SiCKO Sparks Local Health Care Activism

Michael Moore's SiCKO is not only impacting the box office -- earning the 2nd-highest opening in history for a documentary -- it's also sparking health care activism at the local level.

Moore generated much attention last month when joined the California Nurses Assocation and called for a single-payer system for the Golden State. But the filmmaker himself doesn't need to drop in to every town for citizens to step up the fight for affordable, quality, universal health care.

In Connecticut, The Universal Health Care Foundation is campaigning around the film to highlight how the state legislature failed to enact a comprehensive plan for universal coverage.

In Ohio, SiCKO has kickstarted a petition drive by the Single-Payer Action Network to put a "Health Care For All Ohioans" plan on the ballot in 2008. And there's increased attention on Pennsylvania's proposed single-payer plan, which the governor has pledged to sign if passed by the legislature.

Vermont Health Care For All gave away free SiCKO tickets to the uninsured and led a petition drive for a federal single-payer system.

You can get in on the action too.

Before you head out to see SiCKO, download this flyer -- from MoveOn.org, Public Campaign Action Fund and us at Campaign for America's Future -- and distribute it to your fellow moviegoers.

The flyer tells people how to call the presidential candidates and urge them to stop taking money from HMOs, big health insurers and drug companies. That way, those committed to denying affordable health care for all can't continue to buy off the democratic process.

SiCKO presents a great opportunity to move the health care debate. But the film can't do it by itself. It needs you to get involved and carry the message.