Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Cuba is a dictatorship. Ever since Fidel Castro rose to power, people have been fleeing from Cuba left and right. Especially as you see an entire neighborhood of Miami, Florida (Little Havana) populated exclusively by former Cubans.
And yet we keep hearing all the time about universal or even free healthcare in Cuba. To me, it really is impossible to believe that a country run by an iron-fisted dictatorship can possibly really have free or universal healthcare. Especially when you see that all other countries that are dictatorships easily have unaffordable or even non existant healthcare. For example, like Cuba, North Korea is also a dictatorship. And North Korean healthcare is in the sewer, price and quality wise.
Well, they do, and have had a pretty extensive health care system.
Just because there are many things that are not desirable/admirable about Cuba politically doesn't mean they don't do anything right. Don't let your political bias blind you to that.
Besides health care, Cuba has a very high literacy rate - for a relatively poor country, they do have a very well educated work force.
China also has political repression and media controls/censorship, and yet they are one of our biggest trade partners. We also buy petroleum from many countries with poor human rights records.
Would anyone want to be taken cared of in a place like that? How about give birth? Would anyone feel at ease knowing your injured child will be 'cured' in such a place?
They do have hospitals for foreigners and those are wonderful. If only all the Cuban people could have hospitals like those geared towards foreigners... if only.
Well, they do, and have had a pretty extensive health care system.
Just because there are many things that are not desirable/admirable about Cuba politically doesn't mean they don't do anything right. Don't let your political bias blind you to that.
Besides health care, Cuba has a very high literacy rate - for a relatively poor country, they do have a very well educated work force.
China also has political repression and media controls/censorship, and yet they are one of our biggest trade partners. We also buy petroleum from many countries with poor human rights records.
Well that certainly is a surprise. Especially as, in fact, I always picture dictatorship countries such as Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe, and such as having even no healthcare except for the richest, or at the very least, their healthcare being priced through the roof and totally unaffordable except for the richest, no human rights at all, no more than a 3 percent literacy rate, hospitals all filthy and disease infested, and not to mention laws designed to make life absolutely miserable. Certainly no wonder all dictatorship countries are third world.
Would anyone want to be taken cared of in a place like that? How about give birth? Would anyone feel at ease knowing your injured child will be 'cured' in such a place?
They do have hospitals for foreigners and those are wonderful. If only all the Cuban people could have hospitals like those geared towards foreigners... if only.
Cuba has a system of doctors treating sick people. I saw a documentary which was very flattering to the Cuba healthcare system. It focused on the fact that the Cubans now have diabetic drugs meaning that those who have severely out of control diabetes wouldn't have to have their feet removed.
If a healthcare system is efficient a diabetic should NOT reach the point where this should happen. Diabetes isn't a hard disease to treat. Only those with no access to healthcare should reach the point where gangrene sets in and the foot must be removed.
Clearly Cuba has a lot of doctors, but I question the quality of their primary care.
Here's the thing - Cuba isn't a wealthy country at all, so they're focused on primary and preventative care as opposed to world class medical technological breakthroughs or research, which is just a lot more cost effective. It's not a perfect or ideal situation given that they have shortages of supplies and other economic limitations, but their life expectancy is pretty equivalent to that of the US despite being a much poorer country.
Here's the thing - Cuba isn't a wealthy country at all, so they're focused on primary and preventative care as opposed to world class medical technological breakthroughs or research, which is just a lot more cost effective. It's not a perfect or ideal situation given that they have shortages of supplies and other economic limitations, but their life expectancy is pretty equivalent to that of the US despite being a much poorer country.
When the USSR was around, their data made it seem as if they were as economically powerful as the capitalistic countries. Everyone was trembling at the thought.
Then the USSR imploded on itself and voila, it turns out they were cooking the books.
I'm not saying Cuba is cooking her books too, but we will not know for sure until...
Officially Cuba doesn't have much crime, but many Cubans that lived there assure everyone they speak with that there is a lot of theft, its simply not published in the government controlled press and it doesn't appear in the statistics.
It is very possible and good for them.
My brother got in to a motor cycle accident while him and his freinds were riding around different areas in Cuba and got injured pretty bad. He got rushed to a local hospital there and did not have insurance. The cost was pretty nominal and the care was good. He had nothing bad to say at the experience at all. This was a local hospital and not some private clinic for tourists. Cuba is doing well in this area.
Cuba is a dictatorship. Ever since Fidel Castro rose to power, people have been fleeing from Cuba left and right. Especially as you see an entire neighborhood of Miami, Florida (Little Havana) populated exclusively by former Cubans.
And yet we keep hearing all the time about universal or even free healthcare in Cuba. To me, it really is impossible to believe that a country run by an iron-fisted dictatorship can possibly really have free or universal healthcare. Especially when you see that all other countries that are dictatorships easily have unaffordable or even non existant healthcare. For example, like Cuba, North Korea is also a dictatorship. And North Korean healthcare is in the sewer, price and quality wise.
Believe it or not, they do. The Soviet Union had universal health care. It's not about whether it's a dictatorship; it's about socialism, and socialized medicine. And Cuban doctors are said to be pretty good. The problem now is that after people were allowed to work for dollars, some doctors because shop owners or restaurant owners, because the money was better than the state wage.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
