Well, I had written up a very thoughtful review and then accidentally clicked the wrong button and all was lost... Argh! ***SPOILERS***

Sicko was a very thought provoking film. This time around Michael Moore chose to point his finger at the U.S. Healthcare system. This system is broken. Whether you are republican, democrat, independent, liberal or conservative I think we can all agree on this. Well, maybe not everyone. I am sure that the CEO's of the HMO's who have all become billionaires are all pretty content with the way things have been going. As a middle class professional who has health insurance, I am definitely not happy and am tired of the status quo.

When it takes a film crew taking a boat to Cuba to get proper medical care for dedicated 9/11 rescue workers we know we have a problem. When the Cuban doctors perform expensive tests and dental reconstruction without asking for a penny, we know we have a problem. When a man has to choose which of his 2 fingers he can afford to save while the other gets thrown in the trash, we obviously have a problem. Or how about a woman who has taken her dying infant daughter to the emergency room but her HMO refuses to allow the doctors to treat her there since it is an "out-of-network" hospital. The child dies 30 minutes after arriving at the "in-network" hospital. Seriously?

Moore paints a very real picture of the U.S. system compared to universal healthcare systems of Canada, Cuba, England and France. Imagine, you are sick and you can walk into any hospital and get treatment, no matter what it is, and not pay a penny for the time you are there. Sure, you pay higher taxes for this privilege, but is that not worth it? In the U.S., those of us with healthcare are giving money out of every paycheck to cover us in times of need. Or so we think… These insurance companies are FOR PROFIT institutions and withhold care whenever possible, leaving us high and dry. I would much rather give more money in taxes from every paycheck and know that if something happens and I need medical care that I will nto have to worry about going to a hospital because it may cost me a fortune. There is something to be said about peace of mind….

I recommend everyone see this film and take the time to educate yourself about the current healthcare situation we are in. Do your research, find out for yourself. Then, when it comes to picking your candidate for president in 2008, make sure he or she supports a SOLUTION to the healthcare crisis we as a nation need to solve. Hilary Clinton, like her or not, tried to get the nation talking about this when her husband was president. Maybe we all should have listened.