After only two weeks in limited release, Michael Moore’s Sicko achieved the rank of being in the top five documentaries of all time. That’s too bad, because a documentary it is not. Rather, it is one long campaign commercial for replacing our pluralistic, market-driven health care delivery system with a government-run, single-payer system.Once you understand that, any problems you might have with the film’s authenticity or integrity will seem less important.Your willingness to suspend your disbelief will get a boost and you can enjoy the movie for what it is – a public policy advertorial.

Sure, Moore exaggerates about the merits of the government-run health systems in Cuba, Canada, France and Great Britain, and he plies us with some well-chosen, heart-wrenching anecdotes about the failures of the U.S. system, but so what? That is American-style politicking at its best, right? It is the preferred strategy used by advocates stationed in every nook and cranny of this country to sell their policy initiatives to the unknowing masses, isn’t it?

Hyperbole works. The health insurance industry used this strategy to kill “Hillary-care” in 1992. (Remember the Harry and Louise ads?) Our government leaders do it too. As the September date for Congress to approve more money for the war in Iraq nears, the Bush Administration now wants us to know that the odds of a terrorist attack on American soil are increasing. Coincidence? I think not. Our elected leaders exaggerate all the time to sway public opinion in their favor. So, don’t condemn Moore for playing by the same rules. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

I have presented and discussed issues about the ills of our health care delivery system and the many initiatives proposed to cure them in previous blog submissions, but in the final analysis, all health care is personal. And so it is with me too.

I didn’t get to choose my parents, so thanks to one or both I have to take a statin to reduce the amount of bad cholesterol my liver produces. The fact that I may never qualify for an individual health insurance policy because of this bothers me. Mind you, I’m not looking to leave my job with its generous group plan coverage anytime soon, but I will think thrice about going solo before I’m eligible for Medicare.

My daughter has a disability that requires constant and routine care from physician and rehabilitation specialists. My wife and I have to “negotiate” constantly with our health plan to get the ongoing care she needs authorized. Sometimes we prevail. Sometimes we get turned down. We don’t give up, though. We fight, and we will continue to fight for what we believe is in our daughter’s best interest. Having to do this is both tiresome and wrong.

Is Michael Moore right? Should we convert to a government-run, single-payer system? He makes it seem like the logical, tried and true answer to our problems. Quite frankly, that’s what scares me the most. When I think about what he advocates, I recall what the late H.L. Mencken, a renowned American newsman, once said: “For every problem there is a solution that is clear, simple and wrong.”

Before I sign off, I should comment on my 10-second appearance in Sicko. Moore clipped and used a statement from an interview I gave to a local television news outlet about hospital homeless patient dumping. I had no knowledge and did not consent to be in his film. And the clip he used was taken completely out of the context of the interview I gave. Please refer to my earlier blog submission if you want to know what I think and have said on that subject.

In the meantime, write back with your thoughts on Sicko.