I have a confession to make.  A physician for 50 years, I just went to see Michael Moore's "Sicko".  Bottom line: it's worth seeing.  The following is a brief critique. 

The facts are that this country, founded on individual initiative and risk-taking, is now suffused in greed, great and small.  Too many of us, the more recent generations, forgot or never learned the values of our parents and grandparents: sacrifice, delayed gratification, a work ethic, and just plain ethics.  The massive increase in cyber-connectivity has produced the paradoxical effect of a reduction in personal socialization with our neighbors and our community.  Thus, the Me Generations and the greatly reduced attention to the less fortunate among us.  We detest compromise.  We want it all, and now.  We have no interest in rationing and prioritizing our desires and needs for any common good. 

 

So, what is the solution to the problems of our health care delivery system?  The answer is in the plural: a living wage for all; health insurance that is portable and not tied to specific employment; personal responsibility for health and health care costs, as embodied in Health Savings Accounts; subsidized help for the deserving underserved, but not for the health care gamblers among us who can afford but won't purchase health insurance; reduce "defensive medicine" by placing malpractice claims in Health Courts, in mediation and arbitration instead of in the national lottery of tort law. 

 

Two recent articles are directly on point and deserve a careful read: 1) "Socialized Medicine Showdown", by Kimberly Strassel, WSJ Friday, June 29, Opinion, pA14; and 2) "Who's Really  'Sicko'", by David Gratzer, WSJ Thursday, June 28, Opinion, pA13.  This second article is a nearly point by point rebuttal of Michael Moore's movie.  JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM.