Oh, that great, free Cuban healthcare!
You get what you pay for, and then some.
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6 comments to Oh, that great, free Cuban healthcare! |
      
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A man who arrived from Cuba last August told me that there is a severe shortage of physicians on the island. Many physicians have been shipped outside of the country as part of Castro's image-building campaigns. So who is left behind to treat the ill? This man told me that hospitals are commonly manned by fifth-year medical students.
I don't buy the claim that the Cuban health care system works. Just like I don't buy the claim of universal literacy on the island. (All you have to do to disprove that one is keep your eye out for all those recent arrivals who sign with an "X.") But if there really is a shortage of physicians, it is only because Castro worries more about garnering favor with other countries than he does about the health of the Cuban people. And the sad part is that most people outside Cuba don't know this or they do not want to believe it. How does the saying go? No hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver.
Thank you Val!
I still get people (non Cubans of course) whose eyes light up when the subject of alleged free and excellent Cuban healthcare come up. And if you say otherwise they get all bent out of shape like if you insulted their mothers. Can someone tell me why this is? That a person(s) who is not Cuban gets extremely offended when you tell them the truth about Cuban healthcare.
I think really (and please don't laugh at me) that there is some kind of buerjeria or black magic cast upon the world when Cuba comes up. This would then explain why people who are not Cuban and have no ties to Cuba always fly off the handle.
I once had a girl friend whose father had a pharmacy and he was a schmuck he wasn't Cuban he was Irish- Italian American and he asked me why my father left Cuba. I told him that my dad left because he hated tyranny and was not a communist. Well this jerk then says, "well I don't know why your father left because I hear they have excellent free healthcare in Cuba."
I told him that wasn't true (my dad was a dentist in pre Castro cuba) and then he got all hot and bothered and walked off. Asshole - thank God I never married his daughter. She sucked anyway - she would not eat cuban food. Her loss.
The CIA World Factbook shows per capita income in the U.S. as $41,800 and in Cuba as $3,300.
Cubans are paying a 92.105263158% income tax for their "free" health care and other "free" government services, on top of all the deaths that were required to implement them.
Is it worth it?
Nothing is free, folks.
http://www.madre.org/countries/Cuba.html
if you want to laugh and have a hoot - from MADRE
me cago en su puta madre fidel!
I can't believe that in the 21st century people are still talkin bout this.
Mandingo -- I don't know that I can answer your question, but I will try.
I've traveled and lived abroad in Europe and Latin America, as well as different cities in the US. In NY, I was told that Cuban exiles abandoned their country and therefore should have no say in the matter. In Italy, I heard admiration for the education and health care systems and for the fact that Cuba had stood up to the US. One Italian went so far as to say that they needed something like that in Italy. (Which part of the revolution did he want to transplant, I asked him, the poverty or the repression?) In the Dominican Republic, I witnessed otherwise educated people gush with glassy-eyed admiration for the health care system. They wanted to establish a block-by-block system of health care delivery there, just like the block committees that make living in Cuba so much fun. The minute you leave Miami, you will find a lot of people who admire Castro.
Here are some reasons why:
(1) Ignorance, whether intentional or otherwise. How many of Castro's failures are reported by the MSM? People only hear about the "successes." In that sense, Castro has managed to manipulate public opinion very well. Most Americans still don't know who Hugo Chavez is, even though he runs the biggest exporter of oil to the US as if it were his personal hacienda. Why would they know that the average Cuban can't get the medicines he needs or that he has to depend on the generosity of his family in Miami to send him dollars or he will starve.
(2) Anti-americanism. Many people hate this country, whether out of envy or just plain hatred. Many Americans hate this country. They take the liberties we have for granted. Cuba appears to have stood up to the US. Those people like that. Jimmy Carter likes that. (But then, there isn't a left-wing dictator that Jimmy Carter hasn't liked. Read Mirta Ojito's book, "Finding Manana." She reminds us how US policy toward Cuba changed under Carter's four years in office.)
(3) The image of the Cuban exile community is not a positive one. We know the truth because we live here. But if you've read, say the NYT, over the years, you will have noticed that they portray Cuban exiles as crazy, intransigent, narrow-minded, bomb-throwing nuts, etc. (I read an interview of Ana Menendez the other day. The interviewer posed a question in a way that assumed that Jorge Mas Canosa was a terrorist directly reponsible for planting bombs! You may have disagreed with Mas Canosa, but does anyone other than Magda Montiel seriously believe he was a terrorist? Come on!) In short, the MSM dismisses the Cuban exiles. If that's all the average American sees, what's he going to think? A recent example of this nonsense occurred when the Latin Grammies were moved from Miami to LA and the exiles were blamed for that. Never mind that the president of the Grammies at that time didn't get along with Giuliani either, so the grammies did not take place in NY. But the MSM didn't talk about any crazy Italians, did they?
(4) Castro has gone to great lengths to portray a benign image. He exports physicians, baseball players, and musicians. If all you see of the revolution is that, then how could you think it's bad? Add to that the fact that some Europeans vacation there. What kind of Cuba do you think they see? They don't see the Cuba that has to live on six pounds of rice per month por la libreta? They see the Cuba where you can order langosta and a Cuba libre with a view of Varadero.
You know it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to think of some solutions to this, like making sure the full truth gets out. This blog and others do a wonderful job, but we need more. We also need to make sure that the image of the community is portrayed accurately and hold people accountable. FACE started out on the right foot but again, we need more.