"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."
The Huffington Post - Apr 23, 2006 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blake-fleetwood/cuba-has-better-medical-c_b_19664.html CUBA HAS BETTER MEDICAL CARE THAN THE U.S. Statistics don't lie. by Blake Fleetwood 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 than 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. *** Pablo Menendez: The Cuban Connection TODAY, Tuesday, April 25th, 4:20 - 6:00 PM CSCLA Golden Eagle Ballroom, 3rd floor Join us as the founder, band leader and lead guitarist of internationally-known Cuban group, Mezcla, presents video footage emphasizing areas of Cuban Music that include jazz, cuban rock, cuban hiphop, cuban new song and political singers and song writers. Arriving in Cuba in 1966 at age 14 from Oakland, CA to study Music, Mr. Menendez is the only person from the U.S. to be living and working in Cuba and with Cuban Music. Here is an opportunity to learn about life in Cuba. Sponsors: Educational Opportunity Program, Summer Bridge Student Council, Chican@ Latin@ Resource Center, M.E.Ch.A. Pablo Menendez: The Cuban Connection Golden Eagle Ballroom, 3rd floor California State University, Los Angeles (food and beverages will be served) *** www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545 | Click to subscribe If you are having trouble viewing this message, please click here. a.. General info b.. March route c.. Contingent assembly areas d.. Festival map & details e.. Sign up to volunteer f.. Transportation info g.. Housing info h.. Donate Please forward widely! March for Peace, Justice and Democracy Saturday, April 29 -- New York City Assemble beginning at 10:30AM -- 22nd Street & Broadway March steps off at noon Grassroots Action Festival in Foley Square, 1:00PM-6:00PM Maps: Assembly Area & March Route | Festival Five days from now, people from diverse communities, from all walks of life, will fill the streets of Manhattan with outrage at our country's current policies and hope for a better future. Unified in our determined opposition to the ongoing war in Iraq, we are also demanding new priorities and a new direction for our government. As Bush's approval ratings keep sinking to historic lows, we need to turn the widespread unhappiness with this administration into action for change. Will you be there with us on Saturday, April 29? Will you help us in these last few days as we spread the word far and wide? The early weather forecast looks great (low to mid 60s, mostly sunny), but rain or shine, we are marching! Puppets, marching bands, street theater groups, and other performers will all be participating in the march. We encourage you to bring musical instruments, banners, and other things you create to help express the messages of the day. (Reminder: The NYPD only allows signs and banners to be carried on cardboard poles; wooden, metal, and fiberglass poles are prohibited.) We still need people to volunteer with every aspect of the day -- please sign up on our website or call our office at 212-868-5545. A powerful array of activities are planned both before and after the march. Some highlights: * Pre-March Labor Rally: 10:30 am, 19th Street between Park Ave. South and Broadway A very large turn out is expected from the labor movement, and as people gather for this contingent, there will be a rally with representatives of the many unions involved in this effort. As part of the Festival at the end of the march, there will be a Labor tent that will help you get more involved in connecting the labor and antiwar movements. * Pre-March Interfaith Religious Service: 9:40 am, 19th Street, between Broadway and Fifth Ave. People from many faiths and religious traditions will gather for a shabbat service before the march begins. Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq is also organizing an afternoon of activities at their tent at the Festival after the march. * Grassroots Action Festival: 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Foley Square. The festival will feature 19 themed tents, providing resources from hundreds of groups and campaigns. You'll find information about a wide variety of ways to take action against the war -- from pressuring legislators to resisting military recruitment efforts to engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience. You'll find displays and materials that will highlight the connections between the war and the struggles for women's rights, for racial justice, for immigrant rights, and for a sustainable environment. There will also be a special tent with peace activities for children, and much more. If you are still looking for transportation to NYC, please check the Transportation Board on our website. There are some offers of housing available on our Housing Board, and if you live in the NYC area and can offer housing, we encourage you to post your information right now. While a great deal of work has already been done to get the word out, there is still more to do -- and we need your help. Wouldn't it be a shame to get calls on Sunday from people telling you they would have marched but they didn't know about the demonstration? In these next few days we can make sure that doesn't happen: 1) Send this email -- or your own message -- to your friends, relatives, and every appropriate email list. And be sure to send that out today! 2) Tell your friends, family, and people you work with or go to school with. There are leaflets you can download from the website, and we encourage you to make as many copies as you can and get those out to folks. 3) If you are part of a group or an organization, make sure they are contacting their members and posting the information on their websites. 4) Call in to a radio talk show over the next few days, and talk about why you are coming to NYC. Be sure to mention www.april29.org, so everyone can get the information! Finally, we hope you will be able to make a financial contribution to this effort -- whether or not you are able to participate. We need to cover the costs of the mobilization and we want to come out of this financially strong enough to move us into the next phase of our work. Please be as generous as you can, but remember -- every donation, no matter how small or large, helps! You can donate by credit card online or call 212-868-5545 to donate by credit card over the phone. Donations can also be made payable to United for Peace and Justice and mailed to April 29 Protest, c/o UFPJ, P.O. 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