"You wouldn't privatize your local police force. ... We need to look at healthcare the same way."

Moore's new documentary, which opens in movie theaters Friday, highlights the economic disaster that serious illness can be, even for patients with private insurance. While the director has drawn heavy criticism and legal action for a portion of the film where he takes Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for care, the focus of the film is the pitfalls of a for-profit healthcare system.

At the Capitol, Moore showed clips of the film and threw his support behind a House bill -- which has gotten little traction since it was introduced in 2003 -- that would eliminate private insurance companies altogether in favor of extending Medicare-like coverage to all Americans.

Surrounded by a host of supportive representatives and vocal activists, Moore pulled no punches when it came to criticizing health insurance executives and pharmaceutical company lobbyists.

Insurers protect their profits by denying claims, he said. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies boost their bottom lines by overcharging patients for drugs that are often overprescribed.

"There's a new villain on screens across America this summer," he said. "It's not the new villain in Spider-Man. It's the health insurance industry in America."

Calling a for-profit healthcare system inherently flawed, Moore argued for a system similar to Canada's where insurance is public but medical services are private.

Though patients sometimes have to wait for treatment in public systems, the decision of who goes first is made by a doctor, not a person's financial circumstances, he said.

"Ask a Canadian if they would trade their healthcare card for your HMO card."

The House members in attendance, all of whom are Democrats and many of whom are in the Congressional Black Caucus, brought the standing-room-only crowd to their feet several times, invoking icons of the Civil Rights movement like Fannie Lou Hamer and Martin Luther King Jr.

The representatives showed no hesitation in lavishing praise on the filmmaker, who has become known for his politically charged documentaries, including "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine."

"Michael Moore has applied his considerable genius to illuminate the crisis in the American healthcare system," said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. "I congratulate him."

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, D-Calif., also thanked Moore.

"I hope today's gathering is the first of many that will finally lead to universal healthcare in America," Stark said.

Representatives also said the House bill, which is considerably larger in scope than both current state proposals and presidential candidates' plans, can actually make it into law.

"There is a national movement here," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. "I believe 2008 is the year we're going to make this happen."

The chamber briefly cooled with the unexpected arrival of Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican who represents the area around San Diego.

Chiding the Democrats for not inviting him, Issa called for universal healthcare coverage but stopped short of endorsing the state-run system spelled out by the bill.

"It is a bipartisan issue," he said. "We may agree to disagree on nuances, but we must act."

Spectators fell silent, but Issa was given a firm handshake by Moore after Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., invited him to become the first Republican co-sponsor of the legislation.

Donna Smith, a Colorado woman featured in the film, said she was encouraged by the congressional show of support for healthcare reform. Smith and her husband Larry were forced to sell their house and move in with their daughter to pay off medical debt, though they had private healthcare coverage.

"It's unbelievable," she told United Press International. "I'm so glad to hear these words being spoken to Congress."

It will not, however, help her personal situation, she said. The medical debt from her bout with cancer and her husband's three heart attacks has now pushed them into bankruptcy.

Insurers, however, are less pleased by the new spotlight.

"We need a uniquely American solution in which the public and private sectors work together to make sure that everyone has high-quality, affordable health care," Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive officer of America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group representing the health insurance industry, said in a statement responding to "Sicko."

"The American people do not support a government takeover of the entire health care system because they know that means long waits for rationed care."

Moore's juggernaut, however, rolls on. He held a screening Wednesday afternoon for all members of Congress on the extra-large screen of the Uptown Theater in Washington.

He also invited healthcare lobbyists to attend a special screening -- complete with movie theater snacks -- where the public could watch their real-time reactions on the Web.

Hopefully, Moore said, the lobbyist screening will be "a nice going away present."

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