Sicko by Michael Moore - Assignment Example

For Annotation 1. Sicko by Michael Moore is a documentary film of 2007 which investigated health care issues in the United States (Moore film). The film focused specifically on health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. Moore compared universal health care systems in United Kingdom, Cuba, France Canada and US. The research revealed that about fifty million Americans were uninsured while the rest of the Americans were victims of company fraud and red tape despite the fact that they were covered by the insurance. The World Health Organization ranks the health care system in US 37 out of 191(Moore film). The organization took appropriate health measures like infant mortality and life expectancy and compared US with countries with less economic wealth before ranking it. Moore interviewed individuals who though they were adequately covered under medical insurance, they could not access the care (Moore film). Former employees of insurance companies were also asked to give their views concerning cost-cutting initiatives which gave bonus to insurance company medical personnel. The respondents argued that companies try to avoid the costs necessary for medical treatments for policy holders hence increasing the profitability of the companies. For instance in Canada, Moore has described how Tommy Douglas was voted the greatest Canadian in 2004 for contributing generously to the Canadian health system. A micro surgeon was also interviewed among other people who were in the emergency room waiting to be attended (Moore film). Canadians revealed that their insurance covers allow them to access free medical care, from one’s doctor of choice at any time. Most Canadians expressed bewilderment at the US system of charging the sick to provide care. They expressed deep satisfaction with their system. The residents of the United Kingdom praised their national health service as a comprehensive publicly funded health care system (Moore film). The interviewed people concerning medical expenses told Moore that they were not charged out of pocket payments in their medical system. Pharmaceuticals are free of charge to every citizen in UK according to one pharmacist interviewee who was interviewed by Moore (Moore film). In France, Moore managed to interview a head of obstetrics and gynecology and a group of American expatriates. He found out that the French medical service provides house calls by physicians to its citizens. In addition, the government provided numerous social services to its citizens such as public health education, neonatal support like cleaning, cooking and laundry for first time mothers and, general health care among other (Moore film). One interviewee expressed how the neonatal support had been of great benefit to her when she bore her first born. She had not prepared for the coming of the baby because she had not expected the pregnancy when she conceived but after the support and education, she was psychologically prepared to raise his lovely son Damian (Moore film). In Cuba, Moore found out that the country was giving free medical care to it citizens. The country was going an extra mile to provide free medical care to its enemy combatants who were detained in US (Moore film). Back in the US, interviews revealed that rescue workers who had volunteered after the attacks of 2001 could not access funds for care from the government. These volunteers developed psychological and physical maladies like respiratory disease after volunteering to assist the victims of the attack (Moore film). Due to the denial by the US government to offer these volunteers medical cover, they could not afford it in US. They decided to sail to Cuba from Miami to access free medical care provided to the enemy combatant who had been detained in US. The group was finally given free medical treatment in Cuba (Moore film). 2. Moore’s cheery and overwhelming positive healthcare presentation in other countries and depicting US to be on the negative extreme raises suspicion. He has relied on anecdotal evidence to prove that emergency waiting rooms in other countries other than US are effective and efficient and proved that patients and doctors get satisfied of socialized medicine as being an effective healthcare system (Moore film). Moore has glossed and failed to address some issues like the amount of taxation charged the citizens in these other countries for their healthcare, whether there are long waiting lists for some medical procedures like surgery and whether Canada’s system is extremely superior to US’s (Moore film). Moore has failed to highlight the disadvantages although he has highlighted the advantages of socialized medicine. He has also failed to present the disadvantages along with the advantages of his research. According to Moore, socialized medicine is a rose colored glass that undermines his credibility in the entire film (Moore film). 3. A country’s economic system supported by those in power shape its citizens’ outlook through liberal movements. Once those in power agree on certain matters and pass them, the government of that country has no option other than going by the views of majority in power. For instance, if those in power decide that every citizen must access free medical care, the economic system of that country will implement the view and the impact will be a health nation with low maternal and infant mortality as well as high life expectancy among its citizens (Wright 112). The healthy and strong citizens will consequently work to develop the nation without medical worries. The government has a major role to play in ensuring the medical welfare of its citizens, although some governments have to be pushed by those in power to implement such ideas. The potential economic consequences in countries that have universal health care system are high rates of development because citizens can access medical care whenever necessary without worrying about the costs. Low infant mortality rates and low maternal deaths because medical care is availed to all without discriminating against social class, religion, ethnicity or gender (Wright 167). Universal health care to all can also come along with negative consequences like lazing and inaccurate medical personnel especially those in public sector due to the increased number of patients in need for medical care. Countries intending to expand their health insurance coverage would need to generate adequate financial resources to cover health care expenditure surge in both short and long term runs. Slowing down the supply side response is likely to constrain the ability of the healthcare system in meeting the increasing demands hence the country must partake all possible precautions before indulging in the universal health care system (Wright 187). 4. Something that I have observed for seeing the general in the particular is gender inequality in the society. Most societies discriminate against women because of their biological make up and cultural orientation. For instance, biologically, female is the only gender which can carry the pregnancy and give birth to young ones. The society has used this aspect to discriminate against women in many fields like political, social and even economic fields. Because women carry pregnancy and give birth to young ones, the society has culturally assumed that the role of raising children and doing other domestic chores should be performed by women while men should work in white and blue collar jobs to provide the family with the daily bread. This assumption has denied potential women an opportunity to develop their societies and nations politically, socially and economically. The man is viewed from a different perspective and the woman is also viewed from a different perspective in the society. Women have been labeled the weak gender that cannot do extraneous jobs like engineering or lead countries as presidents (Wright 182). Although feminists have come up to protect and fight for the rights of women, still much needs to be done to change the perspective held in discriminating against women in the society. The perception has even affected the women themselves who have contended that they are weak and cannot compare themselves to men. These women need to reflect on the successful women in world who have led their countries as presidents or done great service in their countries and in the world at large. 5. Sports illustrate the symbolic interaction theoretical perspective in different ways. According to Blumer who is the founder of the theory, people act towards things depending on the meaning they attribute to them (Wright 192). People participate in sports because it is a hobby to them, some people does it to keep fit and healthy while others take sports to as an economic activity to generate income. People derive the meanings of sports through social interactions with other people who get to inform them of the benefits of sports. The meanings of sports are managed and transformed through an interpretive process used by people to derive sense out of and handle objects constituting their social worlds. For instance, there are various types of sports like soccer, rugby, swimming, basketball and athletics among others. Each of these sports requires unique objects to make them a success (Wright 202). Symbolic interaction emphasizes interactive determination to understand focal objects of analysis (Wright 232). For instance, each sport has its unique rules which should be followed when performing it. One can only be familiar with the rules if he or she interacts with the experts to understand them. One of the principles of the theory is symbolization. It highlights the process of the event and orients the individual. Some symbols like a ball in soccer highlights the object of focus and goals in the same sport symbolize the boundary of the playground in general and the boundary of every team involved (Wright 234). The other principle of the theory is emergence which focuses on attention for instance if a player is injured in sport. 6. All members of a society do not agree on what is determined to be social problems that require attention and interventions because of various background differences among people in the society. For instance, religious backgrounds contribute much to disagreements between members of the society (Wright 243). For example, Christians emphasize on monogamous marriages while Muslims allow polygamous marriages. Hence a Muslim and a Christian in the same society are likely to disagree to various ‘social problems’. Ethnic background can also contribute to disagreements (Wright 254). For instance a certain ethnic community may consider a certain type of food to be fit for human consumption while the other community considers the same type of food to be unfit for human consumption. These two individuals will disagree when they find themselves in the same society. Gender is another factor that may bring about disagreements (Wright 258). For instance, some communities do not allow women to eat certain parts of animals while men are never restricted from eating any part of the animal. Women consider this to be a discrimination based on them because of their gender and tend to rebel bringing about disagreements between themselves and men. What is defined to be a social problem in a society may be a problem to some members of the society and it might not be a social problem to other members from the same society. 7. The article Paradigm Assumptions and Defining Social Problems argues that personal troubles of the surroundings are different from the public issues that result from social structures (Wright 259). The article emphasizes on the importance of sociologists focusing in the origin of social problems before defining them (Wright 259). The article argues further that power and values mingle to determine social problems. The elites in the society are in a better place to shape social problems as compared to ordinary citizens (Wright 259). Consequently, the elites are in a better place to find solutions to social problems. 8. The conclusions of article on poverty and welfare programs are that the corporate elites can influence the general public to go against government decisions or force the government to implement their proposals like raising taxes, increasing unemployment benefits and raising minimum-wage laws to reduce poverty among others. Corporations and the rich in the society should be given ample time by their governments to generate wealth which will lead to job opportunity expansions and consequently lead to poverty reduction among citizens like in the US (Wright 262). Defining social problems requires power, societal value orientations and influence combined together. The same way, the three concepts are vital in finding solutions to the same social problems. Works Cited Moore, Michael. Sicko. http://vimeo.com/27262137<br, 2007 Wright, Mills C. The Sociological Imagination. USA: Oxford University Press, 1959. Print. Read More