Oh, Sam…do we have to go over this again? […sigh…]
A link to a decidedly partisan site is not a real cite, its a gesture, a phantom, its to pretend an authenticity sadly lacking. Beginning to feel like Sheriff Andy busting Otis the Drunk for public intoxication… The merest perusal of the Cuban American National Foundation’s web site will make its viewpoints and biases abundantly clear. I can’t imagine you don’t already know this. Work on that sort of thing, won’t you, there’s a good fellow…
The whole gambit of issues that surround the buzz words “socialized medicine” are clouded to an extreme, there are agendas abounding, and there is money behind those agenda. To oversimplify, I am less than content with a medical system that affords a half-million dollar heart surgery for the rich/powerful and denies $500 in prenatal care to an unborn infant they expend gallons of crocodile tears upon.
I’ll remember that the next time you use a cite from Media Matters, or any number of other left-leaning or partisan organizations that are routinely cited on this board.
It is hard sometimes to determine if we are getting any truthful information about Cuba through the media, especially given the control the Cuban government has over what information goes out. But I have personal knowledge that people who live in Cuba do not have access to many of the medications they need, unless they buy them on the black market, and that they do not have the money to purchase these medications unless relatives who live in other countries like the US help them out.
Just as you say, it is difficult to parse the situation. Are Cuba’s troubles a result of its socialist structures, or are they related to the fact that they live 90 miles from the most powerful country in human history, which hates their collective guts?
I seriously doubt that the lack of affordable and available medications has anything to do with the embargo. They have relations with Canada, and Canada is where US citizens want to buy drugs, because they are so much cheaper. Why are drugs from Canada, or any other country, not available to Cubans?
All right, all right! I confess! Its solely a result of their collectivist systems, which stifles sacred entreprenuership and prevents the profit motive from delivering humane and compassionate care to its customer base! All they have left are crazy whacko doctors who became doctors to help the sick, when everybody knows you’re much better off with a doctor who regards you as a paycheck wearing shoes! Just stop with the noogies!
(Caveat: this is in no way intended as a slam on all American doctors, I have met many and several who are a credit to their profession and their species. Rest in peace, Dr. Collins, and thanks for the shots…)
Put another way: I don’t know* precisely* how much of Cubas misery is directly attributable to the utterly senseless embargo, its effect on the price of sugar, and the effect of the price of sugar on certain well-connected Florida Republicans.
Here’s a thought! Lets quit beating up on them, and see if it gets better! I’m betting “yes”. How about you?
The International Association of Christians United for Social Justice[sup]1[/sup] frowns on the efforts of both Sam Stone and Elucidator to subvert the basic point Moore seems to have been trying to make.
Why are the responders to 9/11 not getting the medical care they need and want, to the point that the medical care provided by arguably one of the worst economies in the Western Hemisphere is providing it to people termed “American heroes” while America is not?
I don’t care if your devotion to the market economy approximates idolatry, and you believe that every welfare mother should die of untreated lingering diseases unless she signs her entire paycheck over to her physician. This is unconscionable.
That’s me. If I need to justify the “International” part, I know a liberal Canadian teen with similar views; I’ll get him to join. I figure that if everybody else can come up with highfaluting names for themselves and two friends that discuss stuff over coffee and agree on ideological bases, I don’t want to be left out.
Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. There is a huge, huge, non-US economy out there which Cuba DOES do business with, and yet, it doesn’t seem to help them.
But the bottom line is, how can it be that the one shining star in their system is their health care, when people don’t even have access to medication?
Its not what they have, because they have not. Its what they do with what they have, and what we don’t. That the richest nation in human history will not care for its own is an obscenity we should cringe to admit.
The short answer is that our democratically elected government has not passed legislation giving everyone healthcare benefits, largely because we the people have been resistant to that idea. We do see polls about how people want more government action on healthcare, and maybe that we even do want universal healthcare, but I’m skeptical that “we” are actually willing to pay for it when the rubber hits the road.
Also, can you flesh out the details of what care they’re not getting and why? All I got from the article in the OP was that they were taken to Cuba for treatment that no one can get in the US because it is still in the approval process at the FDA. And while I’m sensitive to the idea that they should be getting the medical care they need, I’m not ready to grant them a blank check for any care they want.
Is it more expensive for the average person to have a private healthcare plan as opposed to just paying a tax to put money into a national healthcare system? I know European countries pay less (like, half as much!) in healthcare spending as the US does, I would presume that translates into them paying less per individual as well.
Anyone have numbers about how much the average French or Canadian person pays per year to support their healthcare systems?
The “average person” doesn’t pay anything for health insurance in the US, at least not directly. We have this weird system where most people (not all, but most) get their insurance from their employer, and they never see the payment. If you’re a white collar worker at one of the big companies, you probably have some very nice benefits. I’ve always had great coverage from all my employers. Of course lots of Americans have crappy coverage or no coverage at all unless they’re willing to shell out big bucks themselves.
And if you think of the demographics of the voting public that skews more towards the wealthier folks, most of whom already have good coverage and might not be too keen about handing that over to the government. I suspect that a larger percentage of the voting public has good coverage than does the general public. Throw into that a distrust that many people have for “socialized medicine”, and I think that more or less explains why we keep talking about this issue but not doing anything. OTOH, some states are beginning to get involved very actively. Personally, I’d rather we did it that way if we’re going to do it.