The movie chronicles a number of battles that Americans have had with their health insurers, (companies like Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Humana) contrasting them with the national health insurance systems in Canada, the United Kingdom, and France. As you might expect, the American system is filled with turmoil, while the other systems are peaceful and quiet. The movie follows a couple with insurance who were still bankrupted by their medical bills, a man working at age 79 because he can't afford his medicine otherwise (even with the new Medicare drug benefit), and many, many people whose health claims have been declined. These problems don't exist in the other systems.

I have been wondering why Blue Cross Blue Shield began running television ads recently, painting a picture of itself as a friend to those in need. I never saw such ads 5 years ago, and I can't think of a single person who actually chose to have Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance (many of us get it as the group plan through our employers). This movie cleared up the confusion. In the rosy, nationalized-health picture that Moore paints, the one person that there is no room for is the owner of the insurance company. These companies need to do everything they can to convince us that we need them.

The big problem with this film, as with all Michael Moore films, is its one-sidedness. It presents the great failures of the American system with none of its great successes. It presents the great successes of the Canadian, English, and French systems with none of their great failures. In doing so, it fails in the same way that American politicians are failing today: it mobilizes the faithful without attempting to convince the skeptics. Although I whole-heartedly agree with Moore's premise, I don't want my more conservative friends to see this movie for fear that they will emerge insulted and less willing to talk about nationalized health insurance. Though perhaps it is good for the more liberal minded to see the movie, with an eye towards how not to act. Moore does include footage of the Sep. 29, 1993 debate on health-care reform between Dem. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Dick Armey, in which she likened him to Dr. Kevorkian. It could be because of such political blunders that our health care system is so broken, now.

The movie culminates with a trip to Cuba, where a number of 9/11 volunteer fire-fighters receive medical care that has been denied to them in the U.S. At one point, a woman who can barely afford the $120 inhaler she needs at home finds one in a Cuban drugstore for 5 cents. One must ask whether the American inhaler really is 2400 times better than the Cuban one. The American one probably is safer and works better, but is that added safety and performance really worth pricing it out of reach of the poor?

One thing that this movie does well is to illustrate the hopelessness of the American poor. The movie includes an interview with English Labour Party parliamentarian Tony Benn, in which he says, "People in debt become hopeless, and hopeless people don't vote." That interview summed up a lot of my frustration in working with poor people. Many of them feel so helpless that they are unwilling to do the very simple things that will help them in the long run, like voting. The movie could stand to have a dose of hopefulness. It ends with no great call to action. The viewer is left feeling equally hopeless about how to fix the system.

As a Christian, I came away from this movie feeling shame: shame that I have known people in very similar situations to the people in this movie, and that I have done so little to help them. At the very least, I could listen to their stories, but I'm so busy trying to get tenure that I have no time for them. Isn't helping others what Christianity is all about (I guess it's the second commandment, next to loving God, if you want to get technical)? Whether you agree with Moore or not, don't let your reaction to this movie keep you from acting constructively. It's shameful that we have allowed our health-care system to move beyond the reach of so many of our neighbors. We need to help them, with or without insurance companies.