We Need Moore Health Care

Director/Actor/Writer Michael Moore has a new documentary, Sicko, which was leaked on YouTube and other file sharing sites this past weekend. Moore is infamous for his documentaries Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 911.

Sicko is a documentary about health care in the United States, or for that matter, what health care?

In Sicko , Moore asked the United States Treasury Department for an OK to go to Cuba, where he wanted to get health care for three 9/11 rescue workers. With no response from the Treasury Department, Moore took the workers into Cuba to get them the health care they deserved, which would add a few years to their lives.

Moore claims that the workers were ill due to 9/11 and the U.S. government was not coming to their aid.

Students all around campus seemed to have the same conclusion to the health care problem that Moore shows in the documentary.

“Bottom line, he saved three people's lives. It shouldn’t be such a big problem,” said Brian Torres, a junior with a concentration in business.

This is one of the key facts: He saved three people who would have otherwise died here without having been treated. We are the richest country and we have our people suffer from not being able to have health care. I just don’t get it.

“It's OK [what Moore did], he saved people. Why should they have to suffer if we can do something about it?” said Keith McIntosh, a junior with his focus on communication.

The problem with people going to Cuba is that the United States does not want its people to be there; the only people allowed in are journalists. Moore asked the Treasury Department for permission to go there but they never responded, so he went on with his plans.

I don’t believe it is the government’s decision to say who goes where. If people know the problems behind where they are going, then it’s their call to travel into these foreign places.

“I believe that what Moore does helps the general public understand just how big the problems are that we seem to ignore on a daily basis,” says Nicole Carstensen, a sophomore studying communication. “He needs to go to these extremes so that things will change. Why can’t Americans have free health care? Our surrounding neighbors [Canada and Cuba] both have it.”

I agree that what Moore did was majorly extreme, and needed to be done. Why should the government attack him for trying to save people and prove his point?

The only way to get through to that many people is by mass media, in an "art" form. By making a movie out of the United States Issues, will make people understand just how horrible health care here is.

It’s time for Americans to take a stand and try their hardest to get free health care.

“Sicko” Trailer


There is a preview of “Sicko” at the Regal South Beach 18 in Miami on Saturday, June 23. It is scheduled to hit theaters on Friday, June 29.