SiCKO

I saw Michael Moore's new film SiCKO this weekend. It's an engrossing look at America's health care system and how it compares to that of Canada, Europe and, um, Gitmo. Unsurprisingly, the American system doesn't come out of the proceedings smelling like a rose. As a matter of fact, no justification at all remains for the status quo. The rest of the world is getting by quite nicely, thank you, with its task of making sure its sick and wounded are well cared for. Only in America do we see families destroyed by the cost of illness, and health care expenses bankrupting the economy patient by patient.

What astounds me is how little aware we are of the situation around us. We live as on an island, oblivious to creative solutions on all sides. I think it's in part because we're so narcissistic (hey, I call 'em like I see 'em) that we don't notice what goes on elsewhere until it affects us. Michael Moore grabs us by the tops of our heads and twists our necks around to look at the bigger picture. It's basically an open and shut case. Our system sucks!

It's a strange mentality, and far more unnatural than we realized, that turns the ravages of disease into a profit center. I've been extremely fortunate myself, through my software company, to enjoy probably the best employee health care in America, but the time will come for me as well. We have the ability as a nation, and a plethora of successful models to follow, to care for our sick out of our humanity and compassion rather than our projections of the bottom line. We have a robust structure already in place called Medicare, which could be improved and extended to all. One system, one payer, no health insurance companies at all. Imagine!

I don't feel as if this little movie review strays in any way from this blog's focus on spirituality. Jesus, after all, is the Great Healer. What in the world do you think He would say about our current system? Tell me!

Reading assignment progress report:

Hope everyone's reading the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I'm reading my twin American History books (A New History of the United States, A People's History of the United States), and am beginning the Civil War chapters in both books. I just finished reading a chapter in the People's History called "We Take Nothing By Conquest, Thank God", covering the 1840's Mexican Wars that gave us Texas, California, et. al. I think before I give much credence to anyone's thoughts on the immigration issue, I'll ask about their knowledge of our glorious history from this era.