A look at medical costs in Cuba vs. the US

Yahoo/AP ^

[nuconvert]

What Cuba says it spends on medical services is a fraction of what it costs hospitals to provide the same services in the United States.

[RavenLooneyToon]

Drums beating, nurses chanting, while the doctor dances around you with a burning chicken liver hanging from the end of a stick.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“It is interesting though, that Cuba and the U.S. have about the same life expectancy average - 78 years.”

If true, this isn’t that surprising, for a variety of reasons - including that they don’t have many people who are morbidly obese (calorie restriction prolongs life in animal studies - although the mechanisms are unclear), and probably don’t have as much access to the excesses of life that we do in the US - including drugs of abuse.

This brings up a very important issue that I strongly feel needs clarification. Medical care is primarily about quality of life - not longevity. As much as we would love to be able to prolong life with medical care, the bottom line is that it is very difficult to show this for most of what modern medicine offers.

Longevity in society is very much a function of things like diet, exercise, genetics, effective sewage and water treatment, avoiding the use of drugs, smoking, and excessive alcohol, and in many areas of the inner city violent crime plays a role. High blood pressure is a mortality predictor, and being overweight is a significant risk factor for high blood pressure - for instance.

Lifespan didn’t increase in this country because we developed hip replacements, or chemotherapy, or bypass surgery, etc. etc. In specific instances many of these can prolong life, but statistically they do little to increase the lifespan of the general population.

Cuba, by the way, ranks 49th in terms of population with obesity. The US ranks as 6th. Obesity has been, incidentally, increasing in Cuba. Unless stopped this will likely have effects down the road on societal longevity.

[fungoking]

I was in Cuba this summer on a mission trip. The “reporter” who wrote this is a tool. The average Cuban makes $10 per month, a dr make 20-30, but a policeman makes $50.

I could see how a reporter or dim politician could spend a few days in Havana and think things are great. when we got out in the small towns the communist followed us around and harassed the nationals we were working with. when they felt safe to tell us the truth a very different picture of Cuba emerged. Rice, beans, and fruit at every meal and almost never meat. They have cows on farms but if an average Cuban got caught killing or eating 1, 25 years in prison; at age 7 kids lose their milk ration. “Yes we all have free health care but if you are rich or a higher up in the party you get better care and don't have to wait”.

[Ax]

When my wife was in the British hospital with two of our kids, we were required to brings clean linens. Hospital workers in the UK are often on strike.

I’m one of the few Americans who’ve been treated in a Cuban Hospital. We diplomats got treated in CIMEQ (the top Cuban Army hospital in Havana). I was seen by an orthopedic surgeon,probably a very competent doctor. During the exam, it came out that he made about $35 a month. He prescribed physiotherapy. Most of the equipment came from the east bloc and was hopelessly out of date. I was given electro therapy by a woman whose lab coat covered her fatigue jacket; underneath I could read her “Minitstry of the Interior” name tape. It was a bit unsettling to see armed soldiers and Interior Ministry troops in the lobby. In my neighborhood, I was constantly being beset by my neighbors, asking for aspirin and vitamins

[dfwgator]

One thing I noticed is that people there age prematurely, people in their 40s look like they are in their 60s. They all look emaciated.

[wordsofearnest]

We have a winner !!

[ExxonPatrolUs]

Maybe if US doctors and nurses would just take a pay cut. Why should we be paying them $100s of thousands of dollars a year to kill us with germs all over our dirty hospital rooms, their equipment, their clothes and their hands? We could pay the $1 an hour like they do in Cuba where hospitals are obviously cleaner.

[freeandfreezing]

It is interesting though, that Cuba and the U.S. have about the same life expectancy average - 78 years.

Yes, and they also have 100% literacy. In Cuba the marvelous education system ensures that everyone can read. Unlike in more advanced countries even children struck down with terrible diseases or mental retardation can read! (Sarcasm off)

Like any leftist endeavor you can assume that the statistics from Cuba's government are lies. If they aren't flat out lies they use different methods to determine the outcome so that their numbers are not comparable with results from other nations. Cuba reports a lower rate of infant mortality by re-defining "infant".

[rigelkentaurus]

makes perfect sense to me. a fraction of the cost for a fraction of the treatment.

I would like to see all RATs required to go to Cuba for treatment and obtain such treatment in the same manner and queue as the typical average Cuban. That would be my health care plan for the US.