Concerning Cuba’s healthcare approach, a reader writes:
Efficiency is rarely a desirable goal in and of itself, especially in government or societal affairs. I would argue that Cuba is not “efficient” per se, but “effective”. They have continuity of care, which is well-known in the medical field as important. There’s a lot more that could be happening in Cuba with the neighborhood approach that could be teased out with more research, and thus made into concrete benefits. Imagine how healthy Cuba might be if they could increase their health care spending from 10% of ours to 15% of ours.
Meanwhile, I’m fearful I’m going to be priced out of the market before I manage to make eligibility for Medicare and/or that Medicare will cease to be as affordable and effective as it is today by that point, thanks to the new Congress and Administration we’ll be getting.
America doesn’t have the best health care in the world; we have perhaps the worst among OECD nations. (I think that’s the right acronym and group I want.)
I agree, efficiency is more of a bugaboo of minds entranced by monetary concerns, but an irritant to those of us seeking social harmony.
But, for reasons obscure, the reader’s phrasing triggers in my mind (no doubt everyone else is far ahead of me, but I mostly write this blog so I can hear myself think) the observation that humanity evolved in relatively small groups in which the contributions of everyone was valued; it’s programmed into us to contribute, and to expect our contributions to be valued.
We did not evolve in a large state (country) environment. The larger a state grows, the less we are likely to be recognized for simple contributions on a nation-wide scale. In this view, cities and other political sub-units of countries become important in that they permit the individual to contribute and be recognized for those contributions on that local level; to participate in governance; and other functions that would be, without those political units’ presence, fading away.
It’s not an important point, but I think it gives a little insight into an alternative importance to current social and physical structures; given the drive of many people to be dominant in their little puddle, as it were, this is one way to reduce the pressure on those individuals. Not that this always works – we all know bitter old men who try to dominate their neighborhood; when I moved into my current residence, one of my neighbors fit that definition to a ‘T’. I suspect many white supremacists fit the same definition – bitter and frustrated that they and their brand, with which they so closely identify, are not the dominant figure of the nation.
Another reader writes:
Russia underwrote much of Cuba’s medical efforts.
I’m not clear as to whether this refers to the Soviet Union’s well known links to Cuba, or if Russia continues to support Cuba’s medical efforts even today. I know quite a few economic links were severed when the Soviet Union collapsed, and Cuba lost a number of subsidies in the process. I’m not sure how that affected their medical field, though. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, or 25 years ago.
