Sicko Medical System Debated

Michael Moore's  Sicko is a powerful expose of what is wrong with our health care system  This is simply a must see for everyone, even if you think you are fully insured.  While I don't agree with his solution, I have never seen a better portrayal of what is wrong with the US health care system.

The movie chronicles Moore's interpretations of the problems with the conventional health care industry. And no matter what Moore's critics may argue, there can be no debate that the current medical system, run by multi national corporations with an eye on their profits rather than on your health, is fatally flawed.

What I would caution you though is to ignore Moore's solutions. He would have the US government pay for all the care for the uninsured. While the movie makes some compelling arguments and it might make sense for acute traumas, the bulk of the disease in this country are chronic degenerative diseases.

With the government NOT paying for these expenses the US is already paying more than two trillion dollars a year for "health care" and headed to three trillion per year by the end of the decade.

If the government assumes these costs it will bankrupt the country even faster.

The real solution to all the non trauma disasters that Michael documents is to revert back to natural healing that treats the cause of the disease. I carefully document a comprehensive plan in my ne book, Take Control of Your Health.

A 2001 U.S. study showed that about half of all bankruptcies in 2001 were the result of medical problems -- and most of those who went bankrupt for this reason (more than three-quarters) were covered by health insurance at the start of the illness. Medical bankruptcies affect more than 2 million annually.

It is true that the guaranteed health care practiced by almost all other industrialized nations isn't always perfect. It costs money in taxes, and there can be long waits, especially for problems that are not critical. But most people are already shelling out thousands of dollars each year in insurance premiums, and long waits are infinitely preferable to simply being denied care because the insurance company doesn't want to pay out -- a situation that happens far more often than you might think.

There is no question that we have an ever-increasing insurance crisis in this country for medical coverage. Please don't let the media persuade you otherwise -- this problem is only going to get worse. The solution is to change the entire system. Unless we change the system, drug companies will continue to extract hundreds of billions of dollars from our economy with virtually no benefit -- other than making themselves richer.

The solution is to redirect the spending to care that will build the health of the country. When our nation is focused on health achievement, rather than disease treatment, the total cost of providing medical care would dramatically decline, because healthy people require less medical resources.