1.) PRECIS:
In this documentary I condemn American health insurance and pharmaceutical companies, as well as the politicians who have been paid millions to do their bidding. I then state that America is ignorant for not having learned from many other industrialized countries whom have great working free health care, so I expose them! Firstly I show the consequences of being ill in America with & without health insurance, which range from bankruptcy to un-necessary deaths. I then proceed to contrast this with the exploration of free health care systems in Canada, France, Britain, and Cuba, debunking all the fears (lower quality of care, poorer compensation for doctors, big-government bureaucracy) that have been used to dissuade Americans from establishing such a system here. The failure of such a system in America I have traced to President Richard Nixon's deceptive support of the then-emerging HMOs pursuing huge profits and insufficient pressures for Congress to sacrifice corporate profit for sound health care.
2.) EVIDENCE:
a. FACT #1 "$100 million spent to defeat Hillary's health care plan." FACT #2 "Like Canadians and Brits, the French live longer than we do"
b. FACT #1 is important for supporting Moore’s argument because it shows the masses of money that few elitist hold (republican politicians) are being wasted on preventing care for others. $100 million could have been used to treat people instead of preventing their treatment. It also shows the sole purpose of such an act is greed spending these sums so that later on the HMO's can rake it in. FACT #2 is crucial to supporting Moore’s argument because he places these countries on a pedestal for having free health insurance so he needs to exemplify what is good about such a quality. The leading causes of death are bad health (obviously) and health care is there to improve the people’s health, so if the health is so great it creates a longer life span, this is the essential goal!
d. According to United Nations Human development report (2006) FACT#2 was correct, stating, “the life expectancy in the United States is 77.5, the United Kingdom is 78.5, France is 79.6, and Canada is 80.2.” http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/pdfs/report/HDR06-complete.pdf
3.) RESPONSE:
I enjoyed SiCKO, the first time I saw it I was in 8th grade and was aware of occurrences in the United Sates but I was a lot dumber obviously. I was still able to understand the basics of the issue and what needed to be changed. I think that a certain simplicity and a desire to watch is important in such documentaries because it is an important issue that needs to be exposed to all Americans of all intelligence and age. I also think the way Moore portrays other countries free health care systems has a certain simplicity to it that I think is important to motivating our scared into submission citizens. If we want our people to fight back we need to illustrate HOW POSSIBLE dreams being accomplished are, if people act up.
Eloise,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that you describe Michael Moore's simple portrayal of other countries as a positive thing, because it scares citizens into submissions. Why do you think that the idea of free health care systems in other countries motivates citizens in the US to be submissive? Do you think that Michael Moore was right in portraying health care systems in a cartoony light? These are ideas that, if elaborated upon, could benefit your last paragraph.
Your precis was refreshingly straightforward, by the way. I enjoyed your bravery in switching things up, even if it wasn't intentional.