Sicko

Film evenings begin with optional potluck refreshments and social hour at 6:30 pm,
followed by the film at 7:30 pm, followed by a discussion after the film.

SICKO
by Michael Moore

This is a straight-from-the-heart portrait of the crazy and often cruel U.S. health care system, told from the vantage point of everyday people faced with extraordinary and bizarre challenges in their quest for basic health coverage. The film brings the devastating cost and state of health care in this country to light beginning with people who have lived the American dream and expected to live their retirement independently and in comfort. Early on, the film portrays a working couple forced to sell their home to meet medical obligations not covered by their insurance policy. In the tradition of Mark Twain or Will Rogers, Michael Moore uses humor to tell these compelling stories, leading us to conclude that an alternative system is the only possible answer.

Highlights of the film are, first, the insurance companies that are out to make a profit from people’s sickness. The profit is at the expense of the medical coverage and preventative care they can deny. Doctors receive bonuses for the most claims they can deny! The next spotlight is on the pharmaceutical companies which are so expensive that many people must continue working well beyond their retirement years to pay for pills. The next spotlight focuses on the politics of health care: fourteen staffers who worked on the Seniors’ Prescription Bill moved on to lucrative lobby positions with the same companies; and Billy Tauzin was hired as CEO for Pharma at $2,000,000 a year. The film shows us that in Canada, Great Britain, France, and Norway people receive first rate health care for free from first rate physicians — without having to sell their homes.

Wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street

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