You might have seen trailers for Michael Moore’s new Sicko – one memorable clip shows President George W. Bush at a press conference. But, unlike Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko does not focus on the Bush administration (that’s better left to the comics, these days). This documentary is about American healthcare, an issue that many politicians say they care about, though precious little ever changes. The film focuses on pharmaceutical companies and corruption in the Food and Drug Administration, and is particularly harsh toward Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. As the First Lady, Clinton was an advocate of a better health care system for all. Now that she’s a bona fide politician and possible Presidential candidate, Clinton is one of the biggest recipients of money from the health care industry. Sicko takes viewers inside the dark side of healthcare, showcasing the horrors that ordinary people must face when they discover they are underinsured (or worse, uninsured). While everyone else focuses on energy, global warming, and education, Michael Moore goes for the jugular of American politics and problems: health care. 

Sicko is scheduled to arrive in theaters June 29, 2007, and has already received acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered May 19, 2007. In his film, Moore compares the very wealthy American health care system to those in other countries, including Canada, France, and Cuba. The World Health Organization statistics for 2000 ranked the United States 37th in its list of the best countries for health care. The United States is one of the richest nations in the world, but the health care it provides to its citizens does not reflect this.

Moore may face some legal troubles because of research he conducted for Sicko. He’s under scrutiny now with the U.S. Treasury Department because of his trip to Cuba. Allegedly, Moore did not obtain a license to travel to Cuba and therefore allegedly violated the embargo the U.S. holds against the country. Even that will not keep Sicko out of theaters this summer, for anyone and everyone who’s interested in documentaries. Moore has jokingly called this film a comedy, but the subject matter is anything but funny.