By Andrea Hopkins
CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Fresh from the hospital and still hurting from a $757 prescription drug bill, moviegoer Ron Jackson emerged from a screening of Michael Moore's documentary on the U.S. health system feeling outraged and exuberant.
"It's a great movie," said Jackson, 63. "I have insurance, and I still paid over $700 for one prescription -- just 30 days' worth. They've let Wall Street control the whole thing, it's as plain as the nose on my face."
Weeks into the staggered release of Moore's "SiCKO" across the United States, moviegoing Americans have revived the debate over national health care -- a staple in most of the developed world, but long resisted in the United States.
Health-care reform is a hot topic in the 2008 presidential campaign, and a slew of candidates have promised changes to bring better care to both insured Americans and the nation's 45 million uninsured.
Atia Huff, 64, said she was heartened by the applause that broke out at the end of the movie but worried only those who already agreed with Moore's outlook would bother to attend.
"I think it's preaching to the choir," Huff said.
Moore won an Academy Award for 2002's anti-gun documentary "Bowling for Columbine." He made more enemies -- and drew the label "enemy of America" from the right -- with a critical look at President George W. Bush's war on terrorism in his 2004 documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."
"SiCKO" tells the stories of Americans who say they were denied life-saving treatment by insurers. The film has received mixed reviews, with some criticizing it for a lack of substantive comparison of the U.S. health-care system with that of countries that offer universal health care.
