Cuba has developed its skill in the
field of medical more then any other
country in the world dur to its out
standing research work and
determinations of Cuban's doctors.
Today cuba have much better
opportunities to in medical prospect.
Now all over the world Cuba have much
better skill then any other European
or U.S country.
Cuba
Has Better Medical Care Than the U.S.
Statistics don't lie.
Figures from the World Health
Organization clearly show that The
United States lags behind 36 other
countries in overall health system
performance ranging from infant
mortality, to adult mortality, to life
expectancy.
20 countries in Europe and four
countries in Asia have a better life
expectancy than the U.S. If you are a
male between the ages of 15 and 59,
your chances of dying are higher in
the U.S. (140 per thousand) than in
Canada, 95, Costa Rica 127, Chile 134,
and Cuba, 138.
The U.S. Health system looks
especially dysfunctional when you
consider how much money we spend per
capita on healthcare -- $6,000 plus
per year, twice as much as any other
country -- and how little we get for
it.
Canada spends $2,163 and boasts a
life expectancy of 79.8 years, two and
a half years longer than the US. Their
infant mortality rate per thousand is
also better than ours, as is their
adult mortality rate.
Switzerland spends about 11% of its
Gross Domestic Product on universal
health care for all its citizens,
while the U.S. (with 50 million
uninsured this year) spends 15% of GDP
with embarrassing results.
One grand irony, Cuba whose economy
has been bankrupt for the last decade
-- food shortages, drug shortages,
chronic unemployment, etc. -- and
which annually spends a miserly $185
per person on health care, has better
infant and adult mortality rates than
the US, and has a life expectancy
nearly equal to ours.
Why has our vaunted free enterprise
system -- which has produced such
great benefits in delivery of most
goods and services -- failed so
completely with regard to this most
fundamental need?
Simple, buyers don't shop for
health care. Sick people don't
negotiate with doctors or hospitals or
drug companies. They don't care what
it costs; insurance or the government
will pay. This vulnerability has been
exploited and hijacked by greedy
doctors, drug companies, insurers,
personal injury lawyers, HMOs, and
hospitals. About 50% of health care
funds never even get to doctors or
hospitals -- which themselves run
bloated operations.
Maybe we have finally reached the
"Tipping Point". Not because people
are needlessly dying, but because big
business is being crippled by
astronomical health costs.
US companies -- with employer
funded health plans -- are having a
hard time competing in world markets.
General Motors spends more on worker
health care ($1,400 per vehicle) than
they spend on steel for each car they
produce. "The three big auto makers
are "HMOs on wheels" says Goldman
Sachs analyst Gary Lapidus.
Employer funded health insurance is
a relic of the past according to the
growing clamor by big business.
We don't want to pay for it any more
and the added costs make our products
uncompetitive in world markets.
The new Massachusetts law mandating
health insurance -- just as the state
requires auto insurance -- is a bold
leap into an uncertain future, but it
is an ad hoc band-aid which hopefully
will lead to something more.
The long-term answer is obvious.
Adopt a single-payer system like
Canada's. Not socialized medicine.
Doctors would remain private. By
cutting out the bureaucracy, needless
lawsuits, and curbing greed, the US
could save 50% of the monies now being
squandered, more than enough to cover
the 50 million uninsured, according to
a General Accounting Office and
Congressional Budget Office report.
Ironically, we already have a
successful single-payer healthcare
program. Medicare, which covers people
over 65, has an administrative and
overhead cost of just 2%. Compare this
low figure with the $399 billion spent
on administrative middleman services
in the free-market sector of health
care last year. The simple step of
data sharing of medical records could
save $140 billion per year according
too a recent Federal study.
Critics charge that a single-payer
system would lead to a rationing of
medicine and long waits. But we
already ration medicine, not by need,
or efficacy of the treatment, but by
how much money you have. If you are
rich, you can have all you want. If
you are poor, unemployed,
self-employed, sorry. 18,000 Americans
die each year for lack of care
according to the Institute of
Medicine.
The right says that single-payer
systems have not been adequately
tested. But this is an obvious pretext
by for-profit interest groups.
Single-payer systems have been worked
for many decades in 20 countries
around the world.
The facts are clear: single-payer
systems work and they save money. The
Germans, French, Australians, Swiss,
and Canadians all benefit from
universal healthcare at less than half
the cost that Americans pay for an
incomplete system. Our for-profit
healthcare system is a gambling scheme
with the explicit goal of excluding
the sick.
Good luck Massachusetts. Maybe your
example, big business, and growing
outrage will goad the dithering
federal government into action.
Someday, inevitably, America will
join the civilized world and provide
universal care. It should be sooner
rather than later.
