Sicko

I was watching Micheal Moore's documentary "Sicko" the other day with my dad. Yes, we're a fairly geeky family, we love documentaries... Nonetheless, it was amazing how American politics tend to favor the bigger conglomerates, ie: Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross which are HMO's.

It was amazing even that in this amazing time of universal healthcare, the Americans tend to dismiss the old, underprivileged citizens. It was shown how most hospitals take care of the citizens that do not have enough medical coverage - they dump them in a cab to take them to skid row because that's the best bed in town. In skid row, they can find charity-driven institutions to care for them. There was a footage shown wherein an older lady was dumped by a cab near the curb of the hospice, dazed and confused, in a hospital gown. Had it not been for the hospice, the older woman would have died freezing and confused still in the middle of skid row with no idea what was already done to her in terms of medical attention. Kaiser Permanente has asked the initial hospital she went to to dump her in skid row.

Another noteworthy sequence was talking about the 9-11 rescue workers. While then mayor Guiliani has proposed that the city will take care of the firemen, and several thousand government-employed rescue workers, they failed to take into consideration the volunteer firefighters and the rescue workers - primarily EMTs which made it to Ground Zero to risk their lives only to find out that the government will not even give them a single cent for their healthcare. Of the three that were interviewed, all of them have given up their jobs, their families and their apartments in New York because of the cost and the incredibly ridiculous cost of medicines that the government "doesn't owe them".

Apparently, the terrorists from Al-Queda who are currently being held in the camp located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba currently have been receiving excellent healthcare from the military medical team.

Moore rounded up his team of sick Americans and brought them to Guantanamo Bay, in hopes of receiving the same healthcare being given to the terrorist captives. Upon arriving at Guantanamo Bay, the officers of the said military camp sounded a siren - indicating that Moore and his party had to leave or else, be shot in the waters. It was an amazing thing - to be turned away by the same people who care for those that live with the terrorist captives.

They rounded the entire party and went to Cuba instead where everyone - including the 9-11 volunteer rescue workers - were given immediate medical attention. Asthma medications cost USD0.05 when it costs a wqhopping USD100.00 or so in the US. It was heartbreaking to see one of the rescue workers break down in the middle of the filming of the documentary - she was shaking her head and said "This is an insult... 5 cents here? And I had to pay so much for it in the US?".

Another heartbreaking scene was when the fire department of Havana, Cuba paid homage to the volunteer rescue workers that were in Havana. It was a touching scene when the Fire Marshall mentioned that "Fire fighters in the whole world are a family." (In my halting Spanish, he basically mentioned that we're all brothers, but the subtitles indicated something else.) They also mentioned that it was an honor standing in front of those who scarificed through the 9-11 tragedy. It was a touching scene. In New York, no one knew who these people were, let alone cared for them. In Cuba, they were seen as heroes...and as people who needed to be treated with respect.

Now my question is, why the hell is the Philippines so enamored with everything that came from the US? The cars, the bling, the shows, the movies, the lifestyle, the politics?

The HMOs here are being as evil as Kaiser Permanente. There's nothing wrong with making money. But OMG, the incredible things that people do to make sure that no one receives anythingt for free brinsg me back to the days when I used to work in PGH. It was cramped, dark and gloomy, with only a PHP1000.00 limit for all in-patients who needed medicines.

This is the life we live. The life that is patterned after the incredibly duplicitous laws of the United States. When will we ever learn? Socialized healthcare is not the answer.