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A Much Needed Wake Up Call in "Sicko"

{The summer is the season for movie blockbusters. Bruce Willis will "Live Free or Die Hard," The "Transformers" will travel to earth by way of the big screen, and the world's most famous wizard returns in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

Among all the thrills and suspense in theaters this year, there is one film that I urge everyone to see. It's Michael Moore's latest documentary "Sicko," which shines a chilling light on the severely broken American health care system.

This film vividly displays the depth of the health care crisis facing our nation by focusing on people's personal stories of defeat and frustration with the system.

In one scene, Mr. Moore takes three small boats of sick Americans, including 9/11 volunteer rescue workers, to Cuba. They receive, at no cost, the medical treatment they had been denied at home.

We have heard time and again the statistic that 47 million Americans are uninsured, 9 million of them children. This does not even account for the more than 50 million who cannot get the care they need because they are underinsured.

The numbers are staggering, but they become more meaningful when we talk about how this trend affects the lives of everyday Americans.

For me and many others in our community, our nation's health care crisis has a face and a name.

On February 25, 2007, Deamonte Driver, a 12­year­old boy from Prince George's County, died when an untreated tooth infection spread to his brain.

Deamonte Driver was a victim of our failed health care system. A routine dental checkup might have saved his life, but Deamonte was poor and homeless and he never made it into the dental chair.

His is a story that chills the conscience. I simply cannot comprehend how, in a country that sent a man to the moon, we so thoroughly failed this little boy.

We need a wake up call to enforce the sense of urgency surrounding this issue. That is why Mr. Moore's film is so important.

I expect that it will heighten debate on the critically important topic of access to health care and help us get some momentum behind this movement.

Sadly, this health care crisis has claimed many more victims like young Deamonte.

Approximately 18,000 Americans die each year as a direct consequence of being uninsured.

These are people's grandmothers and grandfathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.

They are more likely to be minorities and they are more likely to be poor.

We know statistically that racial and ethnic minorities suffer disproportionately from poor health and premature death.

More than thirty years after the national embarrassment of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, our people are still being denied access to the best medical system in the world.

This is perhaps the greatest civil rights battle that we face today.

The American people have spoken with a unified voice for health care reform and it is time for legislators in Washington to heed that call.

That is why I am an original cosponsor of "The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act," H.R. 676, which would realize the goal of universal health care coverage.

In addition, last week I joined the Congressional Tri­Caucus, which represents Blacks, Hispanics and Asian-Pacific Islanders, in introducing the "Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007."

I was the lead sponsor of the bill in 2003 when I served as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

We have introduced the legislation in every Congress since then under the leadership of different Tri­Caucus Members, because we recognize the need to get this vitally important legislation passed.

We have heard many arguments against the implementation of a "single payer" system, but I am convinced that it is a good idea.

A single payer system would produce savings needed to cover everyone, largely by using existing resources without the waste.

Those who oppose universal coverage claim that the system would lower the quality of care that people who are currently insured enjoy, but that is simply not the case.

All a single payer system would do is eliminate the insurance company middlemen, saving millions of dollars in paperwork and processing fees.

According to a study by the Lewin Group, such a system in Maryland could provide health care for all residents, while saving an estimated $345 million in its first year.

This is a common sense solution. We have the ability to provide all Americans with high quality, low cost health care, and we have the moral obligation to get it done.

Michael Moore drives this compelling message home in "Sicko."

We must not rest until we fix our broken health care system.

- The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.