Posted on 11/30/2016 8:26:54 PM PST by SeekAndFind
On public-access TV in 1985, Bernie Sanders defended an element of Fidel Castro’s regime: It was rarely mentioned that Castro provided health care to his country. Sanders grumbled that the same could not be said of then-President Reagan.
The comment came back to haunt Sanders in the wake of Castro’s death. On Sunday on ABC’s This Week, host Martha Raddatz played the old clip and then asked Sanders if he was aware that “this was a brutal dictatorship despite the romanticized version that some Americans have of Cuba.” She reminded Sanders that Castro rationed food and punished dissidents, then hit him with the big question: “So have you changed your view of Castro since 1985?”
Sanders said he didn’t exactly remember the context for his comment (being 31 years ago) but that Cubans “do have a decent health-care system.”
Many consider it more than decent. After a visit to Havana in 2014, the director-general of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan called for other countries to follow Cuba’s example in health care. Years before, the World Health Organization’s ranking of countries with “the fairest mechanism for health-system finance” put Cuba first among Latin American and Caribbean countries (and far ahead of the United States).
Cuba has long had a nearly identical life expectancy to the United States, despite widespread poverty. The humanitarian-physician Paul Farmer notes in his book Pathologies of Power that there’s a saying in Cuba: “We live like poor people, but we die like rich people.” Farmer also notes that the rate of infant mortality in Cuba has been lower than in the Boston neighborhood of his own prestigious hospital, Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s.
All of this despite Cuba spending just $813 per person annually on health care compared with America’s $9,403.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I’m trying to picture Canadians, in search of decent health care, flooding into Cuba instead of the US. Heh.
Cubans from America visiting always bring plenty of aspirin scarce in libre Cuba.
Well here is one data point:
I am living in Vietnam at the moment. It seems in many ways, similar to other Asian countries I have been to, with a couple notable exceptions. One of the biggest, is that there is NOT a big bar scene here. It simply does not exist, except in some areas. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of bars here, but they seem primarily focused in areas, and most of the time one really does not see one.
There are high-priced places where one can go, they are dark and have lots and lots of guys, and the staff is mostly good looking ladies.
But there is not much as far as everyday life, which centers on bars.
That is a big difference here.
This is a relatively small country, as is Cuba, with a relatively large population. And everyone seems to work.
I think this is a characteristic not of the financial success (or lack) of the countries. I think it is the system of government, keeps things like that, pushed away to a point.
Just an observation.
How Cubans Live as Long as Americans at a Tenth of the Cost
...
This is just a guess, but I’m going to say they lie about their statistics.
Nope. As per a friend who grew up there, if you go to the hospital..
BRING YOUR OWN MOTHER ####ING BLANKETS, LINENS AND SHEETS, AND IN MANY CASES, YOUR OWN BLACK MARKET MEDS!!!!!!!
And Clorox because they are BEYOND FILTHY he said.
These STUPID mother ####er at the Atlantic.
Move!!!!!!!!
And that’s the least of it. Relatively speaking, who cares about money anyway? The even more important issue is whether to live those years in freedom or under the boot of totalitarian tyranny.
they probably don't supply Viagra to impotent men...
no mri's or ct scans for every sore joint...
probably not a lot of money spent on those near death...
if you cut out all of the above, you can do a lot of preventive medicine...
and often "more" treatment doesn't mean better treatment....
and genetics might have some play here to....a small population with little immigration or illegals sneaking into the country....that alone saves billions....
So, why doesn’t the LIEberal elite go there for their operations: heart bypass, kidney transplants, cataract surgery, etc.? Why didn’t Hillary go there instead of her daughters apt. when she passed out in NYC? Michael Moore should go there for his gastric bypass - it’s free.
See 49.
If you die in a Cuban hospital and the cause of death is not obvious, I doubt they will expend very much time, effort or expense on forensics. They will just declare the cause of death to be old age!
Sure they’re healthy. Cut out half the calories Americans eat, and make them walk everywhere, and - SHAZAM! - how did they get so healthy?
Let the old people with cancer and heart disease just die, and -SHAZAM! - look how little they spend on health care!
Not to mention BRING YOUR OWN SHEETS to the hospital...that is IF you can even get into a hospital.
Just call it the gulag diet and exercise program.
http://hellemanworld.blogspot.com/2011/10/inside-cuban-hospital.html
Several posts are at the above link about Cuban hospitals from people who had been patients. Other than the medical staff who seem to be well-trained and making do with very limited resources, I doubt most of the leftists would want to experience Cuban medical services (which are only free to Cubans).
I wonder why we don’t see these romanticized delusional stories about North Korea?
We did see it about the Soviets, especially from the New York Times in the 1920-30s.
we have more stress. when you’re content with very little you can lead a stress free life.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/276952/infant-mortality-deceptive-statistic-scott-w-atlas
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