Sicko is the latest exposé type film by Michael Moore. Sicko premiered on May 19, 2007 at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, receiving a 15-minute standing ovation.
The film earned $4.5 million on its opening weekend and as of October 17, 2007, Sicko has grossed $24,535,082 in the United States. Sicko has been named the third highest grossing documentary in America since 1982.
Sicko takes a look at the huge flaws in the US health care system. The movie primarily focuses on the failing American health insurance and pharmaceutical industries including health insurance scams.
Today over fifty million Americans are currently uninsured, and those who are covered very often become victims of insurance company fraud and red tape.
Moore's Sicko movie compares the US health system with free public funded or so called "socialized" health systems in other countries, namely Canada, UK, France and Cuba
According to Mike Moore, in France the French government provides exceptional social services, such as day care for $1 an hour, and neonatal support that includes cooking, cleaning, and laundry services for new mothers.
In England Mike Moore visits a UK pharmacy, where pharmaceuticals are free of charge for persons under 16 or over 60, and subsidized in most cases for everyone else, only a fixed amount of £6.65 per prescription is charged (about $13 U.S.)
The film criticizes both the American Democrats and Republicans for their inaction and in some cases their willingness to be bribed by pharmaceutical companies and insurance carriers.
Sicko was described by some critics as "a very strong and very honest documentary about America's health system that's totally corrupt and that is without any care for its patients.
Moore filmed but did not use several scenes from the section about health care in France, interviewing a woman who works for General Electric, who told Moore they all get benefits that GE employees don't get in the United States. Additional deleted scenes include interviews with Marcia Angell, the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, in which she criticized various practices of American pharmaceutical companies and the Federal Drug Administration.
All in all, Mike Moore's film sicko is a must see and is definitely an eye opener to Americans who may not be aware of what other countries health systems offer patients, the elderly and those with disabilities.
Sicko is available now in video stores, so do yourself a favor and take a couple of hours to watch a revealing movie on America's outdated "for profit" health care system.
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