Sep 12, 2007
Health Care in Cuba
Rory Carroll investigates.
"Cuban healthcare is no utopia. At times it is ragged and harsh. But the virtues are no myth. People live as long as they do because the system, overall, works. To be poor and sick in Cuba is tough, but it is not to be forgotten."
Certainly I'd rather be poor and sick in Cuba than in most of the Third World. That said, the question that remains is how a Third World country can transform itself into a more prosperous society to the benefit of all its citizens. And that, I suggest, is where the Cuban government is failing the Cuban people.
Of course, the situation isn't helped any by the obnoxious U.S. embargo that works against the Cuban people in two ways. Not only does it cause direct impoverishment by prohibiting mutually beneficial trade between Cubans and Americans but it also helps the Cuban state reinforce its control over the Cuban economy and society leading to further immiseration of the Cuban people.
"Cuban healthcare is no utopia. At times it is ragged and harsh. But the virtues are no myth. People live as long as they do because the system, overall, works. To be poor and sick in Cuba is tough, but it is not to be forgotten."
Certainly I'd rather be poor and sick in Cuba than in most of the Third World. That said, the question that remains is how a Third World country can transform itself into a more prosperous society to the benefit of all its citizens. And that, I suggest, is where the Cuban government is failing the Cuban people.
Of course, the situation isn't helped any by the obnoxious U.S. embargo that works against the Cuban people in two ways. Not only does it cause direct impoverishment by prohibiting mutually beneficial trade between Cubans and Americans but it also helps the Cuban state reinforce its control over the Cuban economy and society leading to further immiseration of the Cuban people.