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While admission is free, donations collected during the event will benefit a local under-insured family facing tens of thousands of dollars of medical bills.
Democratic Club members said they recently read newspaper stories about Elly Bachman, a 3-year-old who was bitten by what was suspected to be a copperhead snake last Memorial Day.
Treatment for the bite -- including antivenins and several operations -- cost the Bachman family nearly $91,000 after insurance was paid out.
Beaufort Memorial Hospital waived more than $49,000 of that amount last month, making the family's current medical debt about $42,000.
The Bachmans, residents of Lady's Island, have their own Web site -- www.ellysnakebitefund.org -- to collect donations for medical bills.
What happened to Elly is explained on the Web site: "The venom that was injected by the snake affected her circulatory system. Usual symptoms from a copperhead snake (like the one that bit Elly) include intense pain, swelling, and death of tissue cells at the location of the bite.
Possible other effects are hemorrhaging, internal organ breakdown, and destruction of blood cells.
"In Elly's case, her leg swelled so much that it was necessary to open her leg surgically to relieve the swelling. If the doctors did not perform surgery, her leg would have burst open on its own; and she would have most likely lost her leg, if not her life."
Joe Scheines, a spokesman for the Democratic Club, said his group had been planning to show "Sicko" and saw an opportunity to help the Bachmans as a way to personalize the movie's message. In "Sicko," Michael Moore interviews under-insured Americans, criticizing the health care system in the United States.
Democratic Club member Joe Bogacz said the Bachmans' situation is a local example of difficulties under-insured patients face.
"Items they thought were covered were, in fact, not," he said of the Bachman family.
Scheines said the club -- which has more than 400 members -- will host a free wine-and-cheese reception before the movie.A jar for donations will be left out during the event, he said.
