Sicko

We went to see the Michael Moore documentary Sicko over the weekend. And just to be "fair and balanced" we also watched some Fox News to see what Sean Hannity had to say about health care.

When conservatives talk about universal health care, they usually talk about the wait time in countries like Canada. People are put on waiting lists for certain surgeries, and they report that some people may even die waiting for an essential operation. I'm sure someone has died in Canada while waiting for a surgery, but the numbers show that a lot more people are being killed by the American health care system. So how could anyone support this American system? If choosing between two programs, why would you want to support the one that is responsible for more deaths?

In Canada and Europe, a small number of people may need to wait to have essential surgeries. In the United States, there is no waiting list. Instead, most of those people needing surgery are simply told by their insurance company that they can't have it done. I'm sure if you ask these people, they would much prefer to be on a waiting list than told they can't have it done.

Under the U.S. system, many people are suffering from lack of care. However, none of these people could be considered rich. In Canada and Europe, rich people may have to wait just as long as poor people to receive their care. They also may not be able to receive all of their unessential surgeries as quickly as they desire. Rich people don't want universal health care because they want to get their liposuction done whenever they want, even if it'll cost the life of someone poorer than them. And of course the insurance and pharmaceutical companies are making tons of money on not providing service to their customers.