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SICKO-- SCREENPLAY |
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written, directed and produced by Michael Moore, © 2007 Dog Eat Dog Films, Inc.
Sicko, directed by Michael Moore --
Illustrated Screenplay & Screencap Gallery [Transcribed from the movie by Tara Carreon, American Buddha Online Librarian] THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY ["President" George W. Bush] We got issue in America. Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many ob-gyns aren't able to practice their love with women across this country.
[Adam] I don't have a job. I don't want to have any more debt out to anybody else. I'm flushing the wound. [Michael Moore] This is Adam. THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY PRESENTS He had an accident. A DOG EAT DOG FILMS PRODUCTION He's one of the nearly 50 million Americans with no health insurance. SICKO But this film isn't about Adam. [Rick] So this is the table saw. It was spinning that way ... [Michael Moore] This is Rick. Associate Producer: REHYA YOUNG [Rick] I was gripping a piece of wood and I grabbed it here and it hit a knot. [Michael Moore] He sawed off the tops of two of his fingers. [Rick] ... and it was that quick. Line Producer: JENNIFER LATHAM [Michael Moore] His first thought? [Rick] I don't have insurance. Am I gonna have to pay cash for this? $2,000, $3,000 or more? Does that mean we're not gonna get a car? Editors: DAN SWIETLIK, GEOFFREY RICHMAN, CHRISTOPHER SEWARD [Michael Moore] Rick also doesn't have health coverage. So the hospital gave him a choice. Reattach the middle finger for $60,000. Or do the ring finger for $12,000. [Mrs. Rick] It's an awful feeling to just try to put a value on your body.
Co-Producer: ANNE MOORE [Michael Moore] Being a hopeless romantic, Rick chose the ring finger, for the bargain price of 12 grand.
The top of his middle finger now enjoys its new home in an Oregon landfill. Executive Producers: KATHLEEN GLYNN, HARVEY WEINSTEIN, BOB WEINSTEIN [Rick] I can do that thing where, you know, the old man used to pull the finger off. Producer: MEGHAN O'HARA [Michael Moore] This movie isn't about Rick either. Yes, there are nearly 50 million Americans with no health insurance. They pray every day they don't get sick, because 18,000 of them will die this year, simply because they're uninsured. But this movie isn't about them. It's about the 250 million of you who have health insurance. Those of you who are living the American Dream. Written, Produced, and Directed by MICHAEL MOORE *** It's moving day for Larry and Donna Smith. They've packed everything they own in these two cars. And are driving to Denver, Colorado, to their new home ... [Larry Smith] Hi. [Donna Smith] Hello. [Michael Moore] in their daughter's storage room. [Daughter Smith] This is home, sweet home. [Donna Smith] Look at all that stuff. [Daughter Smith] We'll get everything organized. [Donna Smith] We will. [Larry Smith] What do we do with the computer? [Donna Smith] It stays. [Daughter Smith] It stays there. [Donna Smith] So this is where Heather talked about we might have to put bunk beds. [Larry Smith] I see what she's talking about. [Michael Moore] It wasn't supposed to end up like this for Larry and Donna. They both had good jobs. Opinion: Taking a Breather, Farewell for Now: Donna Smith, News Noise She was a newspaper editor. And he was a union machinist. They raised six kids who all went to fine schools like the University of Chicago. But Larry had a heart attack. And then another one. And then another one. And then Donna got cancer. And even though they had health insurance, the copays and deductibles soon added up to the point where they could no longer afford to keep their home. [Donna Smith] If somebody told me ten years ago this was gonna happen to us because of healthcare, I would have said, "It's not possible. Not in the United States. We wouldn't let that happen to people." [Larry Smith] Are we gonna quit? [Donna Smith] No. It's just hard.
[Michael Moore] They were bankrupt, so they moved in with their daughter. [Donna Smith] We'll get it all figured out. [Daughter Smith] We emptied the dresser so you have a spot. [Donna Smith] Nice, very nice. [Michael Moore] Even their son Danny popped in from across town to welcome them to Denver. [Danny Smith] What do we do about people like you? [Donna Smith] I don't know, that's a good question. [Danny Smith] You're supposed to pay a deductible for $9,000, I understand. That's healthcare. What about people like Kathy and I that have to come up there and move you every five years, every two years, ever year 'cause you don't have enough money? [Larry Smith] That's what Russell says too. [Donna Smith] I'm sorry. It's not what we wanted to have happen in life. And we're doing what we can to make the change. You don't know what that feels like inside at 50-some years old to have to reach out to my 20-something-year-old for help. [Danny Smith] It's gonna be hard for four, five, six, seven months, it's gonna be hard. [Larry Smith] I have a feeling of you bring your problems with you no matter where you go. [Donna Smith] Yeah. [Larry Smith] But I don't know what to do about that. [Michael Moore] By sheer coincidence, their daughter's husband, Paul, was leaving on a job the very same day they arrived. Paul was a contractor, but there weren't many jobs lately, so he found work out of town. [Larry Smith] I'm sure you'll keep a telephone conversation. [Paul] Email you. [Donna Smith] You're gonna be just fine, lovies. [Larry Smith] Weird situation, isn't it? [Michael Moore] Tell me where Daddy's going. [Son] Iraq. [Michael Moore] Why is Daddy going to Iraq? [Son] To do some plumbing. *** [Frank Cardile] Oh, boy. This I do early in the morning. The first thing I do is I clean here. [Michael Moore] At age 79, Frank Cardile should be kicking back on a beach somewhere. But even though he's insured by Medicare, it doesn't cover all the cost of the drugs that he and his wife need. [Frank Cardile] Being that I'm an employee here, my medicine is for free. So that's why I gotta keep working. Until I die. There is nothing wrong with that. OK. I always gotta keep my ears open because there's always spillages. Sometimes you get a gallon of milk. Tomato sauce -- oh, you're in trouble. It'll take a half-hour to clean that up. And I look up on every aisle so as everything is clean. If I see something I pick it up, whether it's paper or garbage. One day I had the keys in my hand and they went in there. And I had to climb in there to get the keys out. It's a sad situation. If there are golden years, I can't find 'em, I'll tell you that.
She had a painkiller for her hip. The girl said, "Frank, this is $213." "What, for a painkiller?" [Mrs. Cardile] I didn't take it. [Frank Cardile] I backed off. I said, "I gotta come back." [Mrs. Cardile] What's in them? What's in these new drugs that they distribute? I don't believe you need half of the things they tell you. I have never taken medication now, as I'm getting older. I don't even like to take an aspirin. I do like a little brandy. *** [Laura Burnham] I don't really know how this happened, but the trunk came forward into the back seat. [Michael Moore] Laura Burnham was in a head-on collision that knocked her out cold. Paramedics got her out of the car and into an ambulance for a trip to the hospital. [Laura Burnham] I get a bill from my insurance company telling me that the ambulance ride was not going to be paid for because it wasn't preapproved. I don't know exactly when I was supposed to preapprove it, you know? Like after I gain consciousness in the car, before I got in the ambulance?
I should have grabbed my cellphone off the street and called in the ambulance? I mean, it's just crazy. *** [Woman] I applied for HealthNet insurance for Jason. They rejected him because of his height and weight. Jason is six feet tall and 130 pounds.
"Too Thin" *** [Woman] I applied for healthcare through BlueCross BlueShield, and they told me that my body mass index was too high. I'm 5'1", I weigh 175 pounds. "Too fat" *** about problems with their insurance company. Inbox: 35 Within 24 hours, I had over 3,700 responses. And by the end of the week, over 25,000 people had sent me their healthcare horror stories. Some of them decided not to wait for me to get back to them. Like Doug Noe, who took matters into his own hands, without my permission. His daughter was nine months old when they discovered she was going deaf. His health insurance company, CIGNA, said they'd pay for an implant in only one of her ears. According to the letter they sent, it's experimental for her to hear in two ears. [Doug Noe] If a cochlear implant is good for one ear, it doesn't even make any sense that it wouldn't be good for the second ear. Especially when a child is just starting to learn how to talk, she has to learn from both sides of her head. [Michael Moore] That's when he sat down to write CIGNA a letter. [Doug Noe] This is to CIGNA. "Noted filmmaker Michael Moore, is in the process of gathering information for his next film. I've sent information concerning CIGNA's lack of caring for its policy holders. Has your CEO ever been in a film before?" [Michael Moore] Before he knew it, he received a call on his voice mail from CIGNA. [Answerphone] Tuesday. 8:54 a.m. [Edward, CIGNA HEADQUARTERS] Hi Mr. Noe, this is Edward from CIGNA Healthcare. I was giving you a call in regards to Annette. Got some good news for you: The specialist review has come back. And the decision is to overturn the previous denial. The specialist has approved the appeal for the second, um, Cochlear implant. Thank you. [Doug Noe] Obviously all this worked because Annette is going to get her second implant in July. *** [Woman] "Dear Mike, I work in the industry." [Woman #2] "I work for an HMO." [Michael Moore] I started to get hundreds of letters of a different sort, from people who work inside the healthcare industry. "I hate HMO's" They'd seen everything and they were fed up with it. [Man #2] "Health insurance companies suck. Flat suck." [Michael Moore] Like Becky Malke, who was in charge of keeping sick people away from one of America's top insurance companies. [Becky Malke] I work in a call center, so people call in and ask for insurance quotes. There are certain preexisting conditions, basically industry-wide, that will not be covered: diabetes, heart disease, certain forms of cancer. If you have these conditions, you are likely not going to get your health insurance. [Michael Moore] How long is this list of conditions that make you ineligible? [Becky Malke] It would be a really long list. It would be a long list. It could wrap around this house. IF YOU HAVE THESE CONDITIONS, YOU CAN'T GET INSURANCE. "Star Wars" theme plays B C D E F G H [Becky Malke] Sometimes you know they're gonna be declined at the end of the application, and they're like ... God, like one time I had a couple, and they were so happy to get ... I'm gonna cry. They were so happy that they were ... I took them through this application. And the husband was late for work. And the wife said to him, "Don't worry, baby, it's gonna be OK. We have health insurance now." And when I looked, I could tell they were gonna get declined because of their health conditions. And they were so happy. I thought, "God, they're gonna get that call in a couple of weeks telling them that they're not eligible for insurance."
I just felt so bad 'cause I just really thought, and I knew and I couldn't say anything to them. I just felt like crap. That's why I'm such a bitch on the phone to people because I don't wanna get to know them. I don't wanna know about their lives. I just wanna get in and out, and get done with it, 'cause I can't take the stress of it. [Michael Moore] In spite of Becky being a bit of a pain on the phone ... KAISER PERMANENTE THRIVE a quarter billion Americans are still able to get health insurance. UNITED HEALTHCARE -- IT JUST MAKES SENSE. PS FAMILY HEALTHCARE -- EVERY AMERICAN DESERVES AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE: 1-800-291-5292 Let's meet some of these happy insured customers. Maria has BlueShield. And Diane, Horizon Blue Cross. BCS insures Laurel. And Caroline has CIGNA. And it's a good thing that they're all fully covered. [Laurel] I ended up being diagnosed with retroperitoneal cancer. [Maria Watanabe] Brain tumor. [Caroline] Breast cancer. [Diane] Brain tumor on the right temporal lobe. [Michael Moore] As they were insured, they got the red-carpet treatment at the doctor's office. [Maria Watanabe] She requested for me to see a neurologist. [Diane] The way they would treat it was to remove it. [Laurel] Surgery was scheduled for December 9. [Caroline] There is a test that you can take that will show whether or not you would benefit from chemo. [Michael Moore] They got their treatment, but not before battling their insurance companies. [Laurel] Investigated whether or not this was a preexisting condition. [Maria Watanabe] "It's not medically necessary." [Caroline] They claim that it's experimental. [Diane] "We don't consider that life-threatening." [Michael Moore] Diane died from her non life-threatening tumor.
Laurel's cancer is now spread throughout her body. Her "experimental test" proved that Caroline needed chemo. While vacationing in Japan, Maria became ill, and got the MRI that BlueShield of California had refused to approve. The doctors in Japan told her she had a brain tumor. BlueShield had said repeatedly she didn't have a tumor. That's when she said: "Well, I'm pretty sure I have a lawyer." Maria Watanabe vs. Blue Shield, CA, et al. [Lawyer] March 13, 2003. I'm gonna direct your attention to exhibit one. Please describe for me what it is. [Glen L. Hollinger, M.D., Medical Director for GSMPA, Contracted medical group for Blue Shield of California] It is a denial for referral to an opthalmologist. [Lawyer] Is it your signature on this? [Glen L. Hollinger, M.D., Medical Director for GSMPA, Contracted medical group for Blue Shield of California] Yes. [Lawyer] I'd like to direct your attention to exhibit two. [Glen L. Hollinger, M.D., Medical Director for GSMPA, Contracted medical group for Blue Shield of California] This is a denial of a request for referral for a magnetic resonance imaging test of the brain. [Lawyer] It has your signature? [Lawyer] Directing your attention to exhibit three. Please read this document. [Glen L. Hollinger, M.D., Medical Director for GSMPA, Contracted medical group for Blue Shield of California] This is a denial of a referral to a neurosurgeon. [Lawyer] Can you explain for me how you came to sign the denial letter? [Glen L. Hollinger, M.D., Medical Director for GSMPA, Contracted medical group for Blue Shield of California] This is a standard signature put on all denial letters. [Lawyer] Is it your signature or a stamp? [Glen L. Hollinger, M.D., Medical Director for GSMPA, Contracted medical group for Blue Shield of California] This is a stamp. [Lawyer] Did you ever see a denial letter before your signature was stamped on it? [Glen L. Hollinger, M.D., Medical Director for GSMPA, Contracted medical group for Blue Shield of California] No, but the denial letters are fundamentally the same. The denial letters that are sent out ... [Dr. Hollinger's Lawyer] The answer is no. [Glen L. Hollinger, M.D., Medical Director for GSMPA, Contracted medical group for Blue Shield of California] No. All right. *** [Linda Peeno, M.D.] The definition of a good director was somebody who saves the company money. [Michael Moore] Dr. Linda Peeno was a medical reviewer for Humana. She left her job because she didn't like their way of doing business. [Linda Peeno, M.D.] I was told when I started that I had to keep a 10% denial. Then they were giving us reports weekly that would have all the cases we reviewed, the percent approved and the percent denied. And our actual percentage denial rate. Then there would be another report that compared me to all the other reviewers. The doctor with the highest percent of denials was gonna get a bonus. [Michael Moore] Really? So you, as a doctor, working for the HMO, if you denied more people healthcare, you got a bonus? [Linda Peeno, M.D.] That was how they set it up. Any payment for a claim is referred to as a medical loss. That's the terminology the industry uses. I mean, when you don't spend money on somebody, you deny their care, or you make a decision that brings money in and you don't have to spend it, it's a savings to the company. *** [Michael Moore] This is Tarsha Harris. BlueCross didn't deny her treatment, and actually approved her operation. But then they discovered that in the distant past she had had a yeast infection. [Tarsha Harris] Apparently it's common. Men, women can get a yeast infection. So I was prescribed the yeast infection cream, general cream, and it went away. [Heather McKeon, Attorney for Tarsha Harris] She later applied for health insurance, and that's what you're supposed to be disclosing -- serious ailments. The yeast infection is not a serious ailment. There was nothing she could have done. It wasn't until they were gonna have to spend money that they looked. If they'd taken five minutes and wanted to clear up the yeast infection, they could've looked at her records or talked to her doctor. [Michael Moore] Because of the undisclosed yeast infection, Blue Cross dropped Tarsha Harris. [Heather McKeon, Attorney for Tarsha Harris] She thinks she's put this behind her. And then BlueCross changes their mind, tells the doctors, "We're taking the money back, go get the money from Tarsha." [Tarsha Harris] The fact of the matter is it was a yeast infection, that's all it was. I'm still a little bitter because I don't trust insurance companies now. To me, it seems they're always gonna be looking for a way out.
What happened to helping the person that's sick? Don't make their problems worse. *** [Michael Moore] This is Lee Einer. If they weren't able to weed you out in the application process, or deny you the care your doctor said you needed, and somehow ended up paying for the operation, they send in Lee, their hitman. His job is to get the company's money back any way he can. All he has to do is find one slip-up on your application, or a preexisting condition you didn't know you had. [Lee Einer] We're gonna go after this like it's a murder case. And I mean the whole unit dedicated to going through your health history for the last five years, looking for anything that would indicate that you concealed something, you misrepresented something, so that they can cancel the policy, or jack the rates so high that you can't pay them. And if we couldn't find anything you didn't disclose on the application, you can still get hit with a preexisting denial, because you don't even have to have sought medical treatment for it.
In some states, it's legal to have a prudent person preexisting condition. And that's a mouthful, I know, but what that says is if prior to your insurance kicking in you had any symptom which would incline a normally prudent person to have sought medical care, then the condition of which that symptom was a symptom is excluded. I know! It's labyrinthine, isn't it? But that's how it works. They're supposed to be even-handed, but with an insurance company, it's their frigging money! So it's not unintentional, it's not a mistake, it's not an oversight, you're not slipping through the cracks. Somebody made that crack and swept you towards it.
And the intent is to maximize profits. Looking back, I don't know that I killed anybody. Did I do harm in people's lives? Yeah. Hell, yeah. I haven't worked for insurance companies for a long time, and I don't think that really serves to atone for my participation in that mess. I am glad I'm out of it, though. *** [Michael Moore] Julie Pierce was struggling to get care for her husband Tracy, who was suffering from kidney cancer. Julie works in the intensive care unit at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, which provided her family with health insurance. [Julie Pierce] Every month, there was a new drug that the doctor wanted to try. My insurance denied it. One letter might say, "not a medical necessity," one letter might say, "it's not for this particular type of cancer," and they denied it. Then we came up with the bone marrow. It has showed to stop it, sometimes to completely get rid of it. [Michael Moore] Tracy's doctors said this treatment had been successfully tried on many other patients. If one of Tracy's brothers turned out to be a suitable donor, there were promising bone marrow treatments for beating Tracy's cancer. [Julie Pierce] Two weeks later, the bone marrow nurse at KU called me and she goes: "We've got the results back. His youngest brother is a perfect donor match." We were ecstatic. You know, I think that's the happiest I had seen him in a while. So we submitted it and they denied it. Said it was "experimental." So I found out that there is a board of trustees over our medical plan that actually work at my hospital. And they are the final decision-makers on what gets approved and what doesn't. [Michael Moore] Julie and her husband and their son, Tracy Junior, demanded a meeting with the health plan's board of trustees, the very people who had the power to approve their claim. They told Julie that they were sympathetic to her situation. [Julie Pierce] I said, "Your sympathy does me no good when I'm burying him next year." And I told them, I said if I was -- Bruce van Cleve was our CEO -- I said, "I bet if it was Bruce van Cleve's wife, it would get approved." "No, it's nothing like that." I said, "Or maybe if my husband was white." And I got up and walked out of the room. When we got home, I found him up in the bathroom. And I knocked on the door and said, "What are you doing in there?" "Nothing." I opened the door 'cause usually he'll say: "What do you think I'm doing in here?" And he was sitting in there and he was crying. And he said, "Why me? I'm a good person." And I said, "But we're not done fighting this. We're strong, yeah." And then he said, you know, he goes, "I can see now that I'm gonna die." He said, "I can leave everything, but I don't want to leave you and Tracy." The doctor told me he would die in three weeks. And on January 13th, which was my birthday, he went to sleep. And he died five days later, here at home.
He was my best friend. He was my soul mate. He was my son's father. I mean, we were to grow old together. They took away everything that matters. I wanna know why, why my husband? Why wasn't he given the chance to live? You preach these vision and values that we care for the sick, the dying, the poor. That we're a healthcare that leaves no one behind. You left him behind. You didn't even give him a start. It was as if he was nothing. And I want them to have a conscience about it. And I don't think they do. I don't think it has fazed them one bit. At all. *** [Michael Moore] There was one person in the healthcare industry who did have a conscience. Dr. Linda Peeno, a former medical reviewer at Humana. May 30, 1996, Testimony before U.S. Congress, MANAGED HEALTH CARE QUALITY STANDARDS [Linda Peeno, M.D.] My name is Linda Peeno. I am here today to make a public confession. In the spring of 1987, as a physician, I denied a man a necessary operation that would have saved his life, and thus caused his death. No person and no group has held me accountable for this because, in fact, what I did was I saved the company a half a million dollars for this. And, furthermore, this particular act secured my reputation as a good medical doctor, and it insured my continued advancement in the healthcare field. I went from making a few hundred dollars a week as a medical reviewer, to an escalating six-figure income as a physician executive. In all my work, I had one primary duty, and that was to use my medical expertise for the financial benefit of the organization for which I worked. And I was told repeatedly that I was not denying care, I was simply denying payment. I know how managed care maims and kills patients. So I'm here to tell you about the dirty work of managed care. And I'm haunted by the thousands of pieces of paper on which I have written that deadly word -- "denied." Thank you. *** [Michael Moore] How did we get to the point of doctors at health insurance companies actually being responsible for the deaths of patients? Who invented this system? HOUSE COMMERCE SUBCMTE. ON HEALTH How did this all begin? Where did the HMO start? Thanks to the wonders of magnetic tape, we know. February 17, 1971, 5:23 p.m. [John Ehrlichman] We have now narrowed down the Vice President's problems on this thing to one issue, and that is whether we should include these Health Maintenance Organizations, like Edgar Kaiser's Permanente thing. [President Richard Nixon] Now let me ask you, you know I'm not too keen on any of these damn medical programs. [John Ehrlichman] This is a private enterprise one. [President Richard Nixon] Well, that appeals to me. [John Ehrlichman] Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. And the reason he can do it, I had Edgar Kaiser come in and talk to me about this. And I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because the less care they give them, the more money they make. [President Richard Nixon] Fine. [John Ehrlichman] And the incentives run the right way. [President Richard Nixon] Not bad.
THE NEXT DAY, February 18, 1971 [President Richard Nixon] I am proposing today a new national health strategy. The purpose of this program is simply this -- I want America to have the finest healthcare in the world, and I want every American to be able to have that care when he needs it. [Michael Moore] The plan hatched between Nixon and Edgar Kaiser worked. In the ensuing years, patients were given less and less care ... [Reporter] Bigger logjams at the nearby hospital and less quality medical care. [Man-Patient] Been here about 18 hours, since 7:00 this morning. [Reporter] What looks cramped and unsightly can also be dangerous. [Michael Moore] ... while health insurance companies became wealthy. The system was broken. [Reporter] 37 million Americans are without protection against catastrophic illness. [Reporter] The losers are the poor, who may now postpone urgent healthcare until it's too late. [Michael Moore] This went on for years,
until this man rode into town ... bringing with him his little lady. "Ill Take You There," by the Staple Singers Hillary Clinton Sassy. Smart. Sexy. Some men couldn't handle it. Newt Gingrich [President Bill Clinton] Today I am announcing the formation of the President's Task Force on National Health Reform chaired by the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. [Michael Moore] Hillary Clinton decided to make healthcare for everyone her top priority. [Hillary Clinton] Universal coverage now. It will not depend upon where you work, whether you work, or if you have a preexisting condition. Healthcare that can never be taken away. [Reporter] Some Republicans complain Mrs. Clinton is getting a free ride. [Corporate Robot] It's fairly risky business what President Clinton did to put his wife in charge of some big policy program. [Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas] And while I don't share the chairman's joy at our holding hearings on a government-run healthcare system, I do share his intention to make the debate and the legislative process as exciting as possible. [Hillary Clinton] I'm sure you will do that, Mr. Armey. [Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas] We'll do the best we can. [Hillary Clinton] You and Dr. Kevorkian, I think. [Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas] I have been told about your charm and wit, and let me say, reports on your charm are overstated, and reports on your wit are understated. [Hillary Clinton] Thank you. Thank you very much. [Michael Moore] She drove Washington insane. [Corporate Robot] Do you want the government to control your healthcare? [Corporate Robot] You don't have the choice of your own doctors. [Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas] You won't have the choice of your own doctors. [Corporate Robot] Less government. [Corporate Robot] More control. [Corporate Robot] More government. [Corporate Robot] Less control for you and your family. [Corporate Robot] When your mama gets sick, she might talk to a bureaucrat instead of a doctor. [Newt Gingrich] This is a total mess, and it's about to get messier. [Corporate Robot] Not this bureaucratic, socialistic plan that they have. [Corporate Robot] Socialist takeover ... [Corporate Robot] Socialized medicine. [Corporate Robot] What really amounts to a giant social experiment. RED NIGHTMARE [Michael Moore] Ooh! Socialized medicine. SOCIALIZED MEDICINE Nothing put more fear in us than the thought of that. And the chief fearmongers against socialized medicine ... CAMP 33 FOR POLITICAL OFFENDERS
have always been the good doctors of the American Medical Association. AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PRESENTS [Dr. Edward Annis, President-elect, A.M.A.,
1962] This would put the government smack into your hospital ... defining services, setting standards, establishing committees, calling for reports, deciding who gets in and who gets out. After all, the government has to treat everyone fair and equal, don't you know? Take us all the way down the road to a new system of medicine for everybody.
[Michael Moore] Yes, medicine for everyone. The AMA didn't want that. And to drive the point home further, they held thousands of coffeeklatsches all over the country where they invited their neighbors to come and listen to a record made by a well-known actor on the evils of socialized medicine. [Ronald Reagan] My name is Ronald Reagan. RONALD REAGAN SPEAKS OUT AGAINST SOCIALIZED MEDICINE One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people, has been by way of medicine. The doctor begins to lose freedoms. It's like telling a lie, and one leads to another. A doctor decides he wants to practice in one town. THOMAS W. GIBSON, M.D. The government says to him, "You can't live in that town, they already have enough doctors, you have to go someplace else." All of us can see what happens once you establish the precedent that the government can determine a man's working place and his methods. And behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country. Until one day, we will awake to find that we have socialism. [Reporter] The White House said to tone down the rhetoric reacting to burning an effigy of Hillary Clinton. Hi! I'm Hillary. My goal is to ... [Michael Moore] The times may have changed, but the scare tactics hadn't. The healthcare industries spent over a hundred million dollars to defeat Hillary's healthcare plan, and they succeeded. Health Insurance Association of
America: $15 Million [Hillary Clinton] And I want now to introduce to you the president, because he loves the Easter egg roll.
[Michael Moore] For the next seven years in the White House, she wasn't allowed to bring it up again. [Hillary Clinton] Is anybody here older than two? [Michael Moore] A decade and a half went by, and still America had no universal health plan. The United States slipped to number 37 in healthcare around the world, just slightly ahead of Slovenia. Men speaking Slovenian But that's understandable, because Congress was busy with other matters. [Corporate Robot] Mr. Speaker, today I rise to offer congratulations to the confectioners at Just Born Incorporated as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of their most recognized and celebrated products, not to mention my daughter's favorite, Marshmallow Peeps.
[Michael Moore] And thus, the healthcare industry went unchecked into the 21st century. [Reporter] Humana more than doubles its
fourth quarter profit, lifts its earning for the year ... [Reporter] United Health has tripled its share prices. POWER LUNCH -- HOT TOPIC: BILLION
DOLLAR CEO [Michael Moore] Making obscene profits ... SQUAWK ON THE STREET -- BRINKER RAISES ESTIMATES, BUYBACKS HELPING [Reporter] better-than-expected earnings. Aetna, 4PM Price 96.12, Bid 98.75, Ask 99.00 [Reporter] There's a lot of wealthy shareholders out there. Mike McAllister, CEO Humana $3.3 million in compensation Are they willing to share some of that wealth?
John W. Rowe, CEO Aetna, $22.2 million in compensation [Michael Moore] turning their CEOs into billionaires. Bill McGuire, CEO UnitedHealth, $1.6 billion in compensation And skirting the law whenever they wanted. Aetna, $120 Million settlement, Accused of cutting reimbursements to doctors Blue Cross/Blue Shield, $117 Million settlement, Sixty-seven companies accused of wrongdoing involving Medicare. CIGNA, $85 Million settlement, Accused of not paying doctors. But their biggest accomplishment was buying our United States Congress. HCA, $1.7 Billion settlement, Accused of false claims to Medicare and other wrongdoing. [Reporter] This is Washington at work. Lobbying has become so brazen ... [Michael Moore] With four times as many healthcare lobbyists than there are members of Congress, they even managed to buy off old foes. For her silence, Hillary was rewarded, and she became the second largest recipient in the Senate ... Rick Santorum, $97,354, Republican of healthcare industry contributions. Once an Enemy, Health Industry Warms to Clinton, by Raymond Hernandez and Robert Pear: When she tried to overhaul the nation's health care system as first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton alienated some people and institutions in ... [Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Georgia] We've given the entire healthcare system over to the insurance industry. And they have total control. [Michael Moore] Well, not total control. Drug companies like to buy their members of Congress too. Here's what it costs to buy these men. $59,150; $433,324; $145,372, $217,921; $123,957; $194,700 And this woman. $336,908 This guy. $322,514 And this guy. $78,250 And him too. $211,249 [Corporate Robot] Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. [Michael Moore] And the biggest check was saved for last. Why did they hand out all this cash? President George W. Bush: $891.208 They wanted a bill passed -- a bill to help seniors with their prescriptions. RX, KEEPING OUR PROMISE TO SENIORS [Congressman Billy Tauzin] Let there be no mistake about it. Republicans love their mothers, their fathers and their grandparents as much as anybody else on this hill, and we're gonna take care of them. [Michael Moore] Of course, it was really a bill to hand over $ 800 billion of our tax dollars to the drug and health insurance industry by letting the drug companies charge whatever they wanted ... Pfizer Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center and making the private health insurance companies the middleman. Merck, Research Laboratories Aetna Everybody was going to get their cut. Oxford Health Plans Unitedhealthcare, 6300 Olson Memorial Hwy The man they appointed to get the job done was congressman Billy Tauzin. He was the right man for the job because he had a secret weapon. [Congressman Billy Tauzin] There's no one in this house loves their mother more than I love my mother. I challenge you on that, sir. Nobody in this body that loves their mother any more or any less than any one of us. I love that woman. Do you think for a second you love your moms and dads any more than we love ours? Do you think Republicans and Democrats who will vote ... Do you really believe that, Mr. Stoddard? God bless you. [Michael Moore] Oh, they all loved their mothers. It's just that they didn't love our mothers as much. ["President" George W. Bush] Now I'm honored and pleased to sign this historic piece of legislation -- the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. [Michael Moore] What they didn't tell us was that the elderly could end up paying more for their prescriptions than they did before. Over two thirds of senior citizens could still pay over $2,000 a year. And when it was over, 14 congressional aids who worked on the bill quit their jobs on the Hill and went to work for the healthcare industry. As did one congressman. 'Cause I've got a golden ticket ... [Michael Moore] Billy Tauzin left Congress to become the CEO of PhRMA, the drug industry lobby, for a salary of $2 million a year.
Oh, it was a happy day in Washington. Many Americans knew they were never going to see universal healthcare. And that's why some of them decided to look elsewhere for help. *** [Adrian Campbell] We're driving across the Detroit river. Back there is the Renaissance Center, you can see it. General Motors' headquarters, downtown Detroit, the skyline. You get a really nice view from driving over the bridge. [Michael Moore] This is Adrian Campbell, a single mother, who at the age of 22 came down with cancer. [Adrian Campbell] I got cervical cancer and I was denied through the insurance company. They said, "We're not paying for it because you're 22 and you don't have ... You shouldn't be having cervical cancer. You're too young." [Michael Moore] Forced into debt, but now cancer free, Adrian was fed up with the American healthcare system. She had a new plan. [Adrian Campbell] I have everything ready before I even hit the border. I got my passports ready, I got my money out. It's three dollars and 25 cents to get across one way. And I got everything just sitting up here on my visor just ready to go. Aurora, be very quiet. [Border Guard] Citizenships? [Adrian Campbell] U.S. [Border Guard] Where do you live? [Adrian Campbell] Michigan. [Border Guard] That's not on, right? [Michael Moore] No. She may live in Michigan, but ten blocks across the border, Adrian becomes a Canadian. [Woman] How long have you been living here? Three months? [Adrian Campbell] A couple. I haven't applied for the OHIP card yet. I still have mine. [Woman] It takes ten minutes. [Adrian Campbell] That's fine. I don't mind. OK, thank you. I put down Kyle's address at the clinic, and when they ask, you know, what my relationship is, I put down that I was his common-law partner. Kyle, Adrian's Canadian "friend" I don't like to lie and I don't like liars. It's little white lies, but it's ... You know, I'm saving the money. [Kyle] You don't bring a checkbook when you go to the hospital here. It's provided to us. It's something you don't have to worry about or go out of your way to get. Stress free. [Adrian Campbell] They called the cops. [Michael Moore] The presence of our camera alerted the clinic that something was up. [Adrian Campbell] And I don't think I'm gonna get seen now. So I have another idea. I'm gonna go down to the other clinic. There is a clinic down ... one that we passed. The police showed up over there. Look. [Michael Moore] Yes, what Adrian was doing was illegal. But we're Americans. We go into other countries when we need to. It's tricky, but it's allowed. Windsor Medical Clinic, Family Health Centre, Family Health Pharmacy (West) [Kyle] It's kind of frustrating having ... I mean ... Just get married and that'd solve everything -- she'd be covered. [Adrian Campbell] Americans marry Canadians just for the healthcare! [Kyle] I'm being used. [Michael Moore] Sounds like a good idea. [Kyle] See if it works. Start something. Start a trend. *** [Reporter] In Canada they give everybody
free healthcare. Doesn't it work up there? [Corporate Robot] We wait months to get treatment you can get in a week or a few days here. [Reporter] In Canada you have to wait nine to ten months for bypass surgery. [Reporter] Many Canadians believe it's the healthcare system itself that's sick. [Reporter] They pay their doctors less. [Reporter] A surgeon can only do a certain number of operations each year, with only so many expensive new pieces of equipment. [John Emling, NFIB Health Care Specialist] It's easier for your cat or dog to receive an MRI here in America. [Corporate Robot] You die of cancer waiting for chemo 'cause all of Ottawa has one chemo machine. [George Bush] If you think socialized medicine is a good idea, ask a Canadian.
*** [Michael Moore] I thought who better to ask than my Canadian relatives, Bob and Estelle. But they wouldn't cross the border into America. They wanted me to meet them at Sears, in Canada. What are you guys doing here? [Estelle] We're buying insurance. [Bob] We're going to the States to see you. [Michael Moore] Right, that's just across the river. [Bob] Yeah. [Michael Moore] You wouldn't go over to see us in Michigan for a couple of hours without insurance? [Bob] No, we wouldn't. We're just adamant about it. We would not do it. If somebody punches us in the mouth or something, something like that ... [Michael Moore] You don't want to get caught in the American health system thing? [Bob] We have nothing against Americans or America, or anything like that at all. [Michael Moore] We're a nice and simple people. [Bob] Not very simple, but certainly very nice. [Michael Moore] I decided to explore their anti-American views further over some fine Canadian cuisine. [Estelle] We have a friend who went to Hawaii. And he sustained a head injury while he was there. And before he was well enough to come home, he had chalked up a bill of over $600,000. So what middle-class Canadian could absorb that? [Michael Moore] I guess I feel bad that you would have to worry about something like that. [Estelle] We're not criticizing your country, we're just giving you the facts, that we could not afford to be without insurance. [Michael Moore] Even for a day? [Estelle] Even for a day. *** [Larry Godfrey] I could hear a noise and feel a pain, and the tendon snapped off this bone here that holds the bicep in place. So this bicep muscle was released, like on an elastic, and it ended up here on my chest. [Michael Moore] The muscle ended up in your chest? [Larry Godfrey] Right. Ended up here. [Michael Moore] Like all good golfers, Larry finished his round before seeking medical attention. That's when he got the bad news. [Larry Godfrey] I wasn't too worried as I had out-of-country insurance, but when he told me it was 23 or 24,000, then I ... [Michael Moore] 24,000? [Larry Godfrey] Dollars, yes. [Michael Moore] So if you'd stayed in the United States, this would have cost you $24,000? Instead you went back to Canada, and Canada paid your total expenses? [Larry Godfrey] Everything. [Michael Moore] Paid for the operation. It cost you? [Larry Godfrey] Nothing. [Michael Moore] Zero. [Larry Godfrey] Zero. Zero. [Michael Moore] I'm wondering why you expect your fellow Canadians, who don't have your problem, why should they, through their tax dollars, have to pay for a problem you have? [Larry Godfrey] Because we would do the same for them. It's just the way it's always been and it's the way we hope it'll always be. [Michael Moore] Right, but if you just had to pay for your problem, and don't pay for everybody else's problem, just take care of yourself? [Larry Godfrey] Well, there are a lot of people who aren't in a position to be able to do that. And somebody has to look after them. [Michael Moore] Are you a member of the Socialist Party? [Larry Godfrey] No. No. [Michael Moore] Green Party? [Larry Godfrey] No. Well, actually, I'm a member of the Conservative Party. Is that bad? [Michael Moore] Well, it's just a little confusing. [Larry Godfrey] Well, it shouldn't be. I think that where medical matters are concerned, it wouldn't matter in Canada what party you were affiliated with, if any. [Michael Moore] But, to us, as we look across the river here, you know, why don't you think we don't believe that? What's wrong on this issue with us? [Larry Godfrey] I guess the powers that be don't share our beliefs that healthcare ought to be universal. I mean, Canadians didn't until we met up with a guy named Tommy Douglas, who pretty much changed everyone's mind. [Michael Moore] One guy? [Larry Godfrey] One guy, yeah. One guy did it, he ... [Michael Moore] Can he come over and visit us? [Larry Godfrey] He's dead, unfortunately. In fact, he was, he's just most recently been revered as Canada's singular most important person. We think so much of ... [Michael Moore] You mean in your history? [Larry Godfrey] In our whole history. [Michael Moore] More than your first prime minister? [Larry Godfrey] Absolutely, yeah. Even more than Wayne Gretzky. [Michael Moore] No way! [Larry Godfrey] Absolutely. Yeah. [Michael Moore] More than Celine Dion? [Larry Godrey] Great singer. More than Celine, yeah. [Michael Moore] More than Rocky and Bullwinkle? [Larry Godfrey] Maybe. *** London, Ontario, Canada [Brad] As the blade went through, it caught the glove I was wearing, and it sliced through the entire group of fingers, completely taking them off. And I realized that I needed help immediately. [Surgeon] Obviously, putting on amputated fingers or arms or limbs is one of the more dramatic things we can do. If you're looking at five fingers, you're looking at a 24-hour operation. There actually was four surgeons, as well as all the nurses and two different anesthetists to carry out an operation of that magnitude. When Brad came in, we didn't have to worry about whether he could afford it. He needed help and we could concentrate on the best way to bring him through it. [Michael Moore] I met this American, he'd cut off the ends of two of his fingers with a saw. So when he arrived at the hospital, they told him one finger's gonna cost $60,000, and the other one was gonna be $12,000. He had to choose which finger he could afford. [Surgeon] Down. Bend the long finger down. We've never told someone that they couldn't put a finger back on, because the system wouldn't allow it. I'm very glad I work within a system that allows me the freedom to look after people, and not have to make choices like that. *** [Michael Moore] It seems nothing we were told about the Canadian system was true. Maybe I was just in the wrong part of town. So I went across the city to a crowded hospital waiting room. How long did you have to wait here to get help? [Woman] 20 minutes. [Woman] 45 minutes. [Man] I got helped right away. [Woman] You can see how crowded this is. They really do an amazing job. [Michael Moore] Did you have to get permission to come to this hospital? [Man] No. [Woman] No. [Woman] We can go anywhere we want. [Michael Moore] You don't have to get it preapproved by your insurance company? [Woman] Oh, heavens, no. [Michael Moore] Can you choose your doctor? [Woman] Oh, yes. [Michael Moore] What's your deductible? [Man] Nothing. [Woman] I don't think we have any. [Man] I don't know. I don't think there's any, as far as I know. [Michael Moore] So what did this cost? [Woman] Nothing. [Woman] We know in America people pay for their healthcare, but I guess we don't understand that, 'cause we don't have to deal with that. [Woman] And we're dealing with Parkinson's, stroke, heart attack. We're very, very lucky. Really we are. I mean, we complain. People complain about everything, right? [Michael Moore] Right, you're Canadian. [Woman] But on the whole, it's a fabulous system for making sure that the least of us and the best of us are taken care of.
*** [Michael Moore] It turns out that Canadians live three years longer than we do. That's not hard to believe when you meet fellow Americans like Erik. [Singing] Oh, England, here we go ... [Michael Moore] Erik Turnbow of Olympia, Washington, saved up his whole life so that he could visit the famed Abbey Road crosswalk in London. But it wasn't enough for Erik to just walk across the road like the Beatles did. He had to do it his own special way. [Man] Here's Erik, about to walk on his hands across Abbey Road. [Erik Turnbow] Ready? Ugh! (crack) [Man] Try it again. [Erik Turnbow] Oh no, I put my shoulder out. [Man] Are you in pain? [Erik Turnbow] Yeah. [Man] There's a hospital right down the road. [Michael Moore] The British hospital didn't charge Erik anything for his stay. And only about ten bucks for all the way-cool drugs they gave him. [Man] You're all slung up. [Erik Turnbow] I'm gonna be OK. *** [Michael Moore] I decided to go to Great Britain to find out how a hospital stay could be free, and drugs could cost only ten dollars. If I come in here and I have a prescription and it requires 30 pills, how much is that? [Pharmacist] It's 6.65 pounds. That's the standard charge. [Michael Moore] 6.65 pounds? So that's what? Ten dollars or so? [Pharmacist] Yes. [Michael Moore] What if I needed 60 pills, how much is it? [Pharmacist] Same charge. [Michael Moore] 120 pills? [Pharmacist] 6.65 pounds still. [Michael Moore] It doesn't matter how many pills? [Pharmacist] No. [Michael Moore] What if it's an HIV drug or a cancer drug? [Pharmacist] Still 6.65 pounds. If they are under 16 or over 60, they're automatically exempt. [Michael Moore] So only a working adult who earns enough money pays the 6.65 pounds? Everybody else gets medication free? No money being exchanged here? [Pharmacist] No, nothing. [Michael Moore] There's no money being exchanged? [Woman] I'm over 60. We don't pay. [Michael Moore] What's the purpose of the cash register? I'm just wondering where's the bread and the milk and the candy in here? I can't pick up any laundry detergent here? [Pharmacist] No. I haven't been trained for that many years to be selling detergents, so no. *** [Michael Moore] I next went to a state-run hospital, operated by the National Health Service. [Woman] I'm due in seven weeks and I get six months off, paid. And then I can have six months off unpaid as well, so I'm actually taking a year. [Michael Moore] Well, that sounds like a luxury where I'm from. [Woman] Oh, really, it's not like that in the US? No? Not at all, no? [Michael Moore] So what do you pay for a stay here? [Woman] No one pays. They were asking how do people pay. I said there isn't ... You don't, you just leave. [Man] It's national insurance. There's no bill at the end of it, as it were. *** [Michael Moore] Even with insurance, there's bound to be a bill somewhere. So where's the billing department? [Woman] There isn't a billing department. [Woman] There's no such thing. *** [Michael Moore] What did they charge for that baby? [Woman] Sorry? [Michael Moore] You gotta pay before you can get out? [Woman] No. This is NHS. [Man] No, no. Everything is on NHS. [Woman] You know, it's not America.
*** [Michael Moore] Maybe I'd have better luck in the part where things get seriously expensive. This guy broke his ankle. How much will this cost him? The emergency room visit. He'll have some huge bill when he's done, right? [Emergency Room Man] Here ... NHS, everything is free. [Michael Moore] I'm asking about hospital charges and you're laughing. [Emergency Room Man] I was never asked this question in the emergency department, that's why. *** [Michael Moore] I was starting to fall for this "everything is free" bit. And then I discovered this. Cashier So this is where people come to pay their bill when they're done staying here? [Cashier] No, this is the NHS hospital, so you don't pay the bill. [Michael Moore] You get to just go home? Why does it say "cashier" here if people don't have to pay a bill? [Woman] All we have is a little man who stands behind a counter, and he gives people money if they've had to pay for transport. [Man] Those who have reduced means get their travel expenses reimbursed. [Woman] Thank you. [Michael Moore] So in British hospitals, instead of money going into the cashier's window, money comes out. [Man] The criteria for letting you out are not if you've paid, the criteria are, are you fit to go and are you going somewhere safe? *** [Michael Moore] Clearly, I was just the butt of a joke here. What I needed was a good old-fashioned American who would have some understanding. [Woman] I first came to London in 1992. And we just ended up staying and we had three children here. Well, I had them all on the NHS, which is the British National Health Service.
I think, like a lot of Americans, I assumed that a socialized medicine was just bottom of the rung treatment, that the only way would be horrible and it would be like the Soviet Union. I mean, that's kind of how ... And it's terrible that that's what I thought. *** [Michael Moore] That's what I thought, too. After having a baby, its right back to the wheat fields. (singing in Russian) We have raised our wheat because work is our honor. [Man] And if our humble efforts should bring us an award ... [Women] We would not refuse it. [All] We answer: we can use it. Harvest! Harvest! Keep loading, loading. The quota has been attained. This is our harvest, our rich harvest ... [Michael Moore] And then it occurred to me that back home in America, we've socialized a lot of things. [Russian-Americans singing] We are your firemen. We save lives, and cats from trees. We are the teachers of America where kids go to school for free. We are your postal service, where you get your mail for cheap. And here at the library, you can get your book for free. [Michael Moore] I kind of like having a police department and fire department and the library. And I got to wondering, why don't we have more of these free, socialized things, like healthcare? WORKERS OF ALL LANDS UNITE: KARL MARX *** [Michael Moore] When did this whole idea that every British citizen should have a right to healthcare begin? [Tony Benn, Former Member of Parliament] Well, if you go back, it all began with democracy. Before we had the vote, all the power was in the hands of rich people. If you had money, you could get healthcare, education, look after yourself when you were old. And what democracy did was to give the poor the vote. And it moved power from the marketplace to the polling station. From the wallet to the ballot. And what people said was very simple. They said, "In the 1930s, we had mass unemployment. But we don't have unemployment during the war. If you can have full employment by killing Germans, why can't we have it by building hospitals, schools, recruiting nurses and teachers?" If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people. [Michael Moore] Right. [Tony Benn, Former Member of Parliament] This leaflet that was issued was very, very straightforward. [Michael Moore] What year was this? [Tony Benn, Former Member of Parliament] This was 1948. "Your new National Health Service begins on the 5th of July. What is it? How do you get it? It will provide you with all medical, dental and nursing care. Everyone, rich or poor, man, woman or child, can use it or any part of it. There are no charges, except for a few special items. There is no insurance qualifications, but it is not a charity. You are paying for it mainly as taxpayers, and it will relieve your money worries in times of illness." Now, somehow, the few words sum the whole thing up. [Michael Moore] I was amazed when he said this all started in 1948. The British had come out of a devastating experience through World War II. The country was destroyed and nearly bankrupt. They had nothing. In just one eight-month period, over 42,000 civilians lost their lives. What we went through in two hours on 9/11, they went through nearly every single day. Remember how we all felt after 9/11? All of us pulling together? I guess that's how they felt. And the first way that they decided to pull together after the war was to provide free medical care for everyone. [Tony Benn, Former Member of Parliament] Even Mrs. Thatcher said, "The National Health Service is safe in our hands." It's as non-controversial as votes for women. Nobody could say, "Why should women have the vote?" now. People wouldn't have it, they wouldn't in Britain. They wouldn't accept the deterioration or destruction of the National Health Service. [Michael Moore] If Thatcher or Blair said, "I'm going to dismantle national healthcare ..." [Tony Benn, Former Member of Parliament] There would have been a revolution. *** "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones [Reporter] A report from the AMA into the health of 55-64-year-olds says Brits are far healthier than Americans. [Man] For every illness that we looked at, Americans had more of it than English. [Man] Cancer, heart disease, hypertension, strokes, lung disease -- all significantly higher for Americans. [Reporter] Even the poorest people in England, with all the environmental factors that give them the worst health in the country, can expect to live longer than the wealthiest people in America. *** [Michael Moore] I was wondering, though, what's it like for the doctors here in Britain who have to live under this kind of state control? And you're a family doctor? [Doctor] Yeah, I suppose we'd call them GPs or general practitioners here. [Michael Moore] Right, so you have a family practice? [Doctor] Yeah, it's an NHS practice. We have nine doctors in that practice. [Michael Moore] Paid for by the government? [Doctor] Yeah. [Michael Moore] You work for the government? You're a government-paid doctor. A patient comes to you. Before you treat them, do you have to call the government insurance company before you treat them? [Doctor] No, I don't deal with money at all on an everyday basis. [Michael Moore] Have you ever had to say no to someone who was sick and needed help? [Doctor] No, never. [Michael Moore] Have you heard of anyone being in the hospital and being removed because they couldn't pay their bill? [Doctor] No, never. And I wouldn't want to work in that system. [Michael Moore] So working for the
government, you probably have to use public transport? [Michael Moore] An old beater? Audi You live in a rough part of town? [Doctor] I live in a terrific part of town. It's called Greenwich. It's a lovely house. It's a three-story house. [Michael Moore] How many other families have to live with you? [Doctor] There's four bedrooms for my wife and my son. It's just the three of us there. [Michael Moore] How much did you pay for that? [Doctor] 550,000 pounds. Yes, almost. [Michael Moore] So, a million dollars? You're a government-paid doctor on a national health insurance healthcare plan and you live in a million-dollar home? [Doctor] Yes. I think my friends think we do quite well. [Michael Moore] Really? How well do you do? [Doctor] I earn around 85,000, including pension. [Michael Moore] 85,000 pounds? [Doctor] 85,000 pounds a year. And that includes pension that they would pay in to me. They probably earn just over 100,000 pounds within my practice. [Michael Moore] 100,000 pounds? So that's almost $200,000? [Doctor] Yes, absolutely. The money that we earn, we get paid by what we do. So the better we do for our patients, then the more we get paid. [Michael Moore] What do you mean? [Doctor] There's a new system. And in that new system, if the most number of your patients have low blood pressures. or you get most of your patients to stop smoking, or you get your patients to have mental health reviews if they're unwell, or low cholesterols, then you get paid more. [Michael Moore] This year, if you get more people that are your patients to stop smoking, you'll get more money, you'll earn more? [Doctor] Oh, yeah. Absolutely. [Michael Moore] So doctors in America do not have to fear having a universal healthcare? [Doctor] No. I think if you want to have two or three million-dollar homes, and four or five nice cars, and six or seven nice televisions, then maybe, yeah, you need to practice somewhere where you can earn that. But I think we live comfortably here. London is expensive, but I think we live comfortably. [Michael Moore] You're getting by OK on the million-dollar home, the Audi, and the flat-screen TV?
[Doctor] Yeah, we're coping with those. *** [Tony Benn, Former Member of Parliament] I think democracy is the most revolutionary thing in the world. Far more revolutionary than socialist ideas, or anybody else's idea. Because if you have power, you use it to meet the needs of your community. And this idea of choice which capital talks about, "you've got to have a choice" -- choice depends on the freedom to choose. If you're shackled with debt, you don't have a freedom to choose. [Michael Moore] It seems it benefits the system if the average person is shackled with debt. [Tony Benn, Former Member of Parliament] People in debt become hopeless, and hopeless people don't vote. They always say everyone should vote, but I think if the poor in Britain or the United States voted for people who represented their interests, it would be a real democratic revolution. So they don't want it to happen. So keeping people hopeless and pessimistic -- See, I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all, frighten people, and secondly, demoralize them. An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern. And I think there's an element in the thinking of some people: "We don't want people to be educated, healthy and confident because they would get out of control." The top 1% of the world's population own 80% of the world's wealth. It's incredible that people put up with it, but they're poor, they're demoralized, they're frightened. And therefore, they think perhaps the safest thing to do is to take orders and hope for the best. *** Your American Life [Michael Moore] And hope for the best is what we do right from the moment we're born. We've got the worst infant mortality rate in the western world. A baby born in El Salvador has a better chance of surviving than a baby born in Detroit. But it gets better when we go to school. [Man] Classrooms with 40 students, schools with no labs ... [Michael Moore] No wonder the majority of our adults can't find Britain on a map. But that's OK. There's always college. By the time we graduate, our ass is so in hock, we're in debt before our first job. [Man] I'm at about ... we'll say about $35,000 in debt. That's for my third year in college. [Michael Moore] You'll be the employee they're looking for -- one who needs this job. [Man] 3,904, 3905 ... [Michael Moore] What employer wouldn't employ someone thousands of dollars in debt, because they won't cause any trouble? In addition to paying off your college debt, you need a job with health insurance. It would be horrible to lose that job, wouldn't it? [Man] You can always quit, you know. There's no law that says you have to work here. [Michael Moore] If that one job doesn't pay all the bills, don't worry. You can get another one, and another one, and another one. [Woman] I work three jobs, and I feel like I contribute. ["President" George W. Bush] You work three jobs? [Woman] Three jobs, yes. ["President" George W. Bush] Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. Get any sleep? [Michael Moore] If you're not sleeping, take pharmaceuticals. [Man] You're tired all the time. You feel sad. [Woman] If you suffer from excessive worry ... [Woman] Generalized anxiety disorder. [Woman] It could be adult ADD. [Woman] Ask your doctor. [Man] Ask your doctor. [Michael Moore] Yes, ask your doctor, and ask him for more drugs. That should keep you doped up until it's time to retire. Did I say retire? (laughs) If you make it to 80, your pension will still be there, unlike the new employees for these companies, who'll never see a pension. NISSAN [Michael Moore] But I'm sure our kids will take care of us, considering the great life we've given 'em. Remember, let's defeat the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them here. *** [Michael Moore] Kaiser Permanente is the largest HMO in the country. And Dawnelle Keyes was fortunate enough to be fully insured by them. It's a good thing, because one night her 18-month-old daughter, Mychelle, developed a fever of over 104. So, like any responsible mom, she called 911, and the ambulance took Mychelle to the closest hospital. The hospital checked with her HMO, and they were told that Kaiser would not cover the tests and the antibiotics necessary to treat Mychelle. She would have to take her to an in-network, Kaiser-owned hospital. [Dawnelle Keyes] Kaiser said that I should bring her by car to the hospital, and that she shouldn't be treated at Martin Luther King. I just continued to ask them to treat her, and they refused. My daughter got worse and she had a seizure. [Michael Moore] Dawnelle begged doctors to not listen to Kaiser and to treat her daughter. [Dawnelle Keyes] I was escorted out of the hospital because they felt that I was a threat. [Michael Moore] After hours of delay, she was transported to Kaiser, and got there just in time to go into cardiac arrest. [Dawnelle Keyes] They worked on her for about 30 minutes, trying to revive her. And the doctors came in and let us know that she had expired. Mychelle I was in a daze, a real daze. It just didn't seem real. I just held her. I held her and I told her that Mommy tried her best to help her, to make sure that she was gonna get the treatment she needed to receive. And that I was sorry that I wasn't able to help her.
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