and SiCKO Are a Hit at Congress

[Guest guest]

http://www.alternet.org/movies/54898/

and SiCKO Are a Hit at Congress

By Beutler, Media Consortium. Posted June 22, 2007.

's visit to Capitol Hill to talk about the sorry state of

health care in America was accompanied by swarms of excited activists and a

packed committee room.

It's ironic, but outside of hospitals and day care centers, perhaps the

best place to acquire some kind of illness on Wednesday in Washington,

D.C., was at 's press conference on Capitol Hill. The long

lines and the sweaty, claustrophobic committee room were emblematic of the

enthusiasm that 's appearance and SiCKO, his new film on the decrepit

state of U.S. health care, have generated both in Washington and around the

country.

Behind the podium from which and influential House Democrats spoke

and answered questions, an array of sign-wielding activists stood along the

back wall. Facing them from the other side of the room, women from the

group Code Pink lofted a large, painted sign reading, " Healthcare now, for

all. " At one point, a security officer approached them about lowering the

banner. His face, though, showed a reluctance to scold a group of people

who were exercised about a worthy cause. He gave them a thumbs up.

Such was the atmosphere in the committee room, a vibrancy that offset the

doleful stories -- about patients dying and insurance companies fleecing --

that were fired off in rapid succession by members of Congress at the

podium. It's no surprise that SiCKO features many similar stories --

matched, of course, with the faces of patients themselves, many of whom

died for lacking health insurance, and others who died despite it.

The film, characterized by 's usual mix of wry humor contrasted

sharply with deeply somber personal narratives, traces the health care

crisis back to the early 1970s when Nixon, under pressure from

Edgar Kaiser, helped launch the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)

system. That system, one of the largest in the world of for-profit

medicine, is the prime cause, according to and many others, of

phenomena like uninsurance, underinsurance, and adverse selection that have

caused our health care standards to topple well below similarly wealthy

nations, including France, Germany, and Japan, all of which have

government-paid universal health care systems. Today, as noted both

on Capitol Hill and in his film, there are four health care lobbyists in

Washington for every member of Congress.

Perhaps the greatest, and most awkward, part of yesterday's hearing -- the

part that most resembled something from a movie -- occurred

when Rep. Conyers (D-Mich.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee,

spotted Rep. Darryl Issa (R-Calif.) standing quietly in the back of the

room. Conyers thanked Issa " for making this a bipartisan issue, " and

invited him to stand in front of the crowd. Issa gestured in protest,

waving his hand back and forth like a cutthroat in front of his neck. It

was a losing battle. He was ultimately cowed into standing with and

the Democrats anyhow.

When Issa finally spoke, he did so extemporaneously, joking that his

scheduler must have somehow forgotten to inform him of this engagement and

dodging attempts by Conyers and others to bring him to the D.C. premiere of

SiCKO. Though he received a lukewarm welcome, Issa sought the common

ground, calling health care a " bipartisan issue, " approvingly citing Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care plan for California, and suggesting

that, while the parties " may differ on the specifics, " Congress and the

president " must take steps toward universal access. "

On those specifics, Issa differs wildly from either Schwarzenegger or most

Democrats. Schwarzenegger, one of a small handful of governors to bring his

state's health rolls anywhere near universality, recently enacted an

individual mandate to buy insurance that will cover almost everybody in

California. His policy, however, exists on the long line that connects

Conyers' single-payer plan to provide Medicare for all and Issa's 2005

plan, which works much more incrementally. It would provide credits to

business owners in states where the minimum wage exceeds the federal

minimum to secure health insurance for their employees.

Aside from , the loudest applause of the afternoon went to Rep. Maxine

Waters (D-Calif.), who beseeched universal health care activists not to

" get in bed with the right wing who means us no good. " More poignantly,

Conyers compared his efforts on his bill -- H.R. 676 -- to his efforts

years ago to make Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a national holiday.

Back then, as today, he told the crowd, many of his colleagues said to him

" you have a great idea, but you know you can't win. "

Neither Conyers nor sees things that way. And , surpassed

perhaps only by Al Gore as the most recognizable activist in America, is

advancing his cause in a decidedly un-Gore-like way. Yesterday afternoon,

he rented out a theater in Washington's Union Station to hold yet another

free screening -- food and drink provided -- for anybody in the city who

has a career lobbying on behalf of private health care companies. No word

yet on how many people attended

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

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