"Why Can't We?"
Length of Film Clip: 1 min 35 secs
Written By: Adrian De Guia
In this scene, Moore interviews Che Guevara's daughter, Adleida who is a Doctor in Cuba. Che Guevara was a major leader in the Cuban Revolution that occurred in Cuba. Adleida talks to Moore about the Cuban Health care system. With this scene, Moore is able to call attention to the corruption that plagues the American Health care system. The health insurance companies in America are built and designed to make a profit instead of prioritizing the well being of their clients. Dr. Guevara states that Cuba, being a small third world country with little to no resources, has the ability to provide and care for their people and improve their health. She states that the United States can't do what they're doing. She then raises the questions, "Why are we able to and you are not?" By adding this question, Moore attempts to provoke many thoughts in the heads of the audience. He is able to underlie the question with many other meanings that the audience to ponder upon and deeper analyze. How could third world country that the U.S. used to despise and think ill of care for their people better than the "supreme" and most powerful nation in the world? These questions serve to instigate the audience into thinking about the health care system and why they cannot better take care of their clients. Dr. Guevara then appeals logically to Moore and the audience and says the U.S., with all its riches and resources should be able to better take care of its people. The purpose of this is to emphasize the fact that the U.S. is keeping their resources for the rich and are leaving the poor to fend for themselves. Moore then is able to support Dr. Guevara's claims that Cuba can take better care of their people by bringing the 9/11 rescue workers and others to who could not get the proper health care in the U.S. to seek health care in Cuba. He brings them to a Cuban Hospital where all they asked for was their name during pretreatment. They were all able to obtain optimal and proper health care that would have cost them thousands of dollars back in the U.S. By juxtaposing the U.S. and Cuba, Moore can compare how Cuba, a developing country, can care for U.S. citizens better than the U.S. could. They were able to get better treatment than they could ever get in the U.S. This part of the scene further enhances the idea that the American health care system is all for profit. It is able to defend the idea because they didn't have to pay anything to get the treatment in Cuba, but in the U.S. they have had to pay thousands of dollars for treatment and their health problems still were not resolved. The health insurance companies in America turn down patients because it saves them money but in Cuba, they are able to treat everyone and not demand a single cent. These set of scenes challenges the honesty of the American Health Care system and whether or not they are really serving for the well being of their clients. In earlier scenes, it shows the number of people turned down or declined of a treatment simply because they could not pay but in Cuba, they are given the treatment that they could not afford in the U.S. entirely free. If Moore is able to get the audience to react to the validity of their insurance companies in the U.S. then he can be able to get the audience to act and fight for a change in America. If they are able to, then they can pressure health insurance companies to change their behaviors and serve their clients better. All the evidence he includes further supports and verifies his claims that the American health care system is for profit. "Why can't we?" Because it is all for profit.