Sicko Review

When my daughter was born in 2007, the pregnancy and process of child birth didn't exactly go swimmingly. After 14 hours of labor, little to no progress was made and the doctor informed us of the damage that was being done to the top of our soon to be born little girl's head. Trying to get out but no where to go. 

So, obviously, to protect her from further damage, my wife had a C-section done and there she was, that beautiful bundle of joy. All was right in the world.

When we got the bill for the entire experience, the total amount was astronomical but what we owed was not. Huzzah for health insurance and the good ol' U.S. of A. Living the dream.

I know you are probably waiting for this to devolve into a health care horror story that left my family broke and helpless, but it doesn't end that way. It could have though. We still only have that one child, but like most people we at least entertained the idea of expanding our family. That is, until we found out that our health insurance company wouldn't cover it if we did. Why not?

Because my wife would have to have another C-section, and that, of course, was a preexisting condition.

I have seen the documentary Sicko by Michael Moore a few times prior to this and I have always held it in a very high regard, but it was even more fascinating to watch it again now in a post-Obamacare America. It serves as a alarming reminder of just how much better things have already gotten, the fact that we can no longer be rejected for something as absurd as a preexisting condition is a major step in the right direction. The system is still so flawed and broken though. It isn't that Moore is interviewing the wrong people or manipulating the footage to present lies, it's the honest to goodness truth: other countries with universal healthcare, countries that are smart enough to not demonize the concept of socialism, are laughing at us.

This has been and continues to be my favorite work by Moore as I feel it is the most honest and powerful story he has told. Say what you want about the man and whether you agree with his political and societal opinions, but he has a way of making a documentary extremely humorous and entertaining, and Sicko is no exception, yet what hits the hardest and elevates this work up so high are the emotional tales from people who were mistreated and lose either their livelihood or the actual lives of loved ones due to an insurance company pulling the rug out from under them during their most desperate hour. 

If I were to criticize any aspect of Sicko, I would say that the way the information is presented can tend to feel a bit scattershot at times as he jumps from the very sobering moments of heartbreak to others framed very comically and then back again before you can even collect your thoughts, but this is a very minor criticism. Moore crafted a tremendously compelling and important documentary that just makes you shake your head at how the United States can rank dead last in regards to health care performance among all industrialized nations in the world. How is that possible?

4.5/5