2007 film by Michael Moore
Sicko is a 2007 American political documentary film by filmmaker Michael Moore. Investigating health care in the United States, the film focuses on the country's health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. Moore compares the for-profit non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba.
Produced on a roughly $9 million budget, "Sicko" grossed $25 million theatrically in North America. This exceeded the official expectation of The Weinstein Company, which had hoped to be in line with "Bowling for Columbine"'s $22 million U.S. box office gross.
Synopsis.
"Sicko" begins by noting that almost 50 million Americans were uninsured in 2007 while the remainder, who are covered, are often victims of insurance company fraud and red tape. "Sicko" mentions that the World Health Organization ranks U.S. health in general as 37 out of 191 countries and ranks some U.S. health measures, such as infant mortality and life expectancy, as equal to countries with much less economic wealth. Interviews are conducted with people who thought they had adequate coverage but were denied care. Former employees of insurance companies describe cost-cutting initiatives that give bonuses to insurance company physicians and others to find reasons for the company to avoid meeting the cost of medically necessary treatments for policy holders, and thus increase company profitability.
The history of the American health care debate serves as a backdrop. Opponents of universal health care are set in the context of 1950s-style anti-communist propaganda. A 1961 record distributed by the American Medical Association, narrated by corporate spokesmodel Ronald Reagan, warns that universal health care could lead to lost freedoms and socialism. In response, Moore shows that socialized public services like police, fire service, the United States Postal Service, public education and community libraries have not led to communism in the United States.
Canada.
In Canada, a citizen describes the case of Tommy Douglas, who was voted the greatest Canadian in 2004 for his contributions to the Canadian health system. Moore also interviews a microsurgeon and people waiting in the emergency room of a Canadian public hospital.
HMO origin in the 1970s.
The origins of the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 are presented using a taped conversation between John Ehrlichman and President Richard Nixon on February 17, 1971; Ehrlichman is heard telling Nixon that "the less care they give them, the more money they make", a plan that Nixon remarked was "fine" and "not bad". This led to the expansion of the modern health maintenance organization-based health care system. Connections are highlighted between Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the lobbying arm of the largest drug companies in the United States, lobbying groups in Washington, D.C., and the Congress. Hillary Clinton, a champion of the Clinton health care plan, is shown as a crusader for change, appointed to reform the health care system in the United States by her husband, newly elected President Bill Clinton. Her efforts are met with heavy-handed criticisms by Republicans on Capitol Hill, and right-wing media throughout the country, who characterize her plan as the harbinger of socialism. When she is defeated, her punishment is to "never speak of it again while in the White House." Seven years later, her silence is rewarded, as she becomes a Senator via healthcare industry contributions, the second largest recipient in the Senate.
United Kingdom.
In the United Kingdom, a country whose National Health Service is a comprehensive publicly funded health care system, Moore interviews patients and inquires about in-hospital expenses incurred by patients, only to be told that there are no out-of-pocket payments. Moore visits a typical UK pharmacy, where pharmaceuticals are free of charge for all persons in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and under 16, 16–17 in full-time education, disabled, unemployed, or over 60 in England, and subsidized in most cases for everyone else (in England); only a fixed amount of £6.65 (about $10) per item on a prescription was charged, irrespective of cost to the NHS. Further, NHS hospitals employ a cashier, part of whose job is to reimburse low-income patients for their out-of-pocket travel costs to the hospital. Interviews include an NHS general practitioner, an American woman residing in London, and former British politician Tony Benn, who compares a hypothetical dismantling of the NHS to ending women's suffrage and says it would lead to a revolution.
France.
In France, Moore visits a hospital and interviews the head of obstetrics and gynaecology and a group of American expatriates. Moore rides with the "SOS Médecins", a 24-hour French medical service that provides house calls by physicians. Moore discovers that the French government provides many social services and rights in addition to health care, such as daycare for $1 an hour, free college education, a minimum five weeks paid vacation by law, vacation, and neonatal support that includes cooking, cleaning, and laundry services for new mothers.
Return to US.
Returning to the United States, interviews disclose that 9/11 rescue workers who volunteered after the September 11, 2001 attacks were denied government funds to care for physical and psychological illnesses they subsequently developed, including respiratory disease and PTSD-induced bruxism. Unable to receive and afford medical care in the United States, the 9/11 rescue workers, as well as all of Moore's friends in the film needing medical attention, set sail from Miami to Cuba on three speedboats in order to obtain free medical care provided for the detainees at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.
Cuba.
The group arrives at the entrance channel to "Gitmo" and Moore uses a megaphone to request access, pleading for the 9/11 victims to receive treatment that is on par with the medical attention the detainees are receiving. The attempt ceases when a siren is blown from the base, and the group moves on to Havana, where they purchase inexpensive medicine and receive free medical treatment at the elite Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital. Providing only their names and birth dates, the rescue workers are hospitalized and receive medical attention. Before they leave, the 9/11 rescue workers are honored by a local Havana fire station.
Finally, Moore addresses the audience, emphasizing that people should be "taking care of each other, no matter the differences." To demonstrate his personal commitment to this theme, Moore decides to help one of his biggest critics, Jim Kenefick. According to a blog posting, Kenefick feared he would have to shut down his anti-Moore website because he needed US$12,000 to cover the costs of medical treatment for his sick wife. Not wanting the U.S. health care system to limit Kenefick's ability to express his opinion, Moore sends Kenefick the money himself.
This film ends with Moore walking towards the United States Capitol with a basket full of his clothes, sarcastically saying he will get the government to do his laundry until a better day comes for the sick and hopeless who are unable to receive health care.
Release.
"Sicko" premiered on May 19, 2007, at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, receiving a 17-minute standing ovation from 2,000 people at the Grand Theatre Lumiere. The North American première of "Sicko" was held in London, Ontario (where some scenes from the movie were filmed), at the Silver City movie theatre at Masonville Place on June 8, 2007, with Moore in attendance. It also had an early première in Washington, D.C., on June 20, two days before its U.S. release, with Moore appearing at a Capitol Hill press conference to promote the film.
The European première was held in Great Britain on October 24, 2007, at the Odeon Leicester Square as part of the 51st London Film Festival. Moore was to introduce the film, but remained in the United States due to a 'family issue', sending a lengthy letter to be read in his absence. Part of the letter gave thanks to the Rt Hon. Tony Benn, featured in the film, who delivered a short speech before the showing.
On December 13, 2024, in the aftermath of the Killing of Brian Thompson, which renewed public criticism of the health insurance industry, Moore uploaded the entirety of "Sicko" to YouTube on his official channel, arguing for health care reform as a "solution that does not involve any violence".
Box office.
Made on a budget of $9 million, "Sicko" earned $4.5 million on its opening weekend. In 441 theaters, it took in an average of $10,204 per theater, the second-highest average gross of the weekend. As of February 24, 2008, "Sicko" has grossed $25 million in the United States and $11 million in foreign markets. Overall, the movie has made over $36 million. The film was also a huge success in DVD sales, in which it accumulated over $60 million in sales.
Critical reaction.
According to the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film boasts a 92% positive rating, based on 218 reviews, with an average rating of 7.71/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Driven by Michael Moore's sincere humanism, "Sicko" is a devastating, convincing, and very entertaining documentary about the state of America's health care." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 74 out of 100, based on 39 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". After its Cannes release, "Variety" described "Sicko" as "an affecting and entertaining dissection of the American health care industry".
In an early review a week before the premiere, Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips gave the film two thumbs up. Roger Friedman of Fox News called the film a "brilliant and uplifting new film" and praised Moore for the way in which he lets "very articulate average Americans tell their personal horror stories at the hands of insurance companies" and "criticizes both Democrats and Republicans for their inaction and in some cases their willingness to be bribed by pharmaceutical companies and insurance carriers."
British film magazine "Empire" praised Moore's filmmaking and personal artistic vision, exclaiming ""Sicko" is the film that truly reveals Moore as an auteur."
David Denby of the "New Yorker" called the film "feeble, even inane", but film critic Stephen Schaefer of "The Boston Globe" described "Sicko" as "a very strong and very honest film about a health system that's totally corrupt and that is without any care for its patients".
The film was listed as the 4th best film of 2007 by Carina Chocano of "Los Angeles Times", as well as 8th best by Marjorie Baumgarten of "The Austin Chronicle".
Awards.
"Sicko" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and Moore was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay. It was also commended in the Australian Film Critics Association 2007 Film Award for Best Documentary.
Response.
News media.
Journalist and free market advocate John Stossel wrote an article in the "Wall Street Journal" that claimed Julie Pierce's husband, Tracy, featured in "Sicko", would not have been saved by the bone marrow transplant denied by his insurer. Stossel also questioned whether this treatment would have been given in a universal health care system, citing rationing and long waiting lists in Canada and Britain. Julie Pierce claimed Stossel never contacted her or her husband's doctors, and that the insurer denied other treatments as well and questioned Stossel's assertion that Tracy would not have received this in a socialized system, arguing that they are performed more frequently in Canada than in the U.S.
Moore insisted in the movie as well as in an interview with Stossel that the treatment provided in the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital was just like that given to any Cuban; but Stossel's investigations led Stossel to conclude that the hospital provided service only for the Cuban elite and that this care was not available to the average Cuban. In response to criticism that only well-to-do Cuban citizens receive a decent standard of health care, Michael Moore adduced on his website the result of an independent Gallup Poll in which "a near unanimous 96 percent of respondents say that health care in Cuba is accessible to everyone". An article in the "Miami Herald" interviewing some Cuban exiles in the United States criticized "Sicko" for painting a rosy picture of the Cuban healthcare system.
In an article published in both "The New Yorker" and "Reason" magazine, Michael C. Moynihan called the film "touching, naïve and maddeningly mendacious, a clumsy piece of agitprop that will likely have little lasting effect on the health care debate". Surgeon and Associate Director of Brigham and Women's Hospital's Center for Surgery and Public Health Atul Gawande commented, ""Sicko" is a revelation. And what makes this especially odd to