Bill Ryan's Other Blog

Anyone who made it through Econ 101 (or who has an IQ over 80) understands that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.  We’ve been hearing a lot about ‘free’ health care lately. And whenever the atrocities of Cuba come up, Castro supporters always have a reply to the effect of “but they have lower infant mortality then we do, and they have free health care and education.”  It’s not free at all.

What matters most is that you have access to health care after all, not what it costs. If you are in a situation where you can’t be turned away, then lack of money won’t kill you (and yes, there are exceptions and horror stories here in the US.  But even Horror Stories here in the US are much better than what average folk 90 miles south of Key West experience)

Let’s say hypothetically that you knew for a fact that the price of your health care would never exceed 2% of the money you had available at the time.  Far from free, I think most people would love such a notion. That’s b/c it would mean no matter what their economic situation, they’d know they could always afford health care. I wonder, if we had truly free markets in health care, would prices be dropping like they do with say, computers or flat screen TVs?  Or would they be dropping like prices for boob jobs, lypo and Lasik?  Oh wait, those last three are medical procedures, how come their prices keep going down. 

B/c it’s been so politicized, we hear people use Health Care and Health Insurance as though they are interchangeable when they are very different notions.  So the problem most people have with our system isn’t that they can’t get to a doctor or that they’re turned away from the E.R., it’s that they can get caught off guard (or in some cases, b/c they willingly ignored the risks they knew were present and didn’t insure themselves when they could have) and the amount of their wealth they have to pay for the care is too high.

Now, what if I told you I could guarantee you health care coverage but I was going to take 50% of your income?  Most people would want nothing to do with that right?  So if we’re going to use Cuba as a comparison point – then look at what you make.  Look at what someone in a similar position makes in Cuba.  Factor out what you have to pay for your insurance.  Who’s better off?  Across the board you will be (Communist Party members have tremendous wealth compared to ordinary Cubans – but the equivalent position in the US pays much better).  I hear people claim Cuba is some paradise and people love it there.  Yep, that’s why ever since Castro took over, people load their moms, dads, wives and kids on to rubber rafts and brave gunboats, sharks, weather and dehydration so they can come be exploited in this capitalist hell.  What reasonable person wouldn’t face such risks so they could leave paradise and arrive in hell.  (I’d note that back when the “Dictator” Batista was president, hopping on a raft and risking ones life to get to the US wasn’t heard of much – but now, under “President”s Castro – it’s a different story).  How anyone can argue with a straight face that people would face such risks when they ‘had it good’ is beyond me. 

Anyway, the point is this.  In Cuba, unless you’re a party member, you’re poor.  Not Poor in the US Sense, where the biggest problem facing the poor is obesity.  Not US poor where you have cable, a phone, air conditioning and often a car.  No, they are really poor.  Even assuming you believe the idiocy that non-party member Cubans get decent health care, there’s no denying that when you look at what they get compared to what they have to give, the story is very bad for them. If you get Free Health Care and Education but are only allowed to keep a tiny fraction of your labor, then you’re effectively facing a Tax of the difference in exchange for the benefits.

How much would you be willing to pay for superb health care like this, you know, instead of those out of date hospitals you face here? (I know, I know, that’s not what the hospitals looked like in Sicko.  And Michael Moore was promised that he was shown the same hospitals ordinary Cubans went to.  B/c you know, Castro doesn’t manipulate the press or media and wants the world to know exactly what’s going on in Cuba.  I mean, why else would Cuba have such a Free Press?)

Outside of monetary considerations though – what price would you put on being able to criticize corrupt politicians or officials?  What price would you put on a trial by jury? (I’ won’t say the US legal system is fair, but if I had to face the same charges in each country, I’d damn sure want to be here in the US).  What price would you be willing to pay to go to sleep every night knowing that your spouse or kids won’t be taken away, arrested and killed for simply saying things the politicians don’t like?  What price would you pay to not have any real redress for crimes against you?  B/c that’s what the real cost of the ‘free’ health care and education are in Cuba.  And if you’re male and reading this, what would you be willing to give away all your wealth so you can live in squalor all the while having this happen to your wife (God Bless the heroes at BabaluBlog and The Real Cuba for bringing these atrocities to light – it’s too bad the media is so in love with Fidel that they are incapable of honest reporting about Cuba):

The castro tyrants are cowards who fear and beat women, The Real Cuba Reports:

**BREAKING NEWS** Dr. Dasi Ferrer’s wife arrested

2:20 PM – I was able to get through and spoke with Yusnaimi’s brother.

He said that she left for the march around 10:30 AM EST with another 3 persons.

Before she was able to reach the Parque Villalon, where the demonstration was going to take place, she was detained by State Security agents, beaten and pushed into a Lada automobile, like the ones normally used by Castro’s Gestapo.

The other 3 people who were with her were not detained.

As of now, almost 4 hours later, the family doesn’t know where she is being held.

Yusmaini’s brother also told me that he spoke with Laura Pollán, member of The Ladies in White, and she said that several of the women were beaten this morning when they tried to reach Parque Villalon.

2 PM – I have not been able to reestablish connection with Yusmaini.

Dissident sources in Cuba are reporting that several dissidents that tried to demonstrate at Parque Villalón were arrested and many of them were beaten by police.

The Ladies in White also joined those who were demonstrating this morning to commemorate the International Human Rights Day.

Misceláneas de Cuba has more in Spanish with audio,  the link is here.

[tags]Cuba, Dr. Darsi Ferrer, BabaluBlog, The Real Cuba[/tags]