Delicious irony.
Roberto Iza | Homepage | 08.11.07 - 9:33 am | #

Thanks for this fascinating story. I have relatives who were recently treated, quite well I might add, for a minor gastrointestinal problem, i.e. turistas, in Cuba. The care was first rate and people from the village came in frequently to make sure my relative was getting the care that was deserved. Two footnotes. First the care was not free, the charges were roughly equivalent to what you would expect to pay at a drop in health care clinic in America. Second when my relative walked in to the clinic, he strode right past the general Cuban ward and saw that it was nothing close to the level of care he received. It was much more crowded and the condition of the clinic was no comparison to the unit for tourists. While this makes sense for a country that depends on tourism, it's also important to realize that Moore's journey to Cuba was designed to show that there are other countries that do offer free health care to all, albeit, not always at the same level for everyone. As I learned while writing my biography of the famed director, Citizen Moore: The Making of An American Iconoclast (RDR Books and Methuen in the United Kingdom), his goal is find people to blame for your problems and mine. Ironically he did not visit Hawaii where single payer health care actually demonstrates how one state has addressed this national scandal. Could other states follow Hawaii's lead? Of course. But it's easier to just say that it's the fault of the HMOs and the insurance companies. The fact that one state has wrestled them to the ground and made it possible for everyone to get health care shows that some Americans know exactly how to tackle self-serving bureaucracies. This is the fundamental problem that needs to be dealt with by all political parties, knocking out the $50 billion worth of profit and administrative costs in our health care system made by HMOs and insurance companies and using this same money to provide health care for everyone in America.
Roger Rapoport | Homepage | 08.12.07 - 9:22 am | #