"Money For No Care"
Length of Film Clip: 1 min 37 secs
Written By: Jordan Allapitan
Michael Moore goes to Dr. Linda Peeno a former medical reviewer, who used to work with stingy and careless HUMANA to examine and translate why people who are fully ensured by the company get turned down when they are in desperate need of medical help. Michael Moore interviews her in hope to expose the self serving, selfish, greedy practices of the American health care industry. In one part of the scene, Michael Moore says “she left HUMANA because she did not like the practices of the companies.” One can hypothesize that the practices HUMANA was doing was so inhumane that she had to leave a highly paid job because of the bad treatment and cruel practices to the people. During the interview she clearly states that the “company will search through every application or request to find a technical problem with the person to deny them health insurance or a cure or solution to their sickness just to save the company tons of unnecessary money.” The health care industries are establishing excuses to not pay for ones medical care and suppressing and minimizing the truth, which is wanting to save money. With this Michael Moore is able to convince/persuade the people ensured to reconsider their decision on staying in America for their health care. He is indirectly confronting the American health care industries by telling the people ensured by American health care to leave and find a non American health care system or fight and argue against the government or the ensured health care system to change the system to where everyone get helps or accepted, no matter what the cause or “technical problems” one has. As the interview goes on, Dr. Penue states that “ the doctor with the highest number of denials and the one who saves the most money, gets a bonus in their paycheck with the money that is supposed to be used for the sick people who got denied.” This is ironic because the doctors are getting bonuses with the money that is used to pay for the sick’s needs. Michael Moore, in shock and awe, not knowing about this, exposes how well the American health care industry was able to hide and minimize where the money was actually going. He was able to discover that the American health care industry was only out in the market for the money, not for the well being of the people. He is able to portray the American health care industry as greedy grinches. He is creating anger and resentment in the people ensured by specifying that they are not getting money spent on them for medical help because the American health care industry is being greedy and careless and using a big chunk of the money and putting it on the bonuses of the employees. Instead of the money helping and aiding the sick, they use it for themselves. With this interview Michael Moore is able to indirectly reveal how greedy and insufficient American health care can be.