Dear Reader,
Michael Moore’s new movie Sicko hit me hard. I found heartbreaking the unnecessary suffering our heath care system causes so many Americans. But I also felt this powerful film could change public opinion about U.S. health care the way An Inconvenient Truth changed the public view on global warming.
Real change, however, doesn’t come just from watching a film. It will happen only if a great many ordinary citizens seize the moment. Here are six suggestions for how you can stir the public dialogue and help get our lawmakers to fix the U.S. health care system.
See Sicko. No matter how you feel about Michael Moore, bring friends and encourage everyone you know to see this film. See the film in your local theater or contact Sicko producers to show it in your church, union, workplace, or community group.
Talk with others. Share your own health care experiences and ask your friends about theirs. Most of us know someone who’s had problems with the health care system. Learn about others’ experience and use those stories to push for change.
Learn the facts so you can counter arguments against changing the system. Did you know that the U.S. is the only major industrialized country without universal health care coverage? Do you know how we compare to other countries on costs and outcomes? Here are some important facts.
Choose a solution. Moore has a three-point proposal for fixing the U.S. healthcare system:
i) Provide free health care to all U.S. residents;
ii) Abolish the health insurance companies;
iii) Regulate the pharmaceuticals industry.
As an immediate step, he supports HR 676, a bill in the House of Representatives that would extend Medicare to everyone. Those are his views. What are yours? You may find helpful a chart we prepared at YES! that compares eight coverage models. We also outlined basic principles that should underlie a good health care system, and compared the U.S. with Canada. See more YES! health care articles.
Let your views be known. Tell your lawmakers in simple, heartfelt language what you think. Your voice gives your representatives cover to fight the lobbyists and do what’s right. Don’t forget your state legislators–there are many state initiatives pending. You can find state initiatives at the Physicians for a National Health Program. Write letters to your newspaper and call in to radio talk shows. Making your views public gives others courage to speak out.
Forward this email and invite friends and colleagues to discuss it with you. With elections on the horizon and discontent about the U.S. health care system running deep, we have a special window of opportunity to improve the system. You can be part of it.
Thanks for reading this. Together, we can bring the U.S. into the 21st century with a responsible and inclusive health care system.
Fran Korten
Publisher, YES! Magazine
