Sicko Page #8

- No, never.

- Have you heard of anyone

being in the hospital and being removed

because they couldn't pay their bill?

No, never.

And I wouldn't want to work in that system.

So working for the government,

you probably have to use public transport?

No. I have a car that I use

and I drive to work.

An old beater?

You live in a rough part of town?

I live in a terrific part of town.

It's called Greenwich.

It's a lovely house.

It's a three-story house.

(Moore) How many other families

have to live with you?

There's four bedrooms for my wife

and my son. It's just the three of us there.

- (Moore) How much did you pay for that?

- L550,000. Yes, almost.

(Moore) So, a million dollars?

You're a government-paid doctor on a

national health insurance healthcare plan,

- and you live in a million-dollar home?

- Yes.

- I think my friends think we do quite well.

- Really? How well do you do?

I earn around 85,000,

including pension.

- L85,000?

- L85,000 a year.

And that includes pension

that they would pay in to me.

They probably earn just

over L100,000 within my practice.

- L100,000? So that's almost $ 200,000?

- Yes, absolutely.

The money that we earn,

we get paid by what we do.

So the better we do for our patients,

then the more we get paid.

- What do you mean?

- There's a new system.

And in that new system, if the most number

of your patients have low blood pressures,

or you get most of your patients

to stop smoking,

or you get your patients to have

mental health reviews if they're unwell,

or low cholesterols,

then you get paid more.

This year, if you get more people

that are your patients to stop smoking,

you'll get more money,

you'll earn more?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

So doctors in America do not have to fear

having a universal healthcare?

No. I think if you want to have

two or three million-dollar homes

and four or five nice cars

and six or seven nice televisions,

then maybe, yeah, you need to practice

somewhere where you can earn that.

But I think we live comfortably here.

London is expensive,

but I think we live comfortably.

You're getting by OK on the million-dollar

home, the Audi, and the flat-screen TV?

Yeah, we're coping with those.

I think democracy is the most

revolutionary thing in the world.

Far more revolutionary than

socialist ideas, or anybody else's idea.

Because if you have power, you use it

to meet the needs of your community.

And this idea of choice which capital

talks about, "you've got to have a choice,"

choice depends

on the freedom to choose.

If you're shackled with debt,

you don't have a freedom to choose.

(Moore) It seems it benefits the system if

the average person is shackled with debt.

People in debt become hopeless,

and hopeless people don't vote.

They always say

everyone should vote,

but I think if the poor in Britain

or the United States

voted for people

who represented their interests,

it would be a real democratic revolution.

So they don't want it to happen. So keeping

people hopeless and pessimistic...

See, I think there are two ways

in which people are controlled.

First of all, frighten people,

and secondly, demoralize them.

An educated, healthy and confident

nation is harder to govern.

And I think there's an element

in the thinking of some people:

"We don't want people to be

educated, healthy and confident,

because they would get out of control."

The top 1 % of the world's population

own 80% of the world's wealth.

It's incredible that people put up with it,

but they're poor,

they're demoralized, they're frightened.

And therefore, they think

perhaps the safest thing to do

is to take orders and hope for the best.

(Moore) And hope for the best

is what we do.

Right from the moment we're born.

We've got the worst infant mortality rate

in the western world.

A baby born in El Salvador

has a better chance of surviving

than a baby born in Detroit.

But it gets better

when we go to school.

(man #9) Classrooms with 40 students.

Schools with no labs.

(Moore) No wonder the majority

of our adults can't find Britain on a map.

But that's OK.

There's always college.

By the time we graduate.

Our ass is so in hock.

We're in debt before our first job.

I'm at about... we'll say about $35,000

in debt. That's for my third year in college.

(Moore) You'll be the employee they're

looking for - one who needs this job.

What employer wouldn't employ someone

thousands of dollars in debt.

Because they won't cause any trouble?

In addition to paying off your college debt.

You need a job with health insurance.

It would be horrible

to lose that job. Wouldn't it?

You can always quit, you know. There's

no law that says you have to work here.

(Moore) If that one job

doesn't pay all the bills. Don't worry.

You can get another one.

And another one. And another one.

I work three jobs,

and I feel like I contribute.

- You work three jobs?

- Three jobs, yes.

Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean,

that is fantastic that you're doing that.

Get any sleep?

(Moore) If you're not sleeping.

Take pharmaceuticals.

(man #10) You're tired all the time.

You feel sad.

(woman #8) If you suffer

from excessive worry...

(woman #9) Generalized anxiety disorder.

(woman #10) It could be adult ADD.

- (woman #11) Ask your doctor.

- (man #11) Ask your doctor.

(Moore) Yes. Ask your doctor.

And ask him for more drugs.

That should keep you doped up

until it's time to retire.

Did I say retire? (laughs)

If you make it to 80.

Your pension will still be there.

Unlike the new employees for these

companies. Who'll never see a pension.

But I'm sure our kids will take care of us.

Considering the great life we've given 'em.

Remember. Let's defeat the terrorists over

there so we don't have to fight them here.

Kaiser Permanente

is the largest HMO in the country.

And Dawnelle Keyes was fortunate

enough to be fully insured by them.

It's a good thing. Because one night.

Her 18-month-old daughter. Mychelle.

Developed a fever of over 104.

So. Like any responsible mom.

She called 911.

And the ambulance took Mychelle

to the closest hospital.

The hospital checked with her HMO

and they were told that Kaiser would not

cover the tests and the antibiotics

necessary to treat Mychelle.

She would have to take her to

an in-netork. Kaiser-owned hospital.

Kaiser said that I should

bring her by car to the hospital,

and that she shouldn't be treated

at Martin Luther King.

I just continued to ask them

to treat her, and they refused.

My daughter got worse

and she had a seizure.

(Moore) Dawnelle begged doctors to not

listen to Kaiser and to treat her daughter.

I was escorted out of the hospital

because they felt that I was a threat.

(Moore) After hours of delay.

She was transported to Kaiser.

And got there just in time

to go into cardiac arrest.

They worked on her for about 30 minutes,

trying to revive her.

And the doctors came in

and let us know that she had expired.

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