While I agree the that the ludicrous and fantastic notion that Cuba has a great health system is amusing when it is so often repeated, dont despise all of the notions of socialised health care. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between the two extremes of a totally socialised system and a totally private, user-pays system. Here in australia we have a combination of the two and it works pretty well - especially when you compare it to overseas situations. We have a universal 'free' health system for doctors and hospitals but as can be imagined there are long waits for 'elective' (ie it wont kill you in the next month) surgery. To this situation we add private health care - a top-up to the universal system. Most australians end up having access to both systems. They used Medicare (the govt universal scheme) for a lot of basic needs and private health care for more complex needs or wants. the poor have only the universal system and while it is a pretty ordinary system there is a good level of coverage to everyone - for free. Of course nothing is actually free and there is a 1.5% tax levy for all workers that pays for it.
There are a lot of domestic complaints about our health system but when I look overseas I realise we have a pretty good deal. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Madigan Sent: Thursday, 25 June 2009 3:27 AM To: Mike Madigan Subject: [OT] It's frightening how many people believe Cuba's health care is better than ours People actually think that Cuba's health care is better than ours. A country where the per capita income is $9500 and people still drive cars from the 1950s because they can't afford cars from the 21st century. A place where the power goes out because they can't afford to keep it on 24 hours. A place where people are forced to ration their air conditioning and their electricity. People really believe that if you have a blockage in your heart that you can get a quadruple bypass by just walking into the doctors office and scheduling one. They actually believe that if you have cancer, you can get the finest in chemotherapy and radiation therapy to keep you alive. They actually believe that if your knee needs replacing, that they'll install a new titanium knee for free. Why are people so ignorant? Socialized medicine is a complete and utter failure, yet people still like to perpetrate the myth. So now we're going to get socialized, rationed health care because people aren't educated enough to know that's bad. Amazing. ************************************************* Join the OBAMA RESISTANCE MOVEMENT! http://www.cafepress.com/rightwingmike/6181419 [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
