go see SiCKO…please!

i saw SiCKO. and i loved it. everyone should see it. it is my hope that the people who need to see it, see it. we went sunday night with friends and had a nice chat afterwards. i was already in a funk going in the film. coming off the news that D had been discharged and knowing he needed help and fast. since then i spoke with D on the phone and he’s not doing well. (see previous blogs) the meds are destroying him. i asked him what he was on because i was told by O it was an anti-anxiety and anti-depressant. he didn’t know. he explained his memory is so bad he can’t even remember the names of medications prescribed to him just three days prior. i was about to ask him to get the pill bottles and read them to me until i realized it didn’t matter. he told me he was drinking. he told me he only finds peace with a buzz or during sleep. i asked him to stop drinking while on the meds. but he won’t and i know that. i asked him to speak with his doctor about trying one medication. even if at a high dose. he said he would but he mother kept interfering with his meds. she still lives in the world of trusting the doctors word. she believes what they tell him to take, will save him. cure him. even after seeing what the numerous meds have done to him over the years. he’s not working. he can’t drive. and he wants more than anything a normal life. it’s the expectation of whatever a normal life is that is destroying him. along with the mental health care system and the pharmaceutical medications. soon, i fear, he will be lost. and alone. or dead. and i can’t do a damn thing about it.

and so i’m asking you to go see SiCKO. and tell your friends to see it. no matter what you think of michael moore, please, i beg you…go see it. see the big picture. the american health care system is a disaster. insurance companies, doctors, politicians and pharmaceutical companies are profiting at our expense. there are nearly 50 million americans without health insurance. 18,000 americans will die this year simply because they’re uninsured. the united states is ranked #37 as a health system by the world health organization.

and check out these salaries:

Michael B McAllister earned $3.33 million in compensation as CEO of Humana. “Forbes 2006 Executive Pay list,” April 20, 2006.

John W Rowe earned $22.2 million in compensation as CEO of Aetna. Rowe has since left Aetna. “Forbes 2004 Executive Pay list,” April 21, 2005.

Bill McGuire has stock options worth $1.6 billion at the end of 2005, as CEO of UnitedHealth Group. Robert Simison, “SEC Investigates UnitedHealth Over Stock-Options Practices,” Bloomberg News, December 27, 2006

and if you think hilary clinton is a great candidate:

Hillary Clinton became the second largest recipient in the Senate of health care industry contributions.

“As she runs for re-election to the Senate from New York this year and lays the groundwork for a possible presidential bid in 2008, Mrs. Clinton is receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from doctors, hospitals, drug manufacturers and insurers. Nationwide, she is the No. 2 recipient of donations from the industry, trailing only Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a member of the Republican leadership.” Raymond Hernandez and Robert Pear, “Once an Enemy, Health Industry Warms to Clinton,” New York Times, July 12, 2006.

we can do something about it-you can start by going: here. sign the petition. write congress.
we can’t sit back and complain anymore- it’s time to DO SOMETHING.