Health care film exposes sore issue
Whether for or against reform, industry experts are eager to watch ‘Sicko’
By Daniel Lee and John Russell
The Indianapolis Star
June 27, 2007
When controversial filmmaker Michael Moore’s blistering critique of the U.S. health care system hits Indiana theaters Friday, a Hoosier group that supports a government-run health care system will be waiting outside in search of converts.
“For our point of view, the timing is terrific,” said Dr. Christopher Stack, a retired Indianapolis surgeon who co-founded Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan, a group that advocates for government-run health care. “It will get people talking.”
The group couldn’t agree more with Moore’s prescription — a move that would guarantee coverage for every American and presumably put Indianapolis-based WellPoint and other health insurance companies out of business.
Members of Stack’s group — including health care workers who will be encouraged to wear their medical scrubs — plan to be at theaters in Bloomington and maybe Indianapolis handing out literature and chatting up moviegoers.
Stack hopes the movie generates broad public and political support for a government-run health care system. “It’s never been taken seriously by the powers that be,” he said.
Love him or hate him, Michael Moore is focusing debate about health care in the United States.
And the movie’s message is expected to stir emotions, especially in the Indianapolis area — home to the nation’s largest health insurer, WellPoint; pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co.; and thousands of other health-industry workers.
WellPoint and Lilly are not featured prominently, but their industries are portrayed as more focused on profits than patients.
The film features allegations that WellPoint’s Blue Cross of California subsidiary had a systematic practice of illegally canceling some members’ policies after they got sick. The company has denied any wrongdoing.
Lilly is not verbally mentioned in the film; the only reference is a fleeting image of a Lilly corporate building sign during a broad attack on the U.S. drug industry for its support of the Medicare prescription drug law of 2003.
Other insurers featured include Louisville, Ky.-based Humana and Philadelphia-based Cigna.
“Sicko” focuses on a string of health care horror stories from Americans, contrasted by idealized portraits of nationalized health care systems in Canada, France, Great Britain and even Cuba.
Critics slam Moore for his style of filmmaking, which they say is agenda-driven and based on carefully selected facts. America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group that represents WellPoint and others, said neither Moore nor his staff contacted any of the companies mentioned in the movie to get their side of the story.
But even some in health care who may not agree with Moore seem eager to see the film.
“I do look forward to seeing it. That’s what I do for a living,” said Matt Gutwein, chief executive of the Marion County Health and Hospital Corp., which runs Wishard Memorial Hospital. “I do think our system is broken. I think it’s unsustainable in its current course.”
However, Gutwein blames the structure of the U.S. health care system, not the health insurers themselves.
“The vast majority of insurance companies, they play by the rules,” he added. “And they’re not the ones who made those rules.”
WellPoint, in response to the movie, said any reform of the U.S. health care system should be based on consumer choice, not a “one-size-fits-all” system. “Given our millions of members, our trusted Blue and UniCare brands, and our interactions with patients and doctors, WellPoint is in a great position to help make the system work,” spokesman Jim Kappel said.
“Sicko,” however, portrays WellPoint in a different way. The company’s Blue Cross of California unit was accused of canceling some members’ policies after they got sick and ran up high medical bills. The company, which denied any wrongdoing, this year settled a class-action lawsuit stemming from the controversy.
The members had claimed that WellPoint would review members’ insurance applications after they got sick looking for any untruth or undisclosed medical condition to deny their claims.
“Sicko” portrays one woman who said her policy was canceled because she had not disclosed a prior yeast infection.
The drug industry also comes under attack from Moore when he compares prescription drug prices in the U.S. to those elsewhere. Moore discovers that an inhaler that would cost an American with a respiratory disease $120 in the U.S. is available in Cuba for about 5 cents, although he does not verify that the medicine is identical or even Food and Drug Administration-approved.
Eli Lilly, long known for supporting free-market health care, takes issue with Moore’s sweeping push for a government- managed health care system.
“These government systems have been given numerous chances to work in other nations, and evidence suggests they are far from ideal,” the company said in a statement. “A single-payer system eliminates competition and hinders quality improvements by slowing the pace of innovation.”
Regina Herzlinger, a professor at the Harvard Business School, said despite its shortcomings, “Sicko” taps into an issue that is ripe for debate.
“It’s disgusting that a country as rich as ours doesn’t have insurance for everybody,” said Herzlinger, also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a New York think tank.
But she has major disagreements with Moore’s promotion of a government takeover of health care. “I don’t want the government to run it. I want you and me to run it.”
Herzlinger advocates having employers no longer providing workers with health insurance as a benefit. Citizens would be required to buy insurance, with rates depending on a person’s age, sex and location, with no one excluded for a pre-existing condition. Subsidies would be available for the poor.
Local health reform advocate Stack envisions a Medicare-like insurance plan for all Americans.
That debate is likely to rage on long after “Sicko” has had its run.