees - from leaders to service representatives - are painted as motivated by profit to deny claims, and only those with crisis of conscience have come forward to confess their sins.
Perhaps most damaging of all, Moore completely fails to address the most significant driver of health care costs - our own lifestyle choices - and seeks to focus attention and efforts on the alluring 'quick-fix' of universal health care. It has taken a generation of poor nutrition and exercise to get obesity and related health issues - and subsequent costs - to their current levels, and Moore's movie fails to acknowledge the causal relationship or need to change (he briefly touches the subject in a non-memorable way). Contrast this to the recent Health Care Symposium held in Harrisburg - where a panel of representatives from Government, Insurance, Hospitals, Business, Physicians, and even Lawyers agreed on one thing - that there was no quick fix and that Health and Wellness was the critical area of focus.
Suggestions
I believe the most successful strategy will not be in attacking the movie for its weaknesses or misperceptions, but in distancing ourselves and our brand from the groups and motivations he attacks, demonstrating the good that we do and achieve (aligns with BCBSA strategy), and in articulating our disappointment that he did not address the truly relevant issue of improving our health and wellness. We will convene a team to consider other approaches and work on potential messages for media inquiries, customer service, and employees.
Confidential Memo (from partner)
SiCKO - viewed on 6/26/2007
Takeaways
The main theme of the movie is that American society needs to focus on the "we" and not the "me" in healthcare.
This broad message is an overlay for the specific criticisms of the healthcare industry - the movie asks where the morality of the American public lies and contrasts America's approach to health care unfavorably with other nations.
SiCKO does not go into any depth about how health insurers operate how the health insurance business works - instead it fixates on what it characterizes as the profit incentive to deny care to patients (e.g. examples of barriers to getting health insurance if you are not healthy; examples of people being denied expensive tests or procedures; examples of efforts to deny reimbursement after care has been received.)
The film draws no distinction between not-for-profit and for-profit insurers - in fact the Blue Cross/Blue Shield brand is intermixed with the for - profit brands as background reference points. o One scene shows a Blue Cross / Blue Shield logo as Michael Moore's voice over begins, "While the healthcare companies get wealthy..."
The health insurers that get the most airtime are
-- Kaiser Permanente
-- Humana
-- CIGNA
-- Blue Cross of California
-- Aetna
No Pharma companies are mentioned - but SiCKO suggests in multiple instances that prescription drugs are overpriced
-- At a pharmacy in London, prescription drugs are £6.65, no matter how large the dose
-- In Cuba, one bankrupt 9/11 worker's inhaler costs 5 cents, instead of $100
Further Notes
Some of the examples of denial of care highlighted in the film:
-- A woman with Kaiser Permanente takes her 18-month daughter to the hospital in an ambulance, only to be told to go to an in-network hospital. By the time they reach the second hospital, her daughter has stopped breathing and dies 30 minutes later in ER.
-- A woman with Blue Shield of California has a tumor but is denied requests to get an MRI, or to see a specialist. While on vacation in Japan she is given an MRI, and eventually returns to the U.S. to demand treatment from her insurer.
In the ensuing court case, a doctor admits to denying her request without having reviewed it.
-- Blue Cross of California approves one woman's $7,500 treatment, but the approval is later denied for her failure to report a previous medical incident - a yeast infection.
"They're just looking for a way out," she says
Other examples of how health insurers avoid paying for treatment:
-- One graph (from Humana) shows that doctors with the highest % of denials get a bonus.
-- Michael Moore interviews a former health insurance employee who specialized in denying care to patients retroactively - by finding inconsistencies in their medical records.
-- A 5-minute piece in the beginning of the movie .
The film also focuses on the politicians and the funds they raise from Pharma and other player in the health care industry and alleges that the system has been heavily influenced by lobbyists and contributions.
Barclay Fitzpatrick
Vice President
Corporate Communications
Capital BlueCross
(w) 717-541-7752
(c) 717-329-3648
barclay.fitzpatrick@capbluecross.com
MichaelMooreTalkingPoints61807.doc
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
Talking Points in Response to Michael Moore's "Sicko"
June 2007
1) The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and the 39 Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are committed to improving the U.S. healthcare system for our nearly 100 million members through continuous innovation that reflects the ever-changing healthcare landscape and the needs of the consumer.
2) The Blues recognize the need for improvement of both the coverage and delivery of healthcare. But the divisive tone set forth by Michael Moore and his movie "Sicko" is not helpful. Positive change to our healthcare system can be best achieved through shared responsibility, not recrimination. To ensure Americans have access to the best healthcare that is both timely, efficient, and of high quality, requires the collective contribution of all stakeholders -- consumers, providers, employers and the government.
3) The Blues participation in the Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured is a primary example of how the broader healthcare community is working together to reduce the number of uninsured in the United States.
4) The Blues are working on myriad initiatives that ensure Americans have access to quality and affordable healthcare. Each day, Blue Plans across the country are bringing healthcare value to their members in a number of ways such as new advances in health information technology and greater access to cost and quality information. In addition:
-- The Blues recently created Blue Health Intelligence a data resource that will shine light on emerging medical trends and treatment options in an unprecedented way. To further the use of evidenced-based medicine, BCBSA has called upon Congress to establish an independent, payer-funded institute that will study the comparative effectiveness of new and existing medical treatments and procedures.
-- Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are at the forefront of healthcare transparency by providing their members with online access to real-time information related to provider quality and the cost of common healthcare services. In addition, the Blues have committed to making personal health records available to their members by 2008.
-- We are working to ensure that Medicare is funded appropriately and that seniors continue to have access to comprehensive benefits.
5) The Blues are proud of these efforts and we will continue to work with consumers, providers, employers and the government to provide Americans with the healthcare services and information they need to lead full, healthy lives.
88 Comments so far
Show Allcounselorjohn, your post made me feel sad. One of the "Back to the Future" sequels showed a blighted corrupt future that looks appallingly like what we are becoming. Why can't Americans see what is happening? It's so obvious, but I remember the standard of living and what the government was providing in the 1960s and 1970s and the subsequent decline with the Reagan Revolution and the Clinton administration aiding and abetting the decline. And since that earlier time, the Democratic Party has become the other half of the Corporate Party and apparently the party faithful haven't noticed and keep believing the lies they are being fed by the Party apparatchik. And unfortunately continue to vote for these people and attack anyone who tries to resist.
I watched SiCKO once, am about to see it again, but this discussion thread is revealing that the film just exposes the tip of the iceberg. Someone from outside the US said you people will never get a single payer health care system.
Watching the Democrats do their we're trying to stop the war dance, I think that person may be right. I see only once chance to take back our country. Signing the National Initiative for Democracy. But it needs 50 million signatures, and considering the apathy of the electorate, a long shot to get them. Even among the progressives, how many have signed? I have friends and family who even sign MoveOn petitions, but haven't "gotten around to it" on the National Initiative.
The privatization of prisons seems to be the business model used by a lot of the Managed Care Organizations. When I was a counselor in Austin, Texas, back in the late 70's and early 80's, a lot of these Managed Care Organizations used the city as a test site for gaining control of health care and mental health care. I remember one MCO rep giving a talk at one of the psychiatric hospitals in Austin back then. He said "Look at the counselor on your right. Look at the counselor on your left. In a couple of years, one of you won't be here" (in other words, will no longer be in business). He said his company was looking for counselors who could take care of things in 10 to 12 sessions and so never asked for additional sessions. He said counselors and their clients could complain to the state insurance board but assured us that no appeal would ever prevail against the MCOs. The message was clear: All the potential clients would belong to the MCO's. Any counselor in private practice would have to do business on their terms, for what they were willing to pay, to have enough clients to stay in business. I knew right then that the MCOs would not settle for taking over just the for-profit health and mental health marketplace. They wanted the non-profit and government-funded parts of the marketplace as well. And so it has come to pass, for example, that some MCOs have taken over Medicaid funded mental health care in large parts of the state of Texas. My money's on the MCOs because of the power big money has in the world today. Did I also mention that we'll never win the War On Drugs until we break our addiction to money – on the table, under the table, around the table?
I guess I'll have to wait until Moore's film comes out on DVD, because I know myself and I'd be screaming at the top of my lungs in the theater and causing all kinds of unpleasantness to fellow moviegoers. I am not insured. Although I'm not in debt as some have described, I'm on three different payment plans for a routine mammogram (taken in one hospital) and stitches and tests as the result of an accident during baseball practice (in another hospital). At least they're willing to set up six-month payment plans. But, what a joke!
One of the things I have had to explain to several amazed young people is how you can go broke from medical bills while insured. They think a $1000 deductible, followed by 80% benefits actually means that. But when you have a $500 treatment, and you think that at least that amount will be applied toward your deductible, you are in for a nasty surprise: the insurance company will most likely decide that service is worth only...say...$115. And that's all that will count toward your deductible, even though you actually have to pay the $500. You can easily spend $4-5000 on medical costs before you manage to fulfill that $1000 deductible. And THEN....they will pay 80% of THEIR evaluation of your medical bills--often a fourth or less of your actual billing, and simply ignore some of your bills completely. Three years of debilitating health problems while supposedly fully insured under Cobra has left me with no choice but to declare bankruptcy--United Healthcare's payments have left me either laughing or crying--depending on my mood when I get their notices--its all one big fraudulent SICK joke.
And an industry insider just recently enlightened me about another situation involving drug coverage. I have an unusual condition which requires high doses of Prevacid--with it, my problem is solved; without it I am in the hospital in less than a week on an IV. Nexxium and other closely related drugs simply do not address my problem--we're not talking heartburn,folks. You'd think the insurance company would have a vested interest in keeping the meds coming that would keep me out of the hospital. But 2 years ago they suddenly announced that they would only pay for Nexxium--not Prevacid. Calls and letters from my doctors, as well as myself, met with a virtual stone wall, and the amount of Prevacid I need costs about $800 a month. But recently, an "insider" I spoke with explained that many of these sudden limitations on types of meds are because of "financial arrangements"--ahem, kickbacks--with particular pharmaceutical companies. Since I can afford neither the $800 a month, nor "my portion" of hospitalization--and do not wish to spend my life hooked up to an IV!--I must take several days off every few months to drive to Mexico to buy what I need. The trip cost many times more than the actual medicine (about $40 for a 4-month supply),but the whole cost is still waaay less than one month here without coverage.
I congratulate Mr. Moore for making a nonpartisan plea on behalf of all Americans--I think he just barely showed the tip of the iceberg, though. This callousness to human need in favor of corporate profit has become so rampant in ALL aspects of American life that I find myself rethinking many of my formerly conservative views, and sounding more like a liberal everyday. I feel like we've been sold a very misleading bill-of-goods. This isn't freedom, its financial slavery to a handful of giant corporations who get to set all the rules...and surprise, surprise--the rules all favor them.
Yes, LaurieS has a good solution, but that's like asking Democrats to stop voting for corporate democrats. They're too scared. Like it said in SiCKO, here the people are afraid of the government. So, this brave new democracy in 1776 has become a nation of sniveling cowards. Just the fact that the French people charge into the streets and strike to shut down the country when they get mad at their government made me wish I lived there. I don't want to be surrounded by gutless wonders, while the corporations walk around on our faces in their jackboots.
I applaud Michael Moore for channeling an intelligent debate on the state of health care in the USA.
I thought the VP at BCBSA's memo was surprisingly honest.
His points (1) and (2) essentially say, "Well, true -- but blame the other guys."
His point (3) says, "We're not all 100% bad."
His point (4) has a lot of truth in it (yes, each person must be responsible for his or her own preventative maintenance health program), but it doesn't challenge the main themes of Moore's film.
In other words, the BCBSA VP doesn't deny the validity of SICKO's main themes.
SICKO's accusations are very well explored in this discussion group. I especially liked:
zooeyhall: 3 essential "root causes"
Ricsant: good expansion on zooeyhall's "3"
acomfort: 8 specific problems w. status quo
mike2: good data on % of money paid out
rjhuntington: analysis of historical change
LaurieS: "stop paying for insurance"
Enter the above user names into "Edit/Find" in a "search up" direction to reference their full comments quickly.
Maybe the solution by LaurieS is the best immediate action. Maybe we should all cancel our health insurance policies. As she writes, "Let's face it: you don't REALLY have insurance anyway."
If tens of thousands of people started cancelling their insurance with a short note explaining why, it would definitely get some attention in the corporate board rooms!
It is sickening to learn that the CEO of United Health Care was compensated $44 million in 2001 when there were 44 million americans uninsured. In 2005 there were close to 48 million uninsured while the same CEO was compensated $1.6 BILLION. Any insurance executive attempting to attack Sicko and/or defend their company should be asked how much his/her compensation was in 2006 and that should blunt any argument in their favor.
The only presidential candidate that has authored H.R 676 "Medicare for all" is Dennis Kucinich, the Peace candidate.
I just saw the movie yesterday. As I expected, MM has told a compelling but entirely one-sided story. It is good that he is out there doing this, to counteract the predominant falsehoods that are spread in the mainstream media, but all the same, I wish that regular people would put more energy into trying to THINK critically about these issues rather than just thrusting one ideological polemic against its opposite, like the world is some big 'cage-match' or something. I live in Canada and have studied international health care policy, and believe me, MM has shown a very selective 10 or 15% of the whole story in Canada, UK, France, Cuba, etc. Nothing he said is wrong, it's just very very selective. And to think that Castro treated them like 'any other Cuban' when it comes to running a bunch of Americans being filmed in an "anti-Bush" documentary through MRI machines is just plain naive. Don't get me wrong, Cubans get good care (and better than many many Americans), just don't try to insult my intelligence by saying bluntly that you 'asked to be treated just like any other Cuban, and that is the treatment you got'...(as if you really know). Cubans do in fact line up for groceries, and you can bet they lined up longer than you did for their MRI scans...but do they get them? yes. Are they free of charge? yes. Here in Canada we also line up for them, and yes in fact it IS easier to get an MRI for your pet, (or for an American travelling in Canada), as long as you have the money. That's because there is the option of paying for it in those cases but you can't with a Canadian person (unless you go to the US to do it, and lots do). People have started to DIE here because of wating lists, but $$ is also now starting to flow to fix the system and get the lines down, among other improvements, so things are getting better again, slowly but surely. Having a taxpayer-funded universal health care system along with an aging population is HELL on the younger generation of taxpayers, and it stagnates the overall capacity for weath generation in society, in my opinion (40-50% taxes go towards health). In the end, there are things that I agree with Michael that perhaps should not be delivered by the for-profit capitalist system, but I wish that one day there could be an intelligent discussion and analysis of where that proper balance lies. SiCKO ultimately seems to seek to divide society rather than to bring it together, as it supposedly claims is the solution. Nonetheless, sometimes America needs a blunt kick in the head to start thinking more deeply about issues like this, so I suppose that's ultimately what MM has given them. Peace.
check out www. divyayoga.com and www.powerofbreath.org
The sites are and . The teacher is Swami Ramdev.
Claiming "life-style choices" is what forces the poor insurance companies to pay up is little more than blaming the victim. The reality is many avoid preventable health problems until it is too late because of expense, denial of or limited coverage
Blue Cross Blue Shield response is very lame and it is very easy to show that profit is a driving force for this organization. Remember few yers ago BCBS was investigated by government for submiting false documents to icrease its profit? If you do not believe in stories presented in "Sicko" look at the ending of that investigation. BCBS was found guilty and was forced to pay heavy penalties for its profit driven criminal activities.
Just check out and
to find out how not to worry about all the greedy insurance companies,pharma and others, and take charge of your health. This is the message that is encouraging many in India to reclaim their birth right to physical, mental and spiritual health.
Too long have we allowed others to intervene and invade our body as if it did not have an intelliegence of its own to heal itself. After all the body manufactures all the chemicals that the pharmacutical companies struggle to imitate and fail so miserably.
There is a chance to attend a camp in Chicago from 14th. Check ou the sites above .
Does anyone have Howard Dean's phone number? HR676 is currently in the subcommittee on health, and 100% of its members are Democrats.
The obscene amounts of cash passed from the health care (what an oxymoron) industry to our legislators can only be defined in one word. Bribery. Nothing less.
It is time for the progressive community to publicise the amounts these people take from industry sources and develop a list of shame to be published in time for the next election. If nothing else in our amnisiac republic, it will get the attention of those whose lives have been ruined by those charged with providing for your health.
This is a moral outrage!
John
Progressive Christians Uniting
www.progressivechristiansuniting.org
It no doubt sounds radical, but take YOUR money away from the insurance companies.
Let's face it: you don't REALLY have insurance anyway. It makes no sense to sacrifice necessities like good food to make health 'insurance' premium payments when you know what will happen if you become sick or injured: you may well be denied coverage, you will certainly be dictated to as to what treatment you may and may not receive - or, even if your claim is paid, you may well be bankrupted by all the co-pays, an increasingly common scenario.
Insurance companies are only able to continue their tyranny with your premium payments. They could not continue to dictate the existence of the current insanity and injustice without our help, that is, without the assistance of all those who dutifully fork over those premiums month after month (mostly out of a fear that is unresolved and remains justiifed even once they've made that payment). And if insurance companies were forced out of business through simple evaporation of their revenue, medical costs would have to come down out of the stratosphere and government would have to act to help with the necessary costs.
I must also reiterate what others have said: while there are never any guarantees, it is amazing what you can do for your health just by staying out of fast food emporiums, shopping the perimeter of the grocery store (natural foods store if possible), skipping the convenience 'foods' - a misnomer if ever there was one, avoiding hydrogenated fats like the plague they literally are, using carefully-chosen supplements (ask your independent natural foods retailer for help in getting quality for your dollar), and as much as possible getting where you need to go on a bicycle (you can put the money saved on gas into better quality food), or if you can't cycle, engaging in the regular exercise of your choice. This is not to say that it's the individual's own fault if they get sick; others have pointed out that the whole societal system is fundamentally flawed in that it is difficult for many people to access quality foods and live in a reasonably wholesome environment; I wholeheartedly endorse that observation. But I have been fortunate in that my family and I have been able to adjust our circumstances such that having taken the measures listed above, we have so far lived very successfully for well over a decade without what is misleadingly called 'health insurance.' In fact, we're much healthier than all the people we know who do have health insurance and avail themselves of what the medical system has to offer, many times to their detriment rather than benefit. True, I could break a leg tomorrow - or today - but nothing in life is guaranteed, but rather than helping to sustain a corrupt system with my money, I'll take the chance that prudent living will likely see me through. The several hundred dollars a month we keep out of 'insurance' executives wallets buys us an almost entirely organic diet.
"If you're not part of the solution..." - you know the rest. They're YOUR dollars. Control who gets them, and you reassert a little more control over your world.
I've seen "Sicko" and I have to totally agree with zooeyhall--before we can have ANY HOPE AT ALL about having universal health care, these three fundamental problems MUST BE ADDRESSED:
1. The prostitute relationship between the corporations and the politicians--I'm POSITIVELY SICK AND TIRED about corporate CEOs bellyaching 24/7 about "big government" and "oppressive taxation". When these same CEOs make boneheaded business decisions, guess who usually gets stuck bailing them out? US WORKING CLASS FOLKS!
2. The corporate controlled media--When so much of the media is controlled by only five corporations (Time Warner, Disney, Viacom, News Corporation, and General Electric), freedom as we know it is in EXTREMELY GRAVE DANGER! Here's one prime example: http://www.newscorp.com. In my honest opinion, Rupert Murdoch (CEO of News Corporation) is THE MOST SADISTIC, EVIL AND DANGEROUS MAN on the face of the Earth. Mark my words, folks--this man's ultimate goal is to turn the U.S. into A GIGANTIC POLICE STATE similar to the one portrayed in that Arnold Schwarzenegger film "The Running Man"!
3. The general attitude of social darwinism that exists in American society--this is best described as the Dick & Lynne Cheney "I've got mine, to hell with you, go f**k yourself" attitude. Like the big multinational corporations I described above, when the very rich people (especially Wall Streeters) who have this attitude make bad decisions and get themselves into deep financial trouble, guess to whom they turn to bail them out? The answer: The SAME BOOGEYMAN they frequently call "BIG GOVERNMENT" (i.e. us working class folks)!
Kathy and Joy, thanks for you comments. The hospital here won't get shut down as they are subsidized by the County and in the pockets of the politicians here. I couldn't even find a lawyer in the county that would think about suing them. They all told me "conflict of interest". I finally found one in an adjacent county and then when Mom passed and the suit became more difficult he passed it off to a pricier lawyer out of Miami. We are now going through depositions and it was a small victory to watch their lawyer squirm after he asked me what I thought of the care they gave Mom. I cited the quote from that nurse and told him that was a shining example of the "care" she recieved! He about slid under the table, the court reporter almost burst into tears and my lawyer just started flipping pages furiously as if I had just delivered a death blow to the defense...My lawyer also pointed out that while she had been in their care for three months they managed to not heal a single wound they had given her. I did her wound care for eight months at home, sometimes doing dressing changes ten and twelve times a day as her meds gave her diarrhea and she would soil the packing. But somehow little ole me a simple bartender was able to do what they deemed the "impossible" all by myself with very limited HHC nursing visits a couple times a week. Thankfully I was able to heal her and we were able to enjoy many outings for lunch once we got her wounds healed up and got her able to transfer from car to wheelchair. I cherish those months and would do it all over again ten times for one more day with my Mom...
How can most people practice a healthy lifestyle when it takes time, effort, and money to buy organic foods, live in a neighborhood that is safe enough to exercise in or join a gym, and have time to relax with family and friends? THIS IS IMMORAL!!! Fresh, local, organic produce should not cost more than highly processed frankenfood.
I am a teacher living and teaching in the South Bronx and pass by a myriad of Mickey-Ds and KFCs and bodegas with processed psudeo-food while heading to a small organic store and CSA pick up site. I am fortunate enough to be able to find these rare opportunities in the inner city and afford them. How can people tell my kids, whose families are not as fortunate, to make healthy choices when our society does not provide them to those that need it most?
Hi kathy! Its actually been quite some time since I worked in a hospital setting. And even then, most of my hospital years were spent in a post-anesthia care unit. I did get some ER experience and also worked in a combined ICU/CCU for a short while. Not a whole lot of med/surg background though.
I now work at a guide dog school for the blind (mainly responsible for assisting diabetic students). So needless to say, its been a loooong time since I've had to catheterize anyone!! My only thought on that is to maybe contact some manufacturers directly and try to work with someone there? They would probably have a better idea of what kind of cost increase that would mean. Back then, if I had a patient that I suspected might be a challenge to catheterize (obese, limited mobility, etc)I would grab an extra (or several) single catheters. They also come (or at least did) individually in varying sizes, not part of a whole kit. That way, if I contaminated one I'd just open another and all I'd have to change would be my gloves, the rest of the sterile setup would still be in place. I'm talking about indwelling catheters here. If you mean just to collect a specimen, I'm thinking the whole kit would be pretty inexpensive. So I'm not real sure whether it would be more cost effective to include 2, or just open another one when you miss?
(apologies to you non-nurses out there for taking up blog space with "shop talk"!)
Sorry about your aunt, BTW. Your family should realize how lucky they are to have someone who is so "obsessed"! More whistle-blowers are precisely what is needed in all aspects of our society. Nothing ever changes without a fight. Consider women's suffrage and civil rights, or slavery for that matter. My hat is off to Michael Moore, the biggest whistle-blower of our time. Keith Olbermann as well. We need to get behind people like them with our full support.
Joy, you sound wonderful. I've seen too many nurses reuse a sterile catch catheter when they miss the first time, and I realized that these catheters cost pennies. Is there some way to get the suppliers to put two catheters in each sterile kit? I know why the nurses do it. Time crunch. It's no excuse and the patients pay with nosocomials, but this seems a realistic solution since the hospitals create unrealistit time frames for procedures. I brought it up to my state nursing board, and the response was "go for it" without any suggestion of how. To my mind, there's no use pretending they don't break procedure when they do. The answer is to get around it. Any ideas how to put this out? To whom?
I was very affected by Kristina's story. When my great aunt Thora was being abused in a nursing home by a CNA, I fought with the home and almost got her killed in retaliation. I had the place crawling with ombudsmen and patient advocates and threats of lawsuits. My family was fed up with me and called me obsessed. I found out what it feels like to be a whistleblower. That was one of my worst experiences (years before I was a nurse) and I realized that the people running these places have higher priorities than the lives of their patients. I confronted the abusive CNA (who was being shielded by the Director of Nursing) and told her when she was old and helpless there would be someone just like her waiting for her. She just smiled. She was supposed to stay off Thora's unit but she kept sneaking back on.
First, I want to thank Michael Moore for continuing to discuss the lack of accessible health care for every american and for inviting the CEO to a discussion.
Also, thanks to the kind people who continue to contribute to this battle by exposing the powers via internal memos that educate and exhibit the corporate greed of the insurance companies.
I am eternally indebted already to you and hope more Americans see the movie and bring their friends. You educated me about the origins of HMO and that conversation in the White House is embeded in my memory.
Reggie Cervantes
WTC Survivor Rescue Worker
Kristina, what a nightmare! There's absolutely NO excuse for a hospital patient to develop decubitus ulcers like the ones you describe. It can be very difficult to keep the skin of an elderly, incapacitated person from developing pressure sores and breaking down, but with frequent turning and proper positioning, that never should have happened.There are also special airbeds that can be used to eliminate pressure points. It seems to me that every single person involved in her care was negligent! There are some hospitals that should just be shut down. This sounds like one of them!
Medical personnel also need better education about infection control. With new and more virulent antibiotic resistant forms of bacteria evolving, this has to be made more of a priority than ever before. As for the comment that you overheard.....I don't know how you kept yourself from putting that woman through the nearest wall, but I admire your restraint. Maybe you SHOULD have decked her! As for her, I always say what goes around comes around. Guess I'm a believer in Karma. She just better pray that should she ever find herself in that situation, totally vulnerable and dependent on someone else for her most basic needs.....that HER caretaker might have the slightest bit of human compassion!
I hope that your family wins your case. I know that no amount of compensation can ever bring back your precious mom, or take away the suffering she had to endure in her final days, but situations like this need to be exposed to the light of day. The wealthiest country in the world, should not have healthcare on a par with third world nations.The system is totally broken. Nothing less than drastic will be required to fix it.
My heart goes out to you and your family.
Dear Kristina, I was not offended. I knew you had a horrendous experience and it's easy to judge an entire group from one experience. Especially when it appears to have involved more than one nurse. Nurses usually aren't included in lawsuits, but it sounds like there are some who should be. I am so sorry about what a terrible experience you went through. I have to say that's the worst story I've heard about nursing care. You have all my sympathy for your tragedy.
And yes, the wounds are still fresh. There are many who care about you.
Classic.
BCBS has a shiney new 4 story building on Interstate 25 as you approach Albuquerque from the North. Think I'll make me a big sign that says SICKO? and the link to this article and go stand in front.
One of you said:
Enough is enough we need to take it to the streets!
And another said:
In France, the government is afraid of the people (the opposite is true here in the US).
In France, they strike.
I'm married to an Indian, and they do the same, that is, they strike in India when they get fed up with their government or when they feel mistreated, ignored.
And to convince the recalcitrant neighbor, they will say "Neighbor, if you plan on driving to work, we'll wreck your car." which is a very effective means to keep people from going to work. And by the way, the government goes to great lengths to prevent the day of strike from actually coming about.
Have we officially set July 13 as a national day of strike?
Joy and Kathyodat, You are correct and I am sorry to have offended you. The hospital here is notorious for giving substandard care for full price. Being a small community you don't get alot of choice though. I have met several nurses that actually took the time to pull me aside and WARN me to take care of my Mother myself while she was at the hospital but by that time the damage had already been inflicted. She had FOUR life threatening stage 4 decubitus wounds after her first month there. We have a lawsuit against the hospital and have had for going on two years now. They've pulled every stalling tactic in the book hoping in the interim Mom would just die and therefore make it much more difficult to continue with the suit.
It was also several different nurses that saw Mom's wounds when I finally managed to get her transferred to an acute care rehab hospital that urged me to sue. At the last one she was at a veteran nurse of 25 years pulled me aside and almost chewed me out thinking she had come from HOME like that! I quickly explained to her that a HOSPITAL did it. She also told me to sue. In late September last year she went for gallbladder surgery, we had managed to heal all her wounds and save her foot (decubitus had layed bare her achilles)by that time but after surgery they decided to put her on heparin, they sat her up that afternoon and when they put her back to bed they basically threw her like a sack of potatoes. When I came back for visiting hours the next morning she had been bleeding all night internally and nobody noticed til the "good" nurse came on at 7am and saw Mom was white as a sheet. By that time her BP had crashed and they were intubating her once again. As a result her kidney's failed, then her liver after sepsis set in and pneumonia, she died Oct.21. Oh yeah, forgot about the MRSA they gave her as well. I will say most of the nurses that I have met that are over 40 are caring and in the occupation for the right reasons but the young ones which they have alot of because of course it's much cheaper to get student nurses are AWFUL. Here's a little comment one made in front of me while I was waiting for the elevator after visiting Mom...She was walking with another nurse and didn't notice me or didn't care but these were her exact words..."I have room 281 tonight, what a shitty fucking mess that's gonna be" Well room 281 was my Mother's room and it took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to knock her 19 year old teeth out the back of her vapid little head right there. These are the "nurses" I was referring to, again I'm sorry to offend, the wounds are still fresh I'm afraid...
Kristina
Mr. Fitzpatrick's letter is mild, fair, accurate; his job is to defend BCBS and find a way to respond to Michael Moore's movie, and Fitzpatrick has done so without the venom we are used to from our current Administration. Having said that, let me be clear: I adore Michael Moore, even listing "Canadian Bacon" as a favorite feature film, and agree that the film is an exposee of unbridled capitalism and a gentle presentation of socialized medicine as the compassionate answer. I am an active enemy of "socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor" - the pervasive U.S. policy. But I am also glad to see a capitalists' rebuttal given with a spirit of reason instead of hate.
i'm surprised they didn't use the commie card.
I think about that line in SiCKO, where an American expat said "In France, the government is afraid of the people; in America, the people are afraid of the government" and then Michael Moore showed the French taking to the streets, and shutting down the country with strikes. What do we do? We say, "I object" and do nothing except for a few who get ignored by the press. That line, and the one where a homeless, sick, confused woman was dropped off to wander in her socks and hospital gown in the street - the street! - affected me the most. Vile. Many scenes in that movie had me crying, but that one hurt the most. I am ashamed of what our country has become.
This is something I've been saying about the French since "Freedom Fries"! I always thought it was ridiculous when right-wingers talked so much sh*t about the French. The French are weak they said. Well, as your comments point out, it's not the French that are weak, it's Americans that are.
Americans, generally, are afraid to stand up for fear of being beaten back down. That's a valid concern, of course, because the US has a history of internal repression of dissidents. The obvious problem here is if we don't stand up our society gets destroyed by the people that run it. We need to stand up and make the government fear us. No more talking about it. No more stand-around-for-nothing protests. Resistance is the only way. Remember Seattle in 1999? They were afraid of us then. We can do it again!
Suresh, are you a health insurance industry troll? There are too many instances of providers trying to embezzle money from payout agencies, but except for a few sex addicts (who do get reported - but not by insurers), providers aren't out to screw the patients.
rjhuntington, your dissertation is worthy of publication. I wish it was required reading for all legislators before voting on health care reform. I tried calling Ron Wyden about his "improved" mandatory insurance plan, but it felt like running into a stone wall. I'm horrified that instead of reforming this system they want to force all of us into paying for it. What's next? Can't those idiots in Washington see it's only going to get worse? Read the tea leaves.
dcbeltway, I've been thinking of getting out of here myself. It's hard. I grew up loving this country, but it's a different country now. It's like watching someone you love become mentally ill until they aren't the same person and finally it isn't safe to be around them. I think I would feel differently if more people were awake, but so few are.
I think about that line in SiCKO, where an American expat said "In France, the government is afraid of the people; in America, the people are afraid of the government" and then Michael Moore showed the French taking to the streets, and shutting down the country with strikes. What do we do? We say, "I object" and do nothing except for a few who get ignored by the press. That line, and the one where a homeless, sick, confused woman was dropped off to wander in her socks and hospital gown in the street - the street! - affected me the most. Vile. Many scenes in that movie had me crying, but that one hurt the most. I am ashamed of what our country has become.
Just to further comment on the "profit motive", I think it's absurd that BCBS rejects the idea that profit is the main motive. First of all, BCBS is a corporation, and by its very (legal) nature it is required to maximize profits. So, whenever you hear some corporate knob claim that profit isn't the only motive, (s)he's lying. If that wasn't the driving factor in their decision making, they wouldn't keep their job very long. That doesn't mean they don't have personal feeling or that personal influence has zero influence, though. It simply means that what they WANT to do is pretty much irrelevant if it can't be justified to create more profit. Think corporate propaganda commercials, etc. Why do you think they spend money on those? Because it's true and they just want people to know?
Moreover, as Mr. Fitzpatrick stated: this is capitalism. The very words he used regarding being ashamed to be capitalist proves the profit motive theory correct. They aren't motivated soly by profit, yet they're not ashamed to be capitalist which is only concerned with the accumulation of wealth and expansion. These people are so deluded by their own propaganda that can't even see when they contridict themselves. I work in this sort of environment; it's very real and disturbing to watch. It doesn't even matter if they believe what they say or not because it's their job! The position doesn't call for them to care or believe: as long as they do what they're told, they're fine. Does anyone think they would be where they are if they did otherwise? Of course not! They would have been "weeded out" by "the system" long ago.
Yeah, Siouxrose, the irony is that I knew that aspartame was a poison, so I was drinking a soft drink with sucralose instead. And then I get hit by a completely different chemical.
Now it's coffee and tea only for me. I'm a caffeine addict, but apparently it's good for you if gotten in a natural product...
Almanac: I know Kevin Trudeau personally, and while I don't agree with all his methods, etc he has raised consciousness as per CHEMICALS in food and the way the FDA today is in bed with Big pharma and big agriculture. His books about natural cures are not particularly well researched or provided with the studies upon which his cases rest, but he has had MUCH experience with the health field and decided to write about what people COULD do to help their lives. DIET SODA is a poison. That's all there is to it. I drank my last can when in college... I could TASTE what it was made of, and never again. It's my understanding an ingredient in diet soda was used by the military to strip metal or something? (I don't have the facts at my disposal.) Taken in sum, the recent link between the additives to "immunization drugs" given to children leading to autism, my STRONG sense that deodorant chemicals put UNDER THE ARM is absorbed into tissue and linked to Breast Cancer... that and the hundred plus herbicides, pesticides, insecticides etc... and how about the air in NYC after 911, or those living downwind from "perfectly safe" nuclear test sites. Recent generations are little shy of guinea pig populations. The warriors who engendered the Iraqi war and have shown an evident LOVE of torture, are the same ones now rendering the Middle East a guinea pig pool for depleted uranium. There is no punishment in human terms (or one lifetime) that could significantly fit these crimes and the misery and suffering they leverage wontonly on sovereign, innocent populations. THEREFORE it goes to the law of karma, the continuum of the soul's experience, that LIFETIMES will be required to pay the debt that's caused such unapologetic injury to so many. This is not vengeance, it is bearing witness to higher law. Many like myself recognize this is a Divinely ordered universe. Those who expect all its properties, immortal and infinite, to be revealed on their temporal mortal watch, good luck to you. This is indeed where logic and those who only live by its left brain specifications fails. "Argue FOR your limitations, and you get to keep them." (Richard Bach)
Thank you Michael Moore for your film. My husband I were so angry after watching it last night. Look at what our country is coming to..one big debtors prison. People are in massive debt for healthcare, debt for their education (not just college but grad school and beyond), debt for childcare costs (child care in DC is $1500 a month!), debt for credit cards (cause the money runs out one has to charge these things), debt for their cars etc. We are strongly considering leaving the country and moving to Europe or Dubai where we can live a good life without the massive debts. Americans have been quietly putting up with this nonsense for too long. Enough is enough we need to take it to the streets!
I was a provider of mental health services for 25 years, working privately. I dealt extensively with insurance companies. When managed care started to take hold where I was living, in Vermont, in the 1980's, we saw a dramatic reduction in the amount of care that was authorized, a dramatic reduction in the amount of benefit disbursed on a per session basis, treatment decisions being made by non-clinicians at a mid-managament level within the care management infrastructure, a dramatic increase in the general use of psychotropic medication, and the list goes on.
Providers should be compensated for their work, but the parasitic management practices that have come between the practitioner and the patient have made patient care no longer a priority, and replaced it with profit as the primary goal. Management companies profit by administering health care and essentially skimming off the top to create a profit margin for themselves. This commodifies people, turning them into money making units for the health care management company. That's pretty disgusting really, to profit from the misery of others.
Health care should be between practitioner and patient. In the case of a hospital, let's go back to hospitals being independent entities, not huge conglomerates. Community involvement improves care. Corporate health care is less personal, often providing a less pleasant work environment which effects patient care.
I could go on and on. Health care in the US has been taken over by capitalistic parasites. The solutions include downscaling everything, paying people to staff neighborhood clinics, imposing price and advertising control on the pharma industry, encourage use of natural healing like herbs, nutrition, psychological wellness practices, etc.
Siouxrose--You make another good point: My kidney cancer was probably caused by a defective product. I had a habit of drinking a dozen diet colas a day; and being relatively broke, I bought them from a discount store (yeah, the really big one), where the drinks sometimes had gotten so hot that the bottom of the cans would puff out.
Now I understand that one of the ingredients in the drinks--potassium benzoate--when in contact with another ingredient in them, would break down to benzene, a potent carcinogen, when exposed to heat. Benzene is linked to kidney cancer, amongst others.
So here is another example of korporatist kapitalism gone wild. There is no meaningful screening of chemicals here in the US, particularly since the Bushthieves took power; any agency of the government which may cost the korporatists money has been gutted or eliminated outright. The philosophy now is to put the chemicals on the market & let the population test them, and only take them off if there are so many lawsuits that it is less costly to remove the defective products than it is to just pay the claims. But even that control is being removed by "tort deform", which is steadily eliminating the very lawsuits which used to act as a check on these killer companies.
So from every angle you look, you see massive corruption in the economic system of our country. The only thing keeping us going is unparalleled deficit spending. When that stops--and it surely will--we are going to have a real problem, maybe the most serious in our economic history.
And I'll even tell you when it's likely to happen--when these criminals attack Iran. And that could come any day now.
The insurance and pharmaceutical components of American healthcare aren't the only systemic problems.
Many healthcare providers are involved in the grub-fest of 'opportunity' as well. They are often fined, penalized, and slapped on the wrist. They rarely go to jail. Guess who ultimately pays for the fines, penalties, and legal fees related to their fraudulent conduct? http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/cia/index.html
In FY 2006, OIG reported the exclusions of 3,425 individuals and organizations for fraud or abuse of Federal health care programs and/or their beneficiaries; 472 criminal actions against individuals or organizations that engaged in crimes against HHS programs; and 272 civil actions, which include False Claims Act and unjust enrichment suits filed in district court, Civil Monetary Penalty settlements, and administrative recoveries related to provider self-disclosure matters.
http://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/semiannual/2006/PRSemiannual%20Final%20FY%202006.pdf
Healthcare has become a grub-fest opportunity for theft so vast and complex that no other solution than a complete overhaul and single payer universal system will have a prayer in improving it cost-effectively. Private insurance companies servicing employers do not have the federal law enforcement and monitoring resources available to it, which Medicare and Medicaid have. And they have conflicts-of-interest as they are dependent upon healthcare providers for their 'networks' --- vital and necessary features of their HMOs and PPOs. Some large employers serve on healthcare corporate boards; many have been co-opted and 'buy-in' to whatever policies and business practices insurance entities pursue.
Facts, figures and documents are available on our Website and we update frequently. However, as extensive as it is, it documents but a microcosm of the inequities, fraud, abuse and waste, which runs rampant throughout our healthcare non-system. It is this information --- not only seemingly token or individual tragic stories --- which would drive fundamental change if the public was exposed to it and took an interest in it. http://www.healthcare-consulting.com/knowledge.html
Politicians play it safe. They mumble for incremental change. Nothing short of a complete overhaul and a single-payer universal healthcare system will provide cost-effective access and consistent quality and safety performance to all Americans.
When George W. Bush was a student at Harvard Business School he objected to the showing of the film "Grapes of Wrath" in class because it was socialist propaganda. He insisted that the poor are poor because they are lazy.
This will probably be the final excuse for not having universal health coverage.
The poor deserve what they get, "it's their own damn fault." The argument will be made that giving health care to the poor will be to promote laziness and reward people who deserve to be punished. The common belief is that the U$A is a meritocracy which rewards hard work and honesty, and with universal health care will become a society which rewards evil people without merit and punish the good who earn what they get. The U$A should not have the equivalent of rain which falls on both the just and unjust. Punishment, not rewards, is how the U$A should answer Michael Moore. Yet the only way to get free housing, free food, and free medical care in the U$A is to get sentenced to prison for some felony, then the tax payers will foot the bill for this merited punishment.
51 years ago, an insurance company offered to set me up with a complete agency to sell insurance. All would have been paid for. All I needed to do was accept the offer. I told the insurance company I was not interested. I took their aptitude and psychological tests just to please the personal friend making the offer.
He finally conceded that my reason given for not accepting the offer of an insurance agency could not be denied. The reason I gave was that people who could afford insurance were those least likely to need it, and that those who needed insurance most were those who could not afford it, insurance sold for profit was contrary to social conscience.
Michael Moore will be attacked for using Cuba in his movie to make his points. All I can say is that in Ecuador I have heard nothing but praise for those Cuban doctors and health experts who are in Ecuador. The U$A has a "brain drain" windfall of foreign medical school graduates who come to the United States to do their internship. Most end up staying and become doctors. The U$A medical profession now is made up of many who received their education in foreign countries, which foot the bill without benefit. This is equivalent to foreign aid. Cuba on the other hand is sending doctors to other countries to practice.
Cuba is also educating many foreigners who will return to their countries as doctors.
The immigrants who end up working in the U$A are a free gift, their education and training was paid for elsewhere. We may not have free medical care, but at least we do not have to pay all the education and training costs of immigrant labor. This is another example why immigrant labor is cheaper than native born labor.
We do get freebies in the U$A after all, besides we can enjoy hating the gifts we receive from abroad.
The BCBS Fitzpatrick memo states in part:
– A woman with Kaiser Permanente takes her 18-month daughter to the hospital in an ambulance, only to be told to go to an in-network hospital. By the time they reach the second hospital, her daughter has stopped breathing and dies 30 minutes later in ER.
– A woman with Blue Shield of California has a tumor but is denied requests to get an MRI, or to see a specialist. While on vacation in Japan she is given an MRI, and eventually returns to the U.S. to demand treatment from her insurer.
These two examples are enough, in and of themselves, to prove that our insurer-based scheme of health care coverage is in dire need of replacement. After all, if these injustices can happen to anyone, what's to say they couldn't happen to you or me? We can't take that chance. We have to change the system.
The era of insurer coverage is over. The entire insurance model is no longer applicable to health care. Here's why:
Insurance is an organized gamble designed to spread risk so that coverage against loss is affordable to all at risk. This only works when most of those insured do not suffer the loss that is insured against. For example, most car owners never crash their cars, most homeowners never lose their homes to natural disasters, most business owners are never sued for negligence, and so forth. In such cases, there is ample room in the cost equation to cover all participants against losses most of them will never encounter and still provide for the administrative costs and reasonable profit for the insurers.
This is not the case with health care. In the old days, very few people availed themselves of health care the way almost everyone does today. People never went to the doctor unless they were very sick. No one took cholesterol-reducing drugs, no one took drugs for depressive disorders or OCD, there were no bypass surgeries, no MRIs or CAT scans, no chemotherapy, no array of prescriptions to be on for the rest of your life, and eventually everyone got old and died at younger ages than they do now, usually at home and certainly not draped with wires and tubes connected to sophisticated life-extending machinery in costly hospital rooms. In such a world, health insurance was a viable scheme because most of the people who had it did not file claims against it, and of those who did, most of them did not do so most of the time.
Now, however, the story is quite different. Practically everyone uses health care services. Preventive care has become important, doctor visits common, prescriptions ubiquitous and ongoing, high-technology testing essential, and there seems to be a long trend toward managed care with everyone on some kind of treatment program or regimen. On top of that, we live a good deal longer. As icing on the cake, everyone's inevitable demise is treated as a catastrophic illness with all the attendant costs. There is no way the classical insurance model can accommodate this kind of universal high utilization.
Compounding the problem with insurance in this age of health care is that on top of the actual costs of services are the administrative costs, salaries and, in most scenarios, profits. These must be paid with premiums. Simple arithmetic shows that premiums must be high, much higher than the costs of care, in order to be able to provide coverage at all. Thus, as time goes on, only the well-to-do can afford ever-more-costly coverage. Something has to give.
And that something has to be the health insurance model itself. It simply is not viable any longer. Its time has passed, and since just about everyone now needs and uses health care, there is no room for private enterprise in providing health "insurance" without driving costs way higher than they need to be in order to pay for care and services. Thus the only model that makes economic sense in today's world is a single-payer taxpayer-funded universal system.
Should not we, the taxpayers, enjoy such benefits? Why not? We are paying, so why shouldn't we receive something in return in this glorious super-charged society? How proud should we be of a system that leaves earnest but unwealthy citizens to fend for themselves while the elite enjoy essential services? Why should one citizen's health and life be more highly regarded than another's in our national way of life? Just because one has money and the other does not? What kind of moral values does that denote?
Conservatives likes to talk about "starving the beast of government" by cutting taxes (mainly for the wealthy) and "reigning in government spending" by curtailing social programs (mainly the ones that assist the less fortunate), but consider the logical extreme of such (falsely) conservative policies. What if taxes were reduced to almost zero? There would be almost no government spending at all except for defense, and no social programs whatever. Essential broad-based services such as air traffic control would be privatized. Everyone would be on their own and services would be available only to those who could personally afford to pay for them. What a perverse and failed society that would be! Clearly, we must not fall prey to the false conservative idea that all government spending is bad. Indeed, money spent by government enters the economy, becomes part of the GDP, and creates jobs. Whatever could be wrong with that?
Health coverage must become a program wherein the government, using tax revenues, pays all the health care bills, for the good of the society as a whole. We should all be able to go to the doctor of our choice and receive whatever testing and treatment that doctor, in his or her professional judgment, deems appropriate. In other words, Medicare for all. Anything less leaves us in a failed society unable to care for its own citizens. How embarrassing and shameful is that?
What no one in the health insurance industry (for profit or non-profit) can understand is that the mere existence of an insurance industry adds some 30% to the cost of our medical care, adds an unnecessary burden to both health providers and patients, and opens up myriad opportunities for abuse. There simply is no valid reason why medical care needs the insurance industry; a logic apparent to everyone in most countries in the world but not in our profit-based society. I have lived and traveled expensively abroad, and I know from personal experience that most non-Americans look with disbelief and bewilderment at our expensive and splotchy medical system.
LOL! That's pretty funny Suresh! That WAS a snark, right??
One of the roles that Insurance companies play is as "watchdogs" over the health care providers. Insurance companies oversee the practices of health care providers to make sure they don't try to screw the patient.
purvis ames, The National health Insurance Act would not kick in overnight, it would take several years, so no rugs would be yanked out.
That's not why the corporatocracy and their stooges would fight it, it's the loss of money for both. Ideally we should combine it with clean election campaign funding. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.
I'm experiencing a serious disconnect in this discussion because no one has addressed the real problem. The insurance industry, and the health insurance industry in particular, are what they call on Wall Street, "institutional investors." In fact, the liquidity of the insurance companies, since they deal in nothing but money and have enormous amounts at their disposal, is an ongoing bonanza for the investment banking community. To pull the rug out from under this slush fund by changing over to government sponsored health care would cause the stock market to collapse overnight. That's why it will never happen as long as the corporate filth and their stooges in Congress have anything to say about it.
I feel like I'm in a support group. Last Friday, I went to my dentist for a very sore and swollen gum over my front teeth - obviously an absess. After an x-ray, my dentist determined I needed a root canal and he would proceed immediately after I signed the treatment agreement, and saw the cost and what my insurance covered.....after insurance, my portion was $320.00. I was asked how do I want to pay for that? I told the person, I don't have any money at the moment, can I be billed? She replied - well, how on earth did you expect to receive any treatment today without any money?
So I was offered to pay or leave. I had to leave, with a head full of poison, no antibiotic, just me and the untreated absess.......insured, gainfully employed....and I can't afford to take care of my teeth! This is not the world I felt I lived in a few years back.......what happened?????
Every resource or dollar that is committed to the treatment of a patient is a unit of wealth that doesn't go into the pockets of the corporations and their stockholders. There is a variant on this theme that tends to go unnoticed, however, and that is that the allotment of a resource for the treatment of additional patients is also a resource that isn't expended for the benefit of those who currently have excellent access to the health care system. I believe that this idea accounts for quite a lot of the opposition towards single-payer type proposals that come from the health care "haves." They don't want a bunch of newcomers clogging up "their" hospitals, "their" clinics, seeing "their" doctors and surgeons, using "their" medical equipment, and so on and so forth. This is what they're concerned about when they warn of long waits and "rationing," but it's not concern for the population at large but rather concern for their own conveniences and usages of health care resources.
Of course, we as a society could decide to use some of the great wealth out there to significantly expand the amount of resources to cut down or eliminate the extra crowding, but that of course would be foolish when you consider that there are wars to be fought, extravagant weapons systems to be built, corporate subsidies to be made, stadiums to be constructed, profits to be maximized, and wealth to be accumulated as quickly as possible in as few hands as possible (after all, you can enlarge the pie only so much, and there are some very hungry appetites out there).
Since devoting more wealth to expand the delivery of health care resources is out of the question, it would be best for those who are satisfied with the status quo if the less fortunate - meaning the lazy and undeserving, of course - would either fuck off entirely or content themselves with whatever extra crumbs are thrown their way. It's what's good for the country. Goddamn it, it's what's good for the world!
Hillary's make believe Health-care was a
fraud from the begining. She had Zoe Baird
the head honcho from Aetna creating her
system that would have kept the Insurance
fingers in the pie. Dump Hillary now ladies,
she is a fraud with her new millions as is
her not so Hubby Billary who has accumulated
all those millions from Corporate America.
Dump the Clintons along with the Bushies.
Free us from this new Royalty, maybe we need another Boston Tea Party.
the biggest slap in the face, as Moore pointed out, is that the health insurance companies shelved out 100 million to congresspersons in 1994, and delve out millions more every year, especially every election year to these corrupt politicians. Also go look up how much they spent to mold the medicare bill in 2003. All on the public record.
The Hundreds of millions spent by health insurers to lobby congress. Now isn't it fucked up that they then go ahead and deny crucial coverage to thousands of people?
Such a shame though. With a single payer system, the CEO of Blue Cross will only be able to afford 5 yachts, not 6. Oh the horror.... the poor crooked wealthy, our aristocratic moral and social superiors who make all their money by moving money around...what hell they must be living through.
Kristina40, I am very sorry for your loss and sorry that you had such a negative experience with your mom's hospital care. If you truly feel that malpractice was a contributing factor in her death, then you should seek legal assistance. If you feel that her care was substandard or the staff unprofessional, then that should be reported to hospital administration as well. But please don't propagate more stereotypes about nurses.
As someone who has been a nurse for over 25 years, I can assure you no one is a more vocal advocate for patients and quality of care than nurses.Most of us (at least my generatiion) did not go into the profession for the monetary compensation, prestige or the great working hours........and definetly not to marry a physician! Most of us had a strong interest in life sciences, as well as an enjoyment of working with people and a desire ease the suffering of the sick and make an impact on patient care. When people are very ill and very afraid, they need a strong advocate to fight for them, that's us.
Nursing shortages are quickly becoming a crisis situation.
An ANA survey conducted of 7000 nurses determined that:
78 percent of nurses skipped meals and breaks to care for patients.
58 percent worked voluntary overtime.
58 percent were unable to attend in-service continuing education programs due to increased work.
51 percent experienced stress-related illness.
42 percent stayed late (off the clock) to finish charting and patient care.
34 percent experienced an increased use of sick time.
33 percent worked involuntary overtime.
Despite the sacrifies on the part of nurses to provide decent patient care, most go home after their shifts feeling totally inadequate and unfulfilled, knowing that there was so much left undone for their patients.
Hospitals have attempted to cut costs by getting by with as minimal a nursing staff as possible.To save money, hospitals not only let nurses go, but began replacing registered nurses with less-qualified, lower-paid licensed practical nurses and nursing aides.Until patient care and safety becomes a priority over the bottom line profit margin in the healthcare system, nothing will change.
BTW, nurses are Michael Moore's biggest supporters.
come to El Salvador for Cuban trained medical professionals and more...
www.tropicooltours.com
Peace
come to El Salvador for Cuban trained medical professionals and more...
USA is screwed. nukes soon I assume
www.tropicooltours.com
Peace
The funny thing about one of the talking points in the end of the e-mail is the VP saying they are developing ways to give consumers access to "cost and quality" information. Why should cost be an issue to a consumer who is getting health coverage? With universal health care, the patient gets the care they need and cost isn't an issue to them. It's like, "thanks for the info about your costs and quality, Blue Cross." Hmm, should I pay less and get shitty coverage or more and get better coverage?
I love how the person who wrote the memo describes the film as "divisive". God, if there ever was a film that is inclusive, it's "Sicko". Moore shows people from all walks of life, black, white, Arabic, Indian (in Europe too), middle-class, poor, men, and women. He shows how all people are being shafted by the American health care system, but at the same time, shows us how much better things can be. It's as tremendously hopeful as it is bitingly critical.
As evidenced by that memo, the health care industry is trying to cover its collective ass right now. They're running scared.
zooeyhall, you're right on!
TBB, that was great research you presented. Devastating response to that internal memo.
Kristina, I am also a Registered Nurse, and I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to your mother and your loss. Joy is right. When I worked in the hospital, I lived her list. I loved and hated hospital work. I loved my patients and their families, I hated the hospital regulations which were not in place to serve patients' needs. I know when people are overworked and overstressed they can be surly, they take shortcuts that can jeopardize others, and most of all, they are at risk of making mistakes. All nurses know this, they aren't being lazy when they warn of patient safety when the patient to nurse ratio gets too large. We don't go into nursing to harm others (and I haven't yet met a doctor I'd want to marry - everyone has their public and private persona, and you see both in the hospital).
complexityexists, not everyone can afford to pay a doctor a fair wage, especially when you add in the radiologists, pathologists, hospital charges, lab tests, well, I guess you get the idea. Single payer health care spreads the cost all over the place, making it affordable for everyone, not just the well off. It also removes the profit motive which distorts how health care is delivered, and releases almost 50% of costs from overhead to care delivery (30% to insurers and another 20% in doctor and hospital fees are spent dealing with insurers). This present system is an insane way to deliver health care. Single payer would not involve itself in the doctor patient relationship as the insurance industry has done so disastrously.
Regardless what BCBS says, Your Insurance Coverage Sucks.
Congress doesn't care, we give them EXCELLENT coverage.
The Bush/Cheney Crime Group doesn't care.
Who owns all the buildings and property in this country? INSURANCE Companies.
Who takes your money and gives you nothing back? Insurance Companies.
DO NOT LISTEN TO INSURANCE COMPANIES....They are Vampires and you are the tasty morsel.
Thank God for Michael Moore, one (1) person who has the BALLS to show the truth.
We gotta get rid of insurance companies if it's the last thing we ever do
Hey, us Australians are just as fat and disgusting as you yanks and we manage with universal health care OK.
Complexityexists wonders:
I wonder if we could start a doctor co-op for the doctors that really want to treat people with dignity, compassion and for a fair wage?
#######################
Good thought wrong target. The problem is not with the Dr.s, nurses, and other health care professionals.
The problem is a system that administers health care (through insurance, HMO, hospitals and other ancillary services)as for profit businesses.
This means that the basic mission (flowery "Mission Statements" to the contrary notwithstanding) is to make a profit rather than to care for the sick and injured. If there is a choice to be made between the two profit is the prime directive that drives every business.
Further, the more people who are denied coverage, the bigger the profits that the "business" of health care administration makes at all levels.
Therefore, high profits and improving health care are antithetical to each other because the only way to increase profits is to either deny claims or coverage whenever possible or to reduce the quality and quantity of care.
Therefore a reasonable solution does away with the "for profit" motive of health care adminstration and has payments administered by a government agency with a program that covers all and is paid for by all (unlike the deal congress and their staffs and many state legistlatures and their staffs whose health insurance is paid by other state workers and considered a perk of employment).
No system is perfect, but with everyone pitching in to the fund through taxes it makes it possible to spread the risk over the widest possible pool of potential payers.
mike2 writes: "But here's one point the insurance executive makes that has a grain of truth.
"Perhaps most damaging of all, Moore completely fails to address the most significant driver of health care costs - our own lifestyle choices - and seeks to focus attention and efforts on the alluring 'quick-fix' of universal health care. It has taken a generation of poor nutrition and exercise to get obesity and related health issues - and subsequent costs - to their current levels, and Moore's movie fails to acknowledge the causal relationship or need to change (he briefly touches the subject in a non-memorable way).""
I would point out that preventive healthcare is built into the British medicare system. Doctors get bonuses for getting patients to cooperate in lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, smoking, etc. We aren't quite that advanced in Canada yet, but we're trying. Right now, we're scrambling to recover from the assault on our medicare system under the terms of the "Washington consensus." If NAFTA isn't pitched overboard, Canada will eventually join the US in adopting the very system Moore exposes in his film.
A few excerpts from print media articles within the last 2 years:
The growing trend toward consumer-driven health plans has prompted the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to enter the health care banking business. The Office of Thrift Supervision has approved a federal savings bank charter for Blue Healthcare Bank, owned by 33 Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.
The California Department of Managed Health Care reported that it has fined Blue Cross of California $1 million for violations. Blue Cross of California was fined for "routinely" violating state law by canceling health insurance policies when policy holders got sick or pregnant.
Piedmont amended its lawsuit in the Fulton County Superior Court against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, alleging the insurer violated the court's injunction to stop false advertising and unfair and deceptive trade practices. Piedmont also complained Blue Cross is refusing to provide continuity of care coverage as required by the contract and Georgia law.
In the largest penalty ever assessed against a health insurance company in New York, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield was fined $1.1 million for violations of state insurance law. Empire rejected claims for certain treatments while paying others, charged unapproved rates to customers, failed to maintain accurate claims files and did not cooperate with the state's investigation.
Federal regulators have launched a formal investigation into the stock options practices at UnitedHealth Group Inc.
UnitedHealth Group, the parent of UnitedHealthcare of Ohio, said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission had issued a formal order of investigation. UnitedHealth said earlier this month it may need to adjust its historical earnings by as much as $660 million to fix accounting for the stock options in question.
The Insurance Division of the Oregon Department of Consumer & Business Services has issued a $20,000 civil penalty against PacifiCare because of improper claims denials. A routine market conduct examination and subsequent investigation by the State agency uncovered a consistent pattern of denying payment of emergency room claims without a proper investigation.
UnitedHealth Group, the nation's second largest health insurer, and its subsidiary Pacificare of California were named in a lawsuit yesterday for canceling the health insurance policy and refusing to pay medical bills after a cancer patient sought treatment. (D'ANNA vs PACIFICARE OF CALIFORNIA #GIN057028) The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of San Diego by attorneys Robert K. Scott and Scott Mahoney of the Irvine-based Law Offices of Robert K. Scott. The lawsuit adds UnitedHealth Group and Pacificare of California to the growing list of California insurers who have been accused of revoking health care polices after patients get sick. I was repulsed when I learned that the CEO of UnitedHealth Group had 1.6 Billion in stock options while I am being harassed by collection agencies for the medical bills Pacificare refused to pay UnitedHealth Group Inc Thursday announced a 38% jump in its third-quarter earnings, aided by gains from last years PacifiCare acquisition. Recent revelations of a "conflict of interest" have been reported at the DMHC during hearings on the merger between UnitedHealth and Pacificare in California. "I was repulsed when I learned that the CEO of UnitedHealth Group had 1.6 Billion in stock options while I am being harassed by collection agencies for the medical bills Pacificare refused to pay", said Salvatore D'Anna, the Plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner continued to issue fines against Georgia HMOs for allegedly failing to pay claims on time in violation of Georgia law, imposing a $199,894 fine against Prudential Health Care Plan of Georgia, Inc.
WellPoint -- the nation's largest health insurer -- its subsidiary Blue Cross of California, and Blue Shield were named in 13 new lawsuits today for canceling health insurance policies and refusing to pay medical bills after patients sought treatment. The new lawsuits build on 10 similar lawsuits filed against Blue Cross and WellPoint three weeks ago by attorney William Shernoff of the Claremont-based firm of Shernoff Bidart & Darras. The lawsuits bring to light a grave threat to patients by companies trying to avoid paying legitimate claims, according to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR).
WellPoint announced on Wednesday that its 2006 first-quarter profit increased by 20 percent in part because the company paid less in medical claims. WellPoint is getting fat by breaking its promises to patients. Overturning insurance coverage after patients get sick is a devastating abuse that must stop," said Jerry Flanagan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "These illegal retroactive cancellations make a mockery of health insurance."
Almanac & Sally UUKent: I am truly sorry that you or a close friend are facing cancer. One thing no one mentioned is the VERY likely connection between exposure to chemical contaminants, the detritus of big industry, and cancer. There is no basis in nature for the levels of chemical processing our bodies are being forced to do. Michael Lerner of Tikkun had his body tested in a procedure known as "body burden" that revealed over 100 industrial chemicals/solvents in his tissue. Every time a writer begins to mention the probable link between pesticide/herbicide exposure (it's ON so much of our produce, and some is now, thank you Monsanto, being GENETICALLY MELDED to food items like soy, in a process said to reduce the need to spray herbicide. Great. Let's just all eat it! sounds like a wise plan. Not.) they go real gently and it's almost like by stating the obvious, they've violated some sacred mantra.
If memory serves me well, then I believe MONSANTO was behind the development of Agent Orange (and/or Dow), and leads in the "war on drugs" spraying crap now in Columbia sure to cause cancers in the next generation of children eating infected foliage/plant products. Here's the really scary part, companies that profit from CHEMICAL warfare devices are on the cutting edge of genetic FOOD technologies. THIS use of chemicals is what's slowly killing a great many, it's like giving the American Indians tobacco. We all have long-term genetic structures and some groups are more susceptible to certain types of exposure than others. And don't think the military isn't hip to this, and doing some of its own sci-fi weapons research based on weapons that are designed to affect ONE racial or genetically similar group.
Diet, exercise, NOT smoking, moderate everything else is a MUST... but how much of the toxic exposures in our water, soil, air and food can we really contain or control these days? THAT is the rub.
The film isn't showing in Europe yet. I am happy that Michael Moore is dealing with the subject - although his take on European health care is, according to pre-reviews, a bit too rosy. There are moves to dismantle universal healthcare, since America, often reviled, is at least as often imitated. And it's not necessarily always that universal either in every European country, there are people who are not insured, depending on each country's system. But a job that doesn't automatically include health (and pension) insurance for you and your family is per definition an illegal job in western Europe.
Still, at least I've never met anyone here in Europe who is suffering from pain and is waiting to turn 65 in order to finally get treated for free, like I've encountered in the United States.
The one major difference for patients is that in most western European countries, a homeless and a millionaire would, say, get the same costly state-of-the-art cancer treatment. Everything else would create a front-page scandal most places. The millionaire would be likely to get it in posher surroundings, though, since s/he would have taken out extra private insurance to pay for that.
SICKO is a different sort of movie; I laughed and was red hot angry when I saw the other two movies F 9/11 and his very first at the theaters. I have 'em all on DVD, too.
But this film, left me with a feeling that is hard to describe. Rather than hot anger, I felt a searing cold anger because although I have health coverage, I don't get good care and that is what a lot of people experience. But that is not the only thing that made my anger turn cold, it is that for the first time the people of this good country are having to look outside our borders for examples of how to improve the quality of our lives.
Universal health care is a right we must push for.
Health Care Insurance creates upside-down inside-out and backwards profit incentives.
Insurance companies profit most by selling its product those who need it the least.
Insurance companies profits least or loses when it sells to those who need its product the most.
"SICO" had a great way of pointing out some of the following problems caused by the PERVERSE INCENTIVES of our medical system.
1) Doctors turn people away who have inadequate or no coverage. . . .
2) Patients forgo treatment until their conditions become urgent. . . .
3) Adults working full-time jobs are advised to go part-time to qualify for Medi-Cal benefits. . . .
4) Others are encouraged to spend down everything they've saved to get public assistance.. . .
5) Hospitals are forced to inflate rates because insurance companies cut reimbursements. . . .
6) We build hospitals without emergency rooms to serve only the insured. . . .
7) Health insurance companies try to sell to the healthiest people and then limit their sales in the area needed the most, pre-existing conditions. . . .
9) We pay for care in the least efficient way possible -- after people get sick and need emergency or hospital care. . . .
With the U.S. medical system the most profit goes to the insurance company that sells the most insurance to the healthiest and avoids covering the neediest.. This leads to a system where everyone has the incentive to do the wrong thing.
So, there is Medigap, Medicare, Medicaid, Medi-Cal, and a medic with medevac, when all that is needed is a Single Payer system.
Arlen
I once thought that a non-profit organization meant that the organization had an all volunteer workforce, that received no pay. I have known for some time that others do not share my definition, but I think I'll still keep my definition deep in my heart.
I am very glad that Michael Moore made the film SiCKO and I hope it will usher in a single-payer, Medicare for all. I will e-mail Barclay to let him know that many of us already knew about problems in the U.S. healthcare system and were already in favor of a single-payer system.
Regretfully, the current health care system we have in this country is more of a symptom then of a cause.
It is just one symptom of a much larger problem with the American body politic and our society.
"Let's get national health care!!!" sounds really great and I sure hope that Mike's film moves us in that direction. But deeper more fundamental problems have to be confronted before any real reform happens:
the prostitute relationship between the corporations and the politicians
the corporate controlled media
the general attitude of social darwinism that exists in American society.
I wonder if we could start a doctor co-op for the doctors that really want to treat people with dignity, compassion and for a fair wage?
I just got back from seeing Sicko. I live in Jacksonville FL and that is a city with a 1 million plus metropolitan area. Sicko was playing in only one theater across the county line.
The movie opened a week after a national debut. The audinece was enthusiastic enough to applaud and cheer during certain parts of the movie and laugh and hoot with derision at certain other parts (Bush, Cheney, and other American political leaders statements and especially Billy "I got mine so to hell with you" Tauzin and the rest of the congressional and adminstration leaderhip (including Hillary who is shown for the sell-out that she is)as their payoffs from the healthcare industry were listed.
At the end of the movie several ladies at teh back of the theater were handing out flyers with contact infolrmation for those who wanted more information on how to change tings and they were doing a brisk business.
But in Jacksonville FL it looks like BCBS, Aetna, Humana, etc. are alive and well and trying to do damage control by smothering the movie's distribution in favor of more escapist crap.
The health insurance, HMO, and Pharma had better be very afraid because Michael Moore has finally lfted the rock under which these human cockroaches live and it is a disgusting sight.
Calling them "the Blues" is like pissing on the cross.
I generally endorse Moore's approach (haven't seen the movie yet.)
But here's one point the insurance executive makes that has a grain of truth.
"Perhaps most damaging of all, Moore completely fails to address the most significant driver of health care costs - our own lifestyle choices - and seeks to focus attention and efforts on the alluring 'quick-fix' of universal health care. It has taken a generation of poor nutrition and exercise to get obesity and related health issues - and subsequent costs - to their current levels, and Moore's movie fails to acknowledge the causal relationship or need to change (he briefly touches the subject in a non-memorable way)."
Well, that's right. We have health issues related to the USDA and farm policy, and issues related to the design of suburbia, and issues related to energy policy, cars, and the lack of walkable/bikable environments that are deeply implicated in poor health.
NONE of that is an excuse for not having universal health care coverage. In fact, health insurance companies are wrapped up in those problems too. What have THEY done to create walkable urban environments and discourage the car-centric designs, or reduce the influence of Archer Daniels Midland et al on the quality of our food and our corn syrup laden diets? Absolutely nothing.
In fact while they want to control their loss ratios, they also benefit from the need for expensive services globally, because insurance premiums have to be large enough to cover the cost of care, and the more money cycles through their industry the better they do on their REAL business, which is managing the "float"... investing the money between when it comes in and when they have to pay it out.
So the insurance companies have no real interest in the health of the American public as a whole either. They want THEIR own enrollees to be healthy and low cost, and play all sorts of tricks to select healthy enrollees, but they want the potential health care related cost risk to continue to be large enough to justify large premiums and to devote a significant part of the national economy to their industry.
No. The insurance companies are blood sucking bureaucratic vampires, taking anywhere from 5% (at say Kaiser) to 40% (look it up) of each premium dollar for themselves, paying out 95% (Kaiser and a few other relatively admirable plans) to as low as 60% (the worst ones) for medical services.
Compare that to U.S. Government run health care, aka Medicare, which pays out about 97% of each dollar for actual medical services, and requires only 3% for bureaucratic overhead. Why so small? Because its run by the government which isn't allowed to be a parasite on the public.
We already have universal government health care in America as long as you are over 65. It's good enough for your parents. It's good enough for you when you hit 65. It would be damn good for the rest of us right now.
Universal Medicare.
Medicare for All Americans.
The time is now.
The movie is great, the message is clear; we all want and need the single payer universal health care system that all other industrialised countries already have.
But we do not have the power to make it happen, and it will not happen anytime soon because our politicians want or need the money of these parasitic companies.
Guess what, that memo is not the only one floating around.
I know people that work in the insurance industry and they received E-mails asking them to call their representatives and voice their support for the way things are now.
The E-mail explicitly mentions Michael Moore's movie as their target, also note that this E-mail was sent many days before the movie was released.
We the people are expected and manipulated to do this against our own interests,to support the current administrative waste,obscene CEO's paychecks, and profits before life, health and decency.
Enough is enough !
http://kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php
CALL CONGRESS Free 1-866-338-1015 Do it NOW!
SEE THE CBS 60 MINUTES DOCUMENTARY EXPOSING THE DRUG COMPANIES and THEIR INFLUENCE IN CONGRESS.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2635796n
In 1989 I got sick without health insurance. Got over it, but got tagged with a "preexisting condition".
In 2004 I went looking for health insurance. Denied.
In 2005 I got prostate cancer. Got it early, but it cost me fifty-thousand bucks, which I am still paying for.
In 2006 I got kidney cancer. Got it early as well, but I stacked up my credit cards & still haven't paid off the debt.
I make over $60K a year. I also live in a wrecked RV pulled by an old pickup truck. Money? Ain't got any. Property? Fugiddaboudit.
And I was not able to afford the followup tests after the last cancer, so I may not even be well yet.
Does AmeriKKKan health care suck? well YEAH...
The talking point of for-profit vs nonprofit is really bogus as it pertains to the Blues. BSBSA changed their own rules in 1994 to allow their companies to convert to for-profit entities. According to Consumers Union,
"The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) changed their rules in 1994 allowing BCBS plans to become for-profit corporations. Today there are 64 Plans Licensed by BCBSA: 38 nonprofit; 16 mutual; and 14 for-profit. As conversions go forward, consumer and community advocates are working hard to see that the health of community and the non-profit charitable assets are well protected."
We here in New Mexico went through such a conversion in 2001. My family's BC/BS premiums have increased 144% since then, with no additional coverage, no less deductible, and BC/BS never once paying out on a claim.
Don't be taken in by the nonprofit guise of the Blues or anyone else. Non-profit insurers and providers are converting throughout the country in order to increase profits - whether shown on the books as bottom line profit or exorbitant salaries and perquisites for nonprofit executives.
The only way to effectively change the health care system is to frame it as a personal health care issue, not as an insurance issue. Universal Health Care is about people receiving care and their providers receiving realistic compensation, not a gaggle of middlemen raking the cream off the top of the pie before any of us get even a taste of a crumb of the crusty bottom.
I agree with ragnarok that Kucinich is the only one on the national scene who is pushing for real health care reform. The rest of the candidates, including our insurance coddling Governor Richardson, talks only about rearranging the pieces on the board, not really changing the rules so that we, as individuals and a country, can all win.
As a child care provider I do not make near enough to pay insurance premiums AND preventative care which the insurance companies won't cover. It is ridicuous to say that they are involved with keeping people healthy. Every few years I try again to find just a disaster coverage policy, but it is not available if I admit I am seeing a chiropractor. The prices they charge to cover even the unlikely disaster are not realistically possible with two children college age, so we live with that threat hanging over our heads as we eat right, excersise, research and take supplements, work towards a community that values our contribution to the well being of all. Their system is a criminal failure, I hope that it dies soon. We deserve the benefits of single payer, Universal Health Care.
Don't think you are safe even if you have GREAT insurance. The incompetence present in the hospital system could very well kill you even with insurance. My Mother had a stroke and was in the hospital for five months. The bill was over half a million dollars which was paid in full between her medicare and tricare for life. The care was abysmal and they almost killed her with the wounds they gave her. Her second trip for one month cost half a million as well and they managed to finish the job and kill her the second go round with their incompetence. Our health care system SUCKS and yes, some doctors are part of the problem as well as the nurses that are only there to meet and marry a doctor and don't really give a damn about their patients. I lived it and i KNOW...
Probably the most telling point (wonder why Mr Moore omitted this?). In the US, in excess of 15% of GDP is spent on health care, while in the countries where there is socialized health care, this is around 10% (Canada, Germany, UK).
In the main, people in the US work longer than people in most other countries. Further, given our consumerist culture, people want more (and in the case of low end jobs, have no choice but to work more), and there-for have to work more, people working three and four jobs are not all that uncommon. Not enough time to relax, eat properly, socialize, etc (we lag very far behind other nations in this) is the result. To blame this on the people, as in life-style choice) is the height of arrogance.
Mr Moore focused, all too briefly, on the compensation packages of management in the health care industry as well as the 'K-street' monies paid to politicians. This is where our insurance money is really going to, and not to the people who need assistance.
Mr. Moore, could you please take on Big Pharma SOON!!!! Strike while the iron is hot!!!!
Thank you for a very informative movie.
After watching the movie, this is what I came away with. Wouldn't it be great if what we did for a living actually allowed other people to be helped rather than being hurt or ignored?
How many people have jobes where they are causing misery to other people by denying medical aid, or building weapons, growing tobacco etc?
The economy is driven by one thing - money. A little money for the employee to make their conscience feel better, and a lot of money for the CEO and the shareholders.
We were told there wasn't enough money to pay for national health care, yet they found money for an illegal war. Go figure.
PS - I've been denied by Blue Cross twice for a pre-existing condition. I currently have no health coverage.
Exactly. Not for profits still have a "bottom line," still capitalize on denying care, still have administrative overheads of 18-20%, still have fatcat CEOs--and, in sum, are still morally indefensible.
It's truly Hobbesian for them--everyone for himself and God for all. I have a friend who thinks this way. He believes in "personal responsibility" and "Why should I have to pay for someone else when they didn't take care of themselves?"
And he was a Catholic seminarian!
That is not Christian, but it fits with the American mythology of pulling oneself up by one's boot straps, the Horation Alger myth, etc.
Notice any attempt to appeal to human beings' innate solidarity is promptly attacked and squashed in the US. They definitely do not want people to incline toward solidarity with their fellow man--that is anathema.
And that was the point of the movie. Moore interviews American expats living in Paris, and at one critical point, a woman says "In France, the government is afraid of the people. In the US, the people are afraid of the government, of acting up." And then he pans to footage of waves of strikes and protest marches throughout France.
And this, my friends, is absolutely true. I lived in France, and practically every day I was there for that year, there was a strike going on somewher, a walkout, etc.
When the people in France are not satisfied with their government, THEY SHUT THE PLACE DOWN.
In America, it's well nigh impossible to get even two people on the same page on anything. And the powers-that-be count on that!
As Tony Benn, former Old Labor MP said in the movie, there are two ways of controlling people: by keeping them in fear, and by demoralizing them--extinguishing their hope. Hopeless people don't vote, don't act up, take orders and hope for the best.
Please, all readers with a conscience (which I assume is everyone reading this), send this article (or link) to EVERYONE you know. Especially people you know (with warm blood coursing through their veins) who work in the medical insurance field, it will inspire others to step up.
Just after seeing the brilliant SICKO, I told my friend that I believed this film will encourage others to whistle blow like none before, because there are smart, caring, empathetic, good, courageous people working in almost any company, looking for a way they can make a difference. Thank you to the awesome person who leaked this memo. You have saved lives (ie by getting more people to want to see SICKO). You have made a real difference. Who else out there wants to save some lives? Who out there is courageous? Who out there feels mostly powerless against this insane corporate/political system. Who out there is a true patriot? Leak something today! Feel great about your life tomorrow! Who knows, you might get to be part of SICKO 2, (which I hope Michael M. will do). I predict a FLOOD of real juicy whistleblowers, as well as more heartbreaking public accounts of how criminal and immoral our healthcare system is. Sure, we all know by now Michael Moore is one of the most courageous filmmakers out there, but he can't do it alone. Let's mobilize!
A challenge to other documentary filmmakers: Get crackin'! Maybe Michael or someone could organize a film festival called "SickoDance" or "The Sicko Film Festival". And the winner of the competition would get the much coveted "Sicko Award" (some kind of trophy). I leave it up to everyone to come up with a fitting statue design.
Look at his talking point #2:
"To ensure Americans have access to the best healthcare that is both timely, efficient, and of high quality, requires the collective contribution of all stakeholders — consumers, providers, employers and the government."
He got something right there: insurance companies are NOT one of the stakeholders who should be involved!!!
And as for the for- profit/not-for-profit issue, isabella is correct. The BCBS of Vermont is "not for profit" but the CEO was compensated $845,000 in 2005.
Why are they involved in the process at all if it wasn't for the sole purpose of making a buck?
It is obvious they haven't got a leg to stand on and even resort to blaming the victim by suggesting that diet and lifestyle were the greatest contributors to peoples health problems ("...and seeks to focus attention and efforts on the alluring 'quick-fix' of universal health care. It has taken a generation of poor nutrition and exercise to get obesity and related health issues - and subsequent costs - to their current levels") Don't you know it is their fault they get sick!
"BCBSA has called upon Congress to establish an independent, payer-funded institute that will study the comparative effectiveness of new and existing medical treatments and procedures"
Another deep pockets scheme similar to the pharmeceuticals claiming they have to charge obscene prices for R&D, when it is really used for advertising. R&D is generally provided by the taxpayer.
And don't expect nothing from Congress as long as they get their pockets lined.
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!! I think I am going to throw up I laughed so hard at that memo from BCBS. The thing they seem to not understand is that people now get that "not for profit" definitely does not deny the CEOs their private jets (United Way) and McMansions. Is there anybody out there who has NOT had a personal horror story which could cause even that corporate suck-up VP to flush? Keep it up BCBS - you're only helping us get closer to universal health care.
These memos, predictably, fail to address the substance of Moore's criticism: that the profit motive is not compatible with effective health care. I saw the film and was moved by it. The alternating experience of shameful treatment by the US system with the positive treatment by the four other nations eventually accumulated into a state of shame for our horrendous system and admiration from those nations that have taken a more we-based, caring path towards one another. If these memos are any indication, change towards universal, effective coverage will not come from the insurance industry, profit or non-profit, but from a more progressive, more caring Congress.
A friend told me last night over dinner that she has just recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, it's in its early stages, and that, combined with her relative youth and otherwise good health, gives her a great chance of a full recovery.
Rosy news, right?
Wrong.
She has one of those "health insurance for one" policies that, unfortunately for her, means that she must leave her home and move back in with her parents, because she cannot afford to live on her own AND pay for the medical expenses of her surgery and treatment, and this is, sadly, going to be a permanent arrangement, as she faces years of mounting medical bills that will force her to be supported by her parents instead of living on her own and supporting herself.
Meaning that her aging parents are going to have to take in an adult child and permanently support her as she faces a catastrophic and life changing illness. NO ONE should have to face these kinds of situations when faced with something like cancer. This outrages me when I think of what impact this illness will have not only on her, but her family as well.
Yes, she will fully recover eventually, and yes, she will be able to get back to life as she knew it once her treatment is over, but she will spend years in debt to medical bills as a result of this illness, forcing her to rely on her aging parents for support. You can buy extra "catastrophic illness" medical insurance - for a price, but why should you have to spend more money and buy another policy JUST IN CASE you do get a serious illness that will require more than just routine medical care?
It's all such a racket. Reading this post convinces me all the more that it is. At least someone had the cojones to leak this memo to Michael Moore. Thank goodness that they did so that we could know about it. And thank you and bless you, Michael Moore! "SiCKO" is a powerful indictment of the for-profit health care industry that I hope gets more people pushing for universal single payer health care.