Michael Moore’s “SiCKO” doesn’t have an unforgettable shower scene like Alfred Hitchcock’s “Pyscho,” but nonetheless, private insurers and drug companies are running out of the theaters screaming in terror.

 

As with actress Janet Leigh’s blood in the Bates Motel shower, the insurance and drug CEOs can envision their enormous profits and perks swirling down the drain if “SiCKO”’s Canadian-style single-payer prescription is heeded.  The role of the insurers as parasitic middlemen would be slashed, so to speak, with savings of some $350 billion a year, and drug companies will be forced to negotiate prices with public officials.

 

“SiCKO” thoroughly exposes the horrors of the insurance-dominated US health system: the endless and expensive bureaucracy and the cruel denial and distortion of care. It also shows the availability of higher-quality health care for all at a fraction of what Americans pay, looking at the health systems of Canada, France, and even impoverished, isolated Cuba.

But before politicians in Wisconsin at the state level (a new “Healthy Wisconsin” plan passed by the State Senate includes some significant single-payer elements) and in Congress seriously consider the single-payer system that cuts out private insurers and tames the drug companies’ greed, they will need to overcome their own deeply-rooted stereotypes on how Americans feel about health reform. The incessantly-repeated refrain from the mainstream media– that ordinary Americans simply won’t accept a system with extensive government involvement–has made many public officials terrified about fundamental healthcare reform.  (Thus Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle has so far declined to endorse Healthy Wisconsin, promoting instead a valuable but far more modest plan to cover the uninsured.)

 

In fact, public opinion runs strongly in the direction of maximum-strength reform, in the form of single-payer health care. Reputable polls conducted for the Wall Street Journal and other major media over the previous 12 years have consistently shown an overwhelming two-thirds level of public support specifically for a single-payer plan akin to Canada’s.

 

But often, the actual sentiments of the American public or elected officials simply do not appear to matter. For example, the New York Times (10/31/04) reported–without citing any evidence– during the 2004 presidential campaign that John Kerry offered only a cautious health-reform package because “there is so little political support for government intervention in the health care market in the United States.”

 

Similarly, looking at congressional support for single-payer in the context of “Sicko”’s splashy media debut, the Washington Post’s  media critic Howard Kurtz claimed on his “Reliable Sources” show that director Michael Moore is “pushing government-run healthcare which no presidential candidate supports.”

 

First, the single-payer plan is not government-run healthcare; it’s essentially a system for replacing multiple private insurers with single state-level public entities that pay for health treatments without enormous costs for marketing, underwriting, “denial management,” or profits. Doctors and hospitals remain private.

 

Second, not only does presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich support health care, but so do 75 other House members. No other health proposal enjoys this level of support. Not exactly “reliable” information, Mr. Kurtz.

 

Despite the majority support for single-payer healthcare among the general public and solid backing in Congress, mainstream media still minimize the single payer’s popularity. Two recent NY Times articles (6/24 and 6/27) reported the level of  support for single payer at about 20% lower than the level consistently reported in other surveys conducted by respected polling agencies, even for conservative publications editorially opposed to single payer.

 

To cite just one example, a Business Week poll (5/16/05) yielded these results: “67% of all Americans think it’s a good idea to guarantee healthcare for all US citizens, as Canada and Britain do, with just 27% dissenting.” 

 

More recently, the Medical Society of Minnesota released survey of its members in its March, 2007. A stunning 64% of Minnesota doctors favored a single-payer model.

 

Meanwhile, the private insurers, drug companies, and their industry allies have millions to spend on campaign contributions and PR and lobbying campaigns. The health industry has four lobbyists for each of the 535 members of Congress.

 

But despite those massive resources, “Sicko”’s resonance with the public mood on health reform may have private insurance and drug company CEOs feeling like they’ve checked into the Bates Motel and are stepping into the shower.

 

 

Roger Bybee is a Milwaukee-based writer who formerly served as communications director for three Wisconsin organizations for 12 years and edited the award-winning weekly Racine Labor for 14 years. 

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