THIS IS THE FAMOUS 'GREAT AND FREE HEALTHCARE' THAT REGULAR CUBANS RECEIVE

THIS IS THE FAMOUS 'GREAT AND FREE HEALTHCARE' THAT REGULAR CUBANS RECEIVE. THIS IS THE PROMISE OF OBAMACARE. BELIEVE IT!

A photo from a reader who just returned from his first visit to Castroland

The Real Cuba

An e-mail and a photo from a reader who just returned from his first visit to Castroland: "My God, I have just returned from my first visit to Cuba. I am SO sorry for what Fidel Castro has done to this beautiful country and people. I visited a hospital in his home town of Santiago and could not believe my eyes, it was disgusting. I could never imagine my parents or family having to endure a night in that shithole with cockroaches. What has this man done to this beautiful country and people? I thought S. Africa was bad enough but the real poverty and what I saw defies description, I was truly angered , frustrated and really saddened. F.C should be ashamed of himself. I cannot sleep without thinking of all those poor people left to their own devices, hardly any food, vegetables, fruit. I saw the REAL Cuba as I have a Cuban friend but I am sure most tourists do not even have a clue what is happening there. 20 Oct 2008.T.T"

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THIS IS THE FAMOUS 'GREAT AND FREE HEALTHCARE' THAT REGULAR CUBANS RECEIVE

One of the greatest fallacies about the so called 'Cuban Revolution' has to do with healthcare.

Foreigners who visit Cuba, are fed the official line from Castro's propaganda machine: "All Cubans are now able to receive excellent healthcare, which is also free." But the truth is very different. Castro has built excellent health facilities for the use of foreigners, who pay with hard currency for those services.

Argentinean soccer star Maradona, for example, has traveled several times to Cuba to receive treatment to combat his drug addiction. But Cubans are not even allowed to visit those facilities. Cubans who require medical attention must go to other hospitals, that lack the most minimum requirements needed to take care of their patients.

In addition, most of these facilities are filthy and patients have to bring their own towels, bed sheets, pillows, or they would have to lay down on dirty bare mattresses stained with blood and other body fluids.

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SALLY MELCHER JARVIS, Correspondent reveals the truth about "cuban health care"

Catching A Cold In Cuba By SALLY MELCHER JARVIS, Correspondent

Trip to beautiful island offers harsh lessons about shortages of medicine, food and transportation

By SALLY MELCHER JARVIS, Correspondent
Sunday News

Published: Dec 30, 2007 12:08 AM EST

HAVANA, CUBA - It wasn't much of a cold; just the kind that would get better by itself in a week. In the meantime it was a nuisance with a cough and stuffy nose. A little over-the-counter remedy would help.

It was November 2007. We were in Havana, the capital of Cuba, with a humanitarian group organized by the North Museum of Natural History & Science. Our role was to bring medical and school supplies in our suitcases. Americans are allowed in Cuba; they aren't permitted to spend any money there. We prepaid for our trip including every meal and tip.

There were no over-the-counter remedies to be had. I asked the guide what Cubans did if they had a cold. The guide said that a Cuban would go to the doctor — a visit free of charge — who would write a prescription for aspirin. However, there would be no way to fill the prescription.

We visited a pharmacy later in the trip. Behind the counter five well-dressed Cuban women waited to serve, but the shelves were empty. The only items in sight were the monthly ration of sanitary napkins, 10 permitted per Cuban woman per month.

I then understood the value of the over-the-counter medical supplies we had brought to a Catholic charity.

It was like being in a dream where two different things can happen at the same time. We were in a two-tier system: one for the privileged (tourists, for example) and the other for those who lived and worked in socialist Cuba.

Our luxurious state-owned hotel was closed to Cubans, except for those who worked there. A Cuban could not even come in for a meal.

There were two levels of money. One, the CUC, was used by foreign tourists and convertible to other currencies. The other, the peso, was for Cubans, and worth 5 percent of the "better" currency.

There were two levels of stores, one that took pesos and another that took CUC money. The peso stores had very little to sell. The stores for CUC money were marginally better. Even a modest chain store in the United States could outshine the "better" store.

There certainly were no traffic jams. With few privately owned cars and limited public transportation, many people rely on hitchhiking. In one five-mile stretch of a major highway I counted 20 people hoping for rides. In the same five-mile stretch the traffic consisted of one taxi, one bus, one pedestrian, two horse-drawn carts, three motorcycles, seven cars, 11 bicycles and 13 pickup trucks. This included both sides of the four-lane highway. About 15 percent are 1950s-era American cars still using leaded gas.

Coupons are given out each month for food such as coffee and rice. The coupons run out after two weeks, so it is necessary to buy food with the monthly salary. Food at the farmers' market is expensive. So if a person does not use the coffee ration, that coffee is traded for something else

On balance, we saw no people sleeping in doorways. We learned that there was 95 percent literacy. There was no rent to pay, no medical insurance needed — but no aspirin.

Cuba is a beautiful country with limestone soil as rich as Lancaster County and a mild climate year-round. The people are friendly, well-dressed and polite. Havana is a stunning Spanish colonial city with tree-lined plazas and colonnaded homes. If only the windows were not patched, the pillars rotted and the faded walls stained with mildew. The government has restored a number of homes, but the overall effect is one of decay.

The decay and lack of merchandise are blamed on the American embargo, in place since 1960. One wall poster in a cigar factory called the American embargo "genocide." Our country's story in Cuba is not an admirable one. Still, I wondered if a socialist government in 50 years could not come up with something better for its people.

It was depressing to see attractive and intelligent people restricted and denied opportunity in such an appealing land only 90 miles away from our country.

The accident of birth has put me in a free country and I have never been so grateful.
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Cubam Free Health Care Or Nationalized Health Care

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Government Controlled Health Care Means Waiting Lines, Serious Drawbacks..something called QUEUING

President Obama said that the government is going to "fix what is broken about health care in America." It sounds like a great idea, but often what sounds good has intended consequences.

When the government takes over you may not get the care and breakthroughs you need to save your life. It will depend on queuing.

"The only way they can get costs down under a government-run system is to control the amount of money that is spent on health care," says Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute, who was born in Canada, and is wary about government taking the reins of health care in the U.S. "We are going to have denied care, lack of access to the latest technology, and long waiting lists, just like people do in Canada and Great Britain," she warns.

The Top Ten Things People Believe About Canadian Health Care, But Shouldn't

Health 'Reformers' Ignore Facts Sally Pipes

Reducing costs means rationing the care of those who currently have private insurance and Medicare. Its all an obama lie. Don't believe the liar obama.

In those countries, the government pays for all health care, and bureaucrats put limits on spending in order to control costs. They determine how much doctors can be reimbursed and put caps on the amount of money that can be spent on treatments.

The result of all this cost-cutting? People wait for care.

In England, shortages of dentists have caused hundreds of people to wait in line just for an appointment. The queues can be so long that some people have resorted to pulling out their own rotting teeth, using vodka and pliers as tools. One British hospital even tried to save money by not changing bed sheets. Instead of washing them, a British newspaper reported that the staff was encouraged to simply turn the sheets over. At any given time in Great Britain, there are over half a million people waiting to get into a hospital for treatments.

But Obama has said he doesn't want a government takeover of health care.

"When you hear the naysayers claim that I'm trying to bring about government-run health care," he told the American Medical Association last week, "know this -- they're not telling the truth." Obama is again proved to be a liar. Obama gives no specifics of the obamacare plan. He knows it is a "deathcare plan".
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