"Sicko", for anyone want to know US medicare system

Table of Contents

Introduction

Title

“Sicko” is a 2007 American documentary that discusses health insurance in the United States. This documentary is a good introduction to U.S. health care.

The film’s director

The film’s director, Michael Moore, is an important figure in the American documentary industry and has made many famous and important documentaries that have sparked controversy. The director uses this film to expose the medical insurance system that the United States is proud of, focusing on many unknown inside stories of American medical insurance.

What does it talk about?

Purpose

This film discusses that the United States is the only developed country in the world that does not have a unified, publicly-run health insurance system. Since the United States is a capitalist country, everything is privatized and every American needs to buy their own medical insurance. But the problem is that Americans with low incomes can only hope that they don’t get sick; because once an accident happens, the high medical costs are a huge expense without the coverage of health insurance companies.

Developed Countries

In the G7, Western Europe and Northern Europe, medical care is part of social welfare. Citizens have to pay heavy taxes, but can enjoy completely free medical insurance. All EU member states regard medical care as a basic human right and welfare, and can apply the same cross-border storage and reimbursement of medical expenses to achieve the principle of fair use of medical resources; but whether it is completely free depends on each case. The film uses Canada, France and the United Kingdom as examples, and actually visits several real cases to illustrate the stories.

Taiwan

This situation often leaves middle and lower class Americans unable to afford medical care, leaving them with only two options: allow the disease to worsen or go bankrupt. There is no third option. This phenomenon is exactly the same as what happened in Taiwan when there was no universal health insurance.

Cuba

It is not only progressive countries that have universal health care. The director also gave an example in the film. Cuba, which is the country most hated by the US government, has a low national income, but all Cubans can enjoy free health care when they are sick. The director uses this to satirize the American social system, as well as the ignorance and arrogance of Americans.

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