Sicko

It's not a coincidence that I'm thinking of this film today because I'm home from work sick. This is the first time in years that I am getting paid to be home sick because in February I acceped a job that provides health insurance coverage for me and my family. It had been more than ten years since I've been in that position (having health care through my work), although I worked nearly all of that time.

I saw Sicko, Michael Moore's scathing documentary about the U.S. health care system, a few weeks back, and like most viewers, my initial reactions were of outrage and frustration. I've seen all of Michael Moore's films, and in my opinion this is his best. For one thing, he doesn't insert his usual gadfly self into the story as much as he has in past films, and this allows his story to unfold. Yes, his presentations of the English, French, and Cuban health care systems are one-sided, but so what? This is what makes a compelling documentary. I was particularly piqued to learn that in France new mothers are treated to a government-sponsored (free) nanny who comes to your house and helps with cooking, laundry, and looking after the new baby. That is in stark contrast to what new mothers in this country go through, often overwhelmed, in isolation and with only six weeks maternity leave. When the new moms in France are ready to return to work, they can rely upon high-quality child care that costs roughly the equivalent of about a dollar an hour. All French workers receive unlimited sick days.

It has only been in the last six months that my family has had employer-provided health coverage. For the previous several years we paid for a very basic plan that fell short of what we needed when our second daughter was born with health problems. The out-of-pocket cost of even minimal coverage for a family of four is prohibitive. Like many Americans we have been forced to reevaluate job and career options through this lens.

This is one of the most entrenched problems facing this country, one that none of the presidential candidates have addressed in a satsifying way. However, if only because the costs to corporations for providing their employees with health coverage are so exorbitant that it makes them less competitive in the global marketplace, I remain hopeful that in the not-too-distant future we will begin to see at least some reform on this issue.