My intention was to expose HMOs for what they really are; profit oriented scams. Americans buy health insurance for coverage and security yet it is in the HMOs best interest not to help them. HMOs get around securing the costumers by researching their pre-existing conditions so when they need operations, the health insurance companies can deny them coverage. The system is as messed up as it sounds, but the reason it hasn't been changed is because HMOs offer the government money for them not to change the health care policy. The government keeps us from questioning the system by assuring us that if we had universal health care, we might not be treated on time. I decided to see if this were true by visiting the many countries with universal health care such as Canada, the U.K., and France. From what I saw, their health care system ran more than smoothly seeing how every sick person was treated efficiently and equally. On top of that, their doctors were still well payed without having to break their oath to try their hardest to cure all patients. Most of all, their citizens were on average significantly healthier than Americans. Hopefully viewers will realize that universal health care is the best option for America and represents the unity of humanity.
Evidence-
A) i. Dr. Linda Pino testimony in front of US Congress May 30, 1996/ interview with Pino:
" 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."
"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."
ii.
B) Both of these pieces of evidence provide real life examples, which is crucial for making a point.
The first example was from the perspective of a doctor, showing how the HMOs has effected her. It caused her to break the oath all doctors have to make and neglect her patients for her own personal gain( based on incentives given by HMOs). Her testimony proved that it is in HMOs best interest to pay for less services and they create bribes for doctors so that they too benefit disregard patients who actually need medical assistance.
Tarsha's example came from the other end of the spectrum; the perspective of the patients. It showed how HMOs had effected her which was negatively as well. The "pre-existing condition" she had was very common and unrelated to her operation so it exhibited how easily this could happen to many other Americans. What made this situation worse was that the insurance company had approved her operation, but they later found this flaw in her record and made her pay. This displays how health insurance companies go the extra mile to find insignificant information about a patients previous health conditions to avoid paying for treatments themselves. Not covering these expenses are the goal of these companies.
D) I thought the refference to Nixons tapes was a very good source of evidence. Unfortunately the recording was somewhat unclear, and although there sub-titles, I wanted to see how percise they really were. I researched the recording and found that there were slight differences between that one and the one used in the documentary. Differences you could hear in the tape as well; but even with the alterations made by Moore the tape still portrayed the same thing so I counted his evidence as accurate.
Film version:
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.
My research:
My response-
This documentary brought up a lot of points that struck me and made me understand a lot more about American society in general. Although this was briefly discussed, Moore went over how the education system in America sets us up to need our jobs to pay off debt, and how health care and other benefits may keep us working until they day we die.
"By the time we graduate, our ass is so in hock, we're in debt before our first job.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? If that one job doesn't pay all the bills, don't worry. You can get another one, and another one, and another one.If you're not sleeping, take pharmaceuticals. 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."- (Michael Moore, Sicko 2007)
This exert really put things in perspective for me as it quickly summed up the American mentality; live to serve capitalist.
When he discussed how easily HMOs bribed the government, I had a flash back. It seemed that the government was very malleable seeing as the food corporations have done the same thing. We trust our government to keep us secure and think of what can benefit all of us, but it looks like they are just chasing dollar bills. In both these cases, large corporate bodies are providing the dollars. So it makes me wonder, who's really running our country? The government or the capitalist?
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