"hundreds of thousands of working Americans now have access to free, I repeat, free healthcare"..........oh really.....FREE???? Believe it or not it IS paid for. Not by the government.....but by the workers of America. I'm amazed that the Unions aren't all over this. Their members are taking home less money every week because they are forced to subsidize those who do not pay for their own insurance. Any chance I can get them to pay for my car insurance?

AIW, First, I don’t want to leave the impression I support communism; it’s a seriously flawed system with its own storied history of human rights violation. With that said, I was wanting to make a principled point about the health care system in the US. Whatever anybody may think of the Cuban system of government, it is an extraordinary accomplishment for their health care system to rival that of the US.

Why Cuba’s health care is not well beyond the US comes down to money; Cuba does not have the resource to build a modern medical infrastructure like the US; like I said before they’ve been over 40 year US lead sanction that has crippled Cuba’s economy. Cubans still drive around in cars from the 50’s, which is a testament, to their resourcefulness, and the outright shameful nature of US foreign policy toward the island nation off the coast of Florida.

I have little doubt if Cuba was able to modernize their medical facilitates; Cuba would be the model of the world in health care. Cuban doctors are world renown for their willingness to do tough work and work in horrible conditions. Their system is comparable to the US out shear necessity due to the death grip the US has had on this tiny country.

The US can’t allow Cuba to succeed in any endeavor, whether it be, medical, industrial or any other aspect, because that would be admitting to the world two things: Communism persevered in the face of overwhelming odds, and defiance against US doctrine can be achieved. The mafia Don does not allow anybody to slide on this principle, because if one person (nation) thinks they can get away with it, then everybody might start to undermine the system of control. – The analogy is from Noam Chomsky; I find it very fitting and accurate.

I was hoping from my initial post that somebody would start to think, how Cuba a third world nation, with limited resource in the world market would be able to have a health care system that rivals the world’s wealthiest nation. I try not to spell things out, so people can make their own conclusion. I just ask a reasonable question and follow it with information, which, I believe will lead people to critically thinking about why things are like they are here in the US and around the world.

Richard, why is Cuba's healthcare ranked below ours? In Cuba healthcare is part of the commons and everyone is covered. Hardly the situation here.

It's a constant battle for the administrator of my health care plan to keep the medical industry from ripping off our health care funds. I'm a retired union plumber. The way our health care plan works is the employers contribute money per hour for working members. Retirees have to pay out of their own pockets, but less per month than working members because it's the right thing to do. Apprentices contributions are less than working members too, to give them a lower wage package so employers will hire them. Everyone's coverage is the same. The difference is made up by the higher contributions of journeyman plumbers, and the journeymen are ok with this because it's the right thing to do. Our previous administrator would simply pay the bills when they came in and not question the amounts charged, costing our group fund a lot of money. We switched to an administrator called Southern Benefits, who works for many unions in the south. When they told us about a bill they got for a pacemaker costing $50,000 and how they called the hospital and asked, "How can you charge $50,000 fora part that cost $5.000?" and got them to reduce the charge , we were sold and switched to Southern Benefits. Now they do this kind of thing for us every day, scutinizing every bill and getting overcharges reduced. Hospitals, doctors and pharmacutical companies are some of the biggest rip-off artist in the United States and the sad part is they get away with it most of the time. It's no wonder health care cost are so high in The United States and why we rank so low in the world in health care.

HAH! That'll be the day... - AIW

You won't see anybody in the countries with not for profit healthcare.....screaming to switch to a for profit system. That's how simple I think it is.

The arms industry is the biggest industry in the world. Without buyers for these arms, alot of people would be out of work, therefore the U.S. needs to perpetually keep conflict going around the world. WMD was their excuse in Iraq; 9/11 was their excuse for Afghanistan, the list goes on and on. The powers that be need to convince you and I that these wars are justified. Don't believe everything you hear from mainstream media. Try tuning into alternative media outlets, like RT, Alex Jones, Jesse Ventura, etc.

Quote Kend:Marc I would rather live under a bridge then die because my government is broke and can't give me the health care I require to live like we have here.

Kend ~ For a dead man, you sure do talk a lot.

Thank you Thom, for bringing up one of my favorite topics: the healthscare extortion racket!! As I said in an earlier thread, my husband and I have benefitted enormously from the ACA; we are among the lucky ones who now have free healthcare via Medicaid. But the ACA still doesn’t come close to fixing the extortion problem, because it hasn’t put those extortionists out of business.

When Obama first ran for prez, he received huge campaign contributions from the healthscare extortionists. And I remember thinking: uh-oh. So here we are, folks, still stuck with that "uniquely American" healthscare extortion racket! Whoopie!!

There’s a moral to this story. Whenever you’re tempted to vote for any candidate (especially a presidential candidate!), you need to first find out who’s funding that candidate’s campaign. Nothing else will provide a more accurate picture of where that candidate’s loyalties actually lie. - AIW

Quote Kend:Ten years from now you will be all be bitching because your taxes are too high in stead of you health insurance being too high. Same poop different pile.

Kend ~ Perhaps so! Still, I'd rather be "bitching" about paying something I can afford then to be "bitching" about being in debt, penniless, homeless, and living out of a box under a freeway offramp because I made the mistake of getting sick in the USA.

I only participate when I strongly agree or disagree with one of the choices. I loathe/abhor/detest the phrasing of "win" or "defeat" in such a complicated situation. It isn't like there are rules, referees, time limits or a scoreboard.

Health Care as a Right not as a profitable Business

For Republicans, helping the 99% to access health care is secondary to greater profits to the private corporate insurance companies and keeping the 1% in luxury. Over 50 bills have been passed by House Republicans to repeal the PPACA while ignoring bills which would scuttle “Obamacare” such as one which would open Medicare to all.

But Medicare is flawed and retains health care as a profit making business even though it may limit some costs. Profit making hospitals and exorbitant fees for specialists remain. Consider the morality and lack of compassion of profiting excessively from the unfortunate sick and injured. There is a functioning American alternative which could open health care to all and considerably reduce costs, now the highest in the world, to a more reasonable level and achieve much improved results for the nation’s health and well being. Open and expand the VA to all residents. Nationalize hospitals and health clinics by federal purchase. If the feds can afford to bail out the financial and auto industries, and flush trillions of dollars down the toilet for militarism and wars which have been questionable benefit, we can do this by rearranging priorities. Sickness or injury are greater threats than terrorism or enemy attack. We can start by providing free training to qualified and committed medical students as they do in poor Cuba. This is needed to provide service without long waiting for medical services. It is likely that this reform will lower costs drastically while providing service we Americans, the richest nation in the world, deserve. Why should America be satisfied with less?