FATSO

The real problem with healthcare in the United States is overuse, not corporate greed.

Enter the American Fatso, Michael Moore.

Moore's latest work, "Sicko", is another in a long line of documentaries that are less about documenting events as they unfold and more about pushing a socialist agenda.

He plays fast and loose with the truth, yet again, by bombarding viewers with sob stories and diversions that take away from even the possibility of an unaffected discourse on the issue.

Somewhere in the haze lies his point: Healthcare in the United States should attempt to mimic Canada's system of healthcare-for-all. It is truly embarrassing that there are millions in the world's richest country that are without proper healthcare.

He's wrong, and he's right.

Canada's system isn't perfect. Since healthcare is available to all, it is often not available in a timely fashion because of the sheer volume of need--or in the case of overuse, want.

And, it is to our shame that we have so many people without healthcare. This should never be the case in a land of plenty like America.

Truth be told, I don't run scared from socialist ideologies like so many in this country do. I, for one, embrace many facets of the socialist ethos including universal healthcare.

Ideally, we would all have a minimum level of healthcare. I sympathize will folks who do not have healthcare coverage. It's easy because I'm one of them, and have been for several years.

That being said, desiring healthcare for all is simple, but the devil is in the details.

Universal healthcare simply cannot work within societies that overuse existing medical resources--societies like ours, awash in gluttony.

It is much too expensive.

Healthcare in America is already pricey, but not for the fact that it remains, for the most part, a for-profit enterprise.

Americans go to the doctor too much.

As long as we continue beating a path to the good doctor's office every time we have a sniffle, the cost of healthcare will continue to rise.

Recently I had a friend try to opt in to the healthcare plan at his place of work only to find out that the cost was astronomical.

Why? Because half the staff he works with is obese and wreaking havoc on that provider's bottom line. (So is that the fault of the profit-makers, or the fatsos?)

Obesity in America is an epidemic from childhood through adolesence and into adulthood.

This is a fat country and we are paying a high cost for it.

How ironic, then, that the spokesperson for a nationalized, not-for-profit healthcare system is himself a revolting blob.

People who take Moore seriously need medical attention, if only they could afford it.

Moore is a typical guardian class elitist who pretends to know what's best for the peasants, while keeping his mouth covered at a distance.

He's a limousine liberal.

Moore, like Hillary Clinton, support public schools and universal healthcare; but, do not think for one minute that they would EVER subject their loved ones to rubbing elbows with commoners.

And so while I accept that a for-profit healthcare system has numerous pitfalls, I am not willing to subscribe to this idea that a national healthcare system could remain salient without some serious restraints on use.

Restraints that, of course, would not affect elitists like Michael Moore.

Don't get me wrong, corporate greed is a serious problem in this country, and especially as it relates to healthcare. Too many people are denied claims for the express purpose of turning a dollar, this much is obvious.

But, the bigger issue is that those among us who have health insurance continue to be irresponsible with it.

Slim down, America, or you, too, will look like Michael Moore.