How healthy is our health system?

Part One-Origin and symptoms of today´s ills: the US

Sicko in English with Spanish subtitles

Sicko in English

SICKO-Questions

00.12

1-Bush’ s attitude towards doctors´ is one of

a)respect

b)disrespect

c)mixed feelings

2-The injured men have not been adequately treated because

a)they are not insured

b)their insurance did not cover their injuries

c)there was too much red tape they did not understand

3-Sicko is a documentary about

a)the 18,000 uninsured Americans who die avoidable deaths

b)the 50 million Americans who have no health insurance

c)the 250 million Americans who are privately insured

00.23 (after the moving couple, the old man and the ambulance)

4-The people who wrote to Michael Moore were

a)3,700 in a weekend

b)over 25,000 in a week

c)refused insurance on the grounds of their height or weight

00.28 (after the deaf girl´s case)

5-Pre-existing conditions are

a)problems people hide from the insurance to get a better deal

b)what the insurance company discusses over the contract

c)an excuse to deny treatment and thus save money

00.41(after bone marrow donor)

6-Just denying treatment , Linda managed to earn … per week

a)ten times more

b)several ten thousand dollars

c)several hundred thousand dollars

00.45 (after inaudible news reels)

7-President Nixon reduced

a)waiting lists

b)public health provision

c)bureaucracy and waste

8-Hillary Clinton

a)provided universal health care for Americans

b)tried to provide universal health care for Americans

c)didn´t try to provide universal health care for Americans

9-The health industry lobbies financed propaganda

a)against the public health system

b)against the communist party

c)in defence of doctors´ freedom

10-The Health Industry lobby

a) bribed all politicians

b) bribed the two majority party campaigners

c) bribed the two majority party members of congress

Part two- Diagnostic and treatment: awareness and political opposition

Read the article allocated to your group, make notes together and move to a new group with a student from each of the other groups. Explain the main points of your article. Is there a connection between Sicko and the present disease of the British (and European) system?

Must dental care be a privilege of the rich?
The death bell tolls for the British Government)
Why privatise good public service?