Sicko is a 2007 American political documentary film by filmmaker Michael Moore. Investigating health care in the United States, the film focuses on the country's health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. Moore compares the for-profit non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. Produced on a roughly $9 million budget, Sicko grossed $25 million theatrically in North America. This exceeded the official expectation of The Weinstein Company, which had hoped to be in line with Bowling for Columbines $22 million U.S. box office gross. Synopsis Sicko begins by noting that almost 50 million Americans were uninsured in 2007 while the remainder, who are covered, are often victims of insurance company fraud and red tape. Sicko mentions that the World Health Organization ranks U.S. health in general as 37 out of 191 countries and ranks some U.S. health measures, such as infant mortality and life expectancy, as equal to countries with much less economic wealth. Interviews are conducted with people who thought they had adequate coverage but were denied care. Former employees of insurance companies describe cost-cutting initiatives that give bonuses to insurance company physicians and others to find reasons for the company to avoid meeting the cost of medically necessary treatments for policy holders, and thus increase company profitability . The history of the American health care debate serves as a backdrop. Opponents of universal health care are set in the context of 1950s-style anti-communist propaganda. A 1950s record distributed by the American Medical Association, narrated by corporate spokesmodel Ronald Reagan, warns that universal health care could lead to lost freedoms and socialism. In response, Moore shows that socialized public services like police, fire service, the United States Postal Service, public education and community libraries have not led to communism in the United States. Canada In Canada, a citizen describes the case of Tommy Douglas, who was voted the greatest Canadian in 2004 for his contributions to the Canadian health system. Moore also interviews a microsurgeon and people waiting in the emergency room of a Canadian public hospital. HMO origin in the 1970s The origins of the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 are presented using a taped conversation between John Ehrlichman and President Richard Nixon on February 17, 1971; Ehrlichman is heard telling Nixon that "the less care they give them, the more money they make", a plan that