Sicko

I went to see Michael Moore's new film "Sicko" last night and I really enjoyed it. As with his other films its a roller coaster of emotion as he moves from funny/heartwarming scenes one minute to sad/heartbreaking scenes the next. The film leaves you in no doubt that for profit health care is a very bad idea, for example, when one of these insurance companies has to make a payment its termed a "Medical Loss". In this environment the profit motive sweeps all before it and its the people who suffer. There were a lot of hard cases featured in the movie but my greatest sympathy was reserved for the couple who went bankrupt at age 60+ and had to move in with their daughter who seemed slightly resentful at the prospect: the small room she put them in hadn't even been cleared out (it contained a PC desk, display case and chest of drawers, but no bed) and bunk beds where mentioned for the parents to sleep in - nightmare!

The worrying thing from an Irish perspective is that Harney et al seem intent on bringing the US model here and the way to do that is to throughly undermine and destroy public confidence in the health service while at the same time touting the benefits on competition and private health insurance. I'm sad to say I imagine they will be successful, not only where the current bunch of crooks and liars returned to office but the Greens have totally sold out and the opposition are a bunch spineless centrists who will continue to do the bidding of whomever's got the money. We're screwed!