Health Care in Cuba and America - by Stephen Lendman
Under Article 50 of Cuba's Constitution:
"Everyone has the right to health protection and care. The state guarantees this right:
-- by providing free medical and hospital care by means of the installations of the rural medical service network, polyclinics, hospitals, preventative and specialized treatment centers;
-- by providing free dental care;
-- by promoting the health publicity campaigns, health education, regular medical examinations, general vaccination and other measures to prevent the outbreak of disease. All the population cooperates in these activities and plans through the social and mass organizations."
Cuba's Article 51 also guarantees free universal education at all levels to young people and adults. Cuba isn't perfect, far from it, but imagine if America matched these social benefits, ones Cuba provides at miniscule cost because services eliminate bureaucratic and other waste that enrich Western healthcare provider predators.
Nations should serve their people, not profiteers, even though Havana announced hard times-forced service cutbacks. At the time, numerous reports explained Cuba's announced job cuts, including by Financial Times writer Marc Frank last September 13 headlining, "Cuba to cut 500,000 from state payroll," saying:
Those eliminated will be shifted "to the private sector in 2011," and that "eventually more than a million jobs would be cut," according to the Cuban Workers Confederation (CTC), its only union, saying that:
"Job options will be increased and broadened with new forms of non-state employment, among them leasing land, co-operatives and self-employment absorbing hundreds of thousands of workers in the coming years."
Around half of them will be licensed as self-employed, an agenda begun in the 1990s, including for family-run restaurants, car repair shops, construction, artisan work, and other small businesses. Cooperatives were another earlier initiative to get greater emphasis ahead. Overall, it's the biggest shift to private enterprise since all 58,000 small businesses were nationalized in 1968.
In December 2009, Raul Castro's government reported about five million state workers, over 85% of Cuba's labor force. The private sector employed 591,000, mostly farmers and 143,000 self-employed. Cutting 10% of government workers in 2011 and more ahead represents a significant policy change. It remains to be seen how radically a shift to a more market-run economy will affect Cuba's 60 year model, including its delivery of social services.
On September 13, 2010, Al Jazeera's Juan Jacomino said all Cubans, including private sector ones, will still get state-provided free healthcare, education, and other longstanding social services, the constitutionally mandated hallmark of Cuba's revolution. However, CTC's announcement said policy changes were necessary:
"to increase production and the quality of services, reduce inflated social spending, and eliminate undue gratuities, excessive subsidies, (university) studies as a source of employment, and early retirement."
At issue is hard economic times like elsewhere. Nickel, for example, Cuba's leading export, plummeted from $50,000 a ton to less than $10,000. In addition, tourist revenues and exile remittances fell sharply, forcing measures never before taken. Hopefully, better economic times will improve all mandated services, especially Cuba's model health system that's likely to see cutbacks.
Cuba Under Castro
