Sicko Page #7

I can't pick up

any laundry detergent here?

No. I haven't been trained for that many

years to be selling detergents, so no.

(Moore) I next went to a state-run hospital.

Operated by the National Health Service.

(woman # 4) I'm due in seven weeks

and I get six months off, paid.

And then I can have six months off unpaid

as well, so I'm actually taking a year.

(Moore) Well, that sounds

like a luxury where I'm from.

Oh, really, it's not like that in the US?

No? Not at all, no?

(Moore) So what do you pay

for a stay here?

No one pays.

They were asking how do people pay.

I said there isn't...

You don't, you just leave.

It's national insurance.

There's no bill at the end of it, as it were.

(Moore) Even with insurance.

There's bound to be a bill somewhere.

- So where's the billing department?

- There isn't a billing department.

There's no such thing.

(Moore) What did they charge

for that baby?

- Sorry?

- You gotta pay before you can get out?

- No. This is NHS.

- No, no. Everything is on NHS.

You know, it's not America.

(Moore) Maybe I'd have better luck in the

part where things get seriously expensive.

This guy broke his ankle.

How much will this cost him?

The emergency room visit. He'll have

some huge bill when he's done, right?

Here... NHS, everything is free.

(Moore) I'm asking about hospital charges

and you're laughing.

I was never asked this question

in the emergency department, that's why.

(Moore) I was starting to fall

for this "everything is free" bit.

And then I discovered this.

So this is where people come to pay

their bill when they're done staying here?

No, this is the NHS hospital,

so you don't pay the bill.

You get to just go home?

Why does it say "cashier" here

if people don't have to pay a bill?

All we have is a little man

who stands behind a counter

and he gives people money

if they've had to pay for transport.

Those who have reduced means

get their travel expenses reimbursed.

Thank you.

(Moore) So in British hospitals. Instead

of money going into the cashier's window.

Money comes out.

The criteria for letting you out

are not if you've paid,

the criteria are, are you fit to go

and are you going somewhere safe?

(Moore) Clearly. I was just

the butt of a joke here.

What I needed

was a good old-fashioned American

who would have some understanding.

(woman #5) I first came to London in 1992.

And we just ended up staying

and we had three children here.

Well, I had them all on the NHS, which is

the British National Health Service.

I think, like a lot of Americans,

assumed that a socialized medicine

was just bottom of the rung treatment,

that the only way would be horrible

and it would be like the Soviet Union.

I mean, that's kind of how...

- And it's terrible that that's what I thought.

- (Moore) That's what I thought. Too.

After having a baby.

It's right back to the wheat fields.

(singing in Russian)

And then it occurred to me

that back home in America.

We've socialized a lot of things.

I kind of like having a police department

and fire department and the library.

And I got to wondering. Why don't we

have more of these free. Socialized things.

Like healthcare?

When did this whole idea that every British

citizen should have a right to healthcare?

Well, if you go back,

it all began with democracy.

Before we had the vote all the power

was in the hands of rich people.

If you had money, you could get

healthcare, education,

look after yourself when you were old.

And what democracy did

was to give the poor the vote.

And it moved power from the marketplace

to the polling station.

From the wallet to the ballot.

And what people said was very simple.

They said, "In the 1930s,

we had mass unemployment."

"But we don't have unemployment

during the war."

"If you can have full employment

by killing Germans,

why can't we have it by building hospitals,

schools, recruiting nurses and teachers?"

If you can find money to kill people,

you can find money to help people.

Right.

This leaflet that was issued

was very, very straightforward.

- What year was this?

- This was 1948.

"Your new National Health Service

begins on the 5th of July."

"What is it? How do you get it?"

"It will provide you with all

medical, dental and nursing care."

"Everyone, rich or poor, man, woman

or child, can use it or any part of it."

"There are no charges,

except for a few special items."

"There is no insurance qualifications,

but it is not a charity."

"You are paying for it

mainly as taxpayers,

and it will relieve your money worries

in times of illness."

Now, somehow,

the few words sum the whole thing up.

(Moore) I was amazed

when he said this all started in 1948.

The British had come out of a devastating

experience through World War II.

The country was destroyed

and nearly bankrupt.

They had nothing.

In just one eight-month period.

Over 42.000 civilians lost their lives.

What we went through

in to hours on 911.

They went through

nearly every single day.

Remember how we all felt after 911 ?

All of us pulling together?

I guess that's how they felt.

And the first way that they decided

to pull together after the war

was to provide free medical care

for everyone.

Even Mrs. Thatcher said, "The National

Health Service is safe in our hands."

It's as non-controversial

as votes for women.

Nobody could say,

"Why should women have the vote?" now.

People wouldn't have it,

they wouldn't in Britain.

They wouldn't accept the deterioration or

destruction of the National Health Service.

If Thatcher or Blair said, "I'm going

to dismantle national healthcare..."

There would have been a revolution.

(# "Street Fighting Man"

by The Rolling Stones)

(reporter #9) A report from the AMA

into the health of 55- to 64-year-olds

says Brits are far healthier

than Americans.

(man #8) For every illness that we looked

at. Americans had more of it than English.

(reporter #9) Cancer. Heart disease.

Hypertension. Strokes. Lung disease.

All significantly higher for Americans.

Even the poorest people in England

with all the environmental factors that give

them the worst health in the country

can expect to live longer

than the wealthiest people in America.

(Moore) I was wondering. Though.

What's it like for the doctors here in Britain.

Who have to live

under this kind of state control?

And you're a family doctor?

Yeah, I suppose we'd call them GPs

or general practitioners here.

- Right, so you have a family practice?

- Yeah, it's an NHS practice.

We have nine doctors in that practice.

- Paid for by the government?

- Yeah.

You work for the government?

You're a government-paid doctor.

A patient comes to you.

Before you treat them, do you have to call

the government insurance company

before you treat them?

No, I don't deal with money at all

on an everyday basis.

Have you ever had to say no to someone

who was sick and needed help?

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote