Health care summer is upon us.
At the end of the month, on July 30, there will be a massive Single Payer Rally in DC. Buses and other transportation options (as well as alternative lobbying ideas if you can't get to DC) are available on the web site.
If you watched Bill Moyers' recent report, featuring CIGNA whistleblower Wendell Potter, recently diaried by citisven you may, like me, have a yearning to see the whole movie. The clip is short but powerful, showing Moore scouring the offices in a Canadian and a British hospital, looking for the billing department. The baffled reactions to his search are priceless.
One of the things that Potter reveals in his interview with Bill Moyers, is how the industry worked hard to discredit SICKO when it came out.
We have the power to undo that: we can stage a SICKO Renaissance.
How to stage a SICKO Renaissance?
At the very least, I recommend that we all take a(nother) look at the film. If you have cable, SICKO will be showing on TMC this Thursday evening at 8 pm. You can also find it on google (h/t to miss SPED).
And of course you can buy a copy if you haven't already.
Debate is underway, and the public option is under siege. Meanwhile, we can all do our part to raise consciousness among our nearest and dearest so that folks are aware of the full range of alternatives. I'm always amazed to find that friends and relations don't quite understand how national insurance works, and how susceptible they can be to the insurance industry's bogus claims of meddling government bureaucrats.
(Anybody been on the phone lately with an insurance industry bureaucrat? Stories would be great--please share).
As for SICKO, I have to confess I didn't watch it when it came out. Though I love Michael Moore's work (F9/11 still brings me to tears when I see it), as an expatriate Canadian (now US citizen), I didn't feel like I needed to be told about the benefits of national health insurance: I grew up with it! I took it for granted. It was an invisible protection that I never, ever had to think about. And even with a dandy private plan now, I miss the transparency, flexibility and choice of the plan I left in Canada.
So I'm going to do my part. My stories about the glories of the Canadian system just don't seem persuade people like I feel that they should. So, I've decided to rely on a better persuader. I'm buying the film and am hosting a party this Saturday night, inviting some elderly relations as well as friends to join in for food & viewing & conversation.
Over the next two weeks, as July wanes and final preparations for the July 30 march in DC are underway, won't you hold a SICKO viewing party in your house as well?
Taking a hard look at a viable, affordable alternative to for-profit health insurance could shift the tenor of the whole debate.