Finally got around to watching Sicko

[FunkyLeprechaun]

I've always wanted to watch it when it first came out. I have two copies of it (one British and one American) due to the fact that the British version doesn't have the captions and my mother sent the American copy to me. I can watch it on my dvd player since it's multiregional.

Anyway it was particularly heartbreaking to watch this movie. I was one of the lucky few that were insured under a family plan (ie from my dad's workplace). Only one time I experienced being "uninsured" was when I was on my hospital bed getting ready for my 1st Cochlear Implant surgery on my right ear. I had chatted to my doctors about the surgery, etc. Then the doctors beckoned to my mother and told her that my insurance company had decided to reject my CI (they didn't see it as beneficial to my lifestyle!). As I was just about to get wheeled into theatre!

My surgeon was so upset that he declared that he was doing it for free. The clinic eventually talked to the insurance company and they agreed to paying for my surgery. That happened in 1997.

9 years later, I moved to the UK. Since I hold tri citizenship (The UK, US, and Ireland), it was easier for me to move there than my partner to move to the US. I was worried about settling into the UK, clinics and all. The driving particularly scared me.

I had just received a 2nd CI for my left ear before I moved here and the Nucleus Freedom had trouble with their first few CIs, as the screen was quite defective on it. (Would be turned on but you couldn't see which programme it was on)

I sent my left CI to my clinic in America to be replaced. I had to pay for it.

Then my replacement for my right ear was also defective I decided to arrange things with my GP to see a CI doctor here in the UK. Went up to Birmingham and saw the doctors there. Brought my right CI with me.

They said, "Oh you have one of those defective ones... *gets a new CI unit*"

Programmed it and all.

I also complained that the battery pack was a bit weighty (and leading to sores on my left ear), got a 2 battery pack container that attaches to my CI. I also got an attachment for an Ipod (the nifty thing about my CI is it's also "earphones" and I can attach walkmans/ipods to it with this special attachment).

I needed a new receiver as mine wore out a bit.

I sent my replacement left CI to America and I was charged $500 for it. I got my replacement right CI and it was free.

All the extras I had requested plus batteries.... free.

I can request batteries anytime and not have to pay for them. They are quite expensive in the US and not covered under insurance. Here the NHS covers them for the deaf people.

My GP visits are free of charge and the only thing I have to pay is a service fee at the pharmacy (which was like £2) and I get my meds for free. I also went to the family planning clinic and got my BC for free as well (unlike the US).

It was really truly a culture shock for me to get all of these for free. Being the typical American, I initially asked my CI doctor how much the attachments were (I even withdrew money just in case). She laughed at me (like the British people in SiCKO) and said, "It's free. You need this service and the NHS provides for you."

It's really truly time for Universal Health Care in America. I don't think I could have survived on a £5 an hour pub job in America. Sure we have higher gas prices (£1.01 a litre, approx $2.03 a litre... which is $8.12 a gallon), higher alcohol prices (a pint of Carling at the pub I work at is £2.60/$5.24), and even higher prices for tobacco (Last I saw it was nearly £3 for a pack for 5 Hamlet cigars, the kind my partner smokes. That translates into just over $6 a pack, the machine at my pub is £5.25 for cigarettes, which is a whopping $10.60 a pack).

That's all due to taxes that go towards services. If it means driving less, drinking less, and smoking less so be it! :-)

[stellanoir]

1. Sorry you've had such hassles but thank goodness you have tri citizenship.

We yanks are entirely screwed.

Have you seen this excerpt that hit the cutting room floor?

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/19529-michael-moore-cut-this-scene-from-sicko-because-no-one-would-believe-it

It's amazing.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

3. I'll have to check to see

If my dvd has that in extras.

There will always be a place in my heart for America as I grew up there but I'm so grateful to be living here.

[Echo In Light]

2. Sicko was quite an eye opener. There was a huge propaganda effort to discredit it

As expected. Really though, that such a marginal percentage of such a large country controls its wealth, the lack of universal coverage here has been of scandalous proportions for quite some time.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

4. I play on a darts team

And one of the members of the opposing team said, "Oh you're from America? Why did you move here, it's so boring. I think America's exciting!"

I responded, "You have NO idea how lucky you are to live here." Then the game started so we didn't quite finish our convo.