Moore argues that universal health coverage should be regarded as a basic human right. Sicko sends a grim message to American people who have health insurance and believe that they are safe—which is actually a misconception. And he proceeds to reveal why.
No doubt, Moore's storytelling techniques are entirely persuasive and fascinating. Yet the film's studies done in foreign countries are incomplete and sketchy. Sicko leaves out a few vital questions. The movie is unquestionably a mirror of the mess, but for what advantage? The movie is almost silent on that note. U.S. audiences who already know that the whole system is rotten have no idea how to cleanse it. One of the recurring questions in the film is that in America, where education and Social Security are universal rights, why is coverage not given the same treatment? Thus, Sicko spurs a movement where it is not long before the debate casts its shadows on the walls of the hallowed corridors of Congress.
More than 45 million people in the U.S. have no health insurance coverage, which means no access to affordable healthcare. Though Medicaid, a government-run program, provides coverage for the poor, the qualifying income threshold varies from state to state. Others who are employed get subsidized employment-based coverage which is withdrawn if employees quit their jobs or get retrenched. To top this all off, the American healthcare system is ranked 37th in the world, despite America spending a sizeable portion, more than 15%, of its GDP on healthcare.
Given the fact that the presidential election is drawing near, Americans, drained by rising medical costs and denied necessary care, might try to revive Clinton's fizzled-out healthcare plans of 13 years ago. Healthcare also is a predominant domestic issue for many American voters. Moore, the manipulator, provocateur, and nuisance factor fuses a reawakening of the overburdened public minds to the tragic facts underlying the shoddy and heartless system. His aim is simple: Sicko seeks to push the profit motive out of the healthcare system and to provide each American with equal and valuable healthcare.
There are scenes of a young mother reliving the nightmare of losing her baby daughter, turned away for emergency treatment at a hospital because her coverage plan covered only treatment at another hospital; of Linda Peeno's testimony to Congress in 1996, when the healthcare company screener breaks down narrating the time she was forced to refuse care; of a former investigator for an HMO discussing how his department cooked excuses not to pay legitimate claims; and of the boatloads of injured Americans being hauled to Guantanamo Bay. The master movie-maker pleads through a megaphone at Guantanamo's watery entrance: "We don't want any more care than you're giving the evildoers. Just the same!" The series of compelling anecdotes, interspersed with craftily edited sequences, contends that the state of American system of managed healthcare is infuriatingly alarming and terribly frustrating.
The methods of improving the American healthcare system might differ from person to person. Sicko is definitely not the final authority on healthcare issues. At the same time, Moore's enduring contribution is a clear verdict that the American healthcare system is a mess. The movie will shock people, and it does a good job at it. Despite the movie's slightly disturbing hospital footage and jaw-dropping shenanigans, Moore's treatment of this most dispiriting topic makes the contentious issue fascinating. It provides audiences with sufficient diversion, grim slapstick that will keep the viewer glued for almost two hours, master storytelling, and the finest filmmaking and editing.
