Hacker News Reader

Comment by tomjakubowski | Hacker News Reader

World Bank puts Cuba's public health statistics largely on par with the United States, at about one-tenth the per-capita cost. Of course, compared to other developed countries, the USA hardly delivers great healthcare to its population. So Cuba might not be a top country for healthcare in the world, but what they do have is impressive given the circumstances.

View on HN

> World Bank puts Cuba's public health statistics largely on par with the United States, at about one-tenth the per-capita cost.

The average Cuban makes in the neighborhood of $30 a month. Cuban doctors make about $70 a month. US doctors make something around $30,000 a month.

As it turns out, it is much easier to have a cheap medical system when you pay basically nothing for labor. However, this is a feature of a system which is otherwise rather unenviable.

Cubans are paid in peso. And what they get paid is enough to provide for what they want. Granted what they want is limited by the limited choice of consumer goods. On the other hand consumerism is worse

You imply that the bulk of the costs are labour costs, but medical invoices in the US suggest otherwise.

The unenviable part is the $30-70 range, not the 2x income spread.

Indeed. We would surely be living in fantastical, glorious times if the US median income were to rise to ~$180,000. (In real figures, of course, not just hyperinflation.) I believe this would require us to triple GNP, if not more.

I am almost entirely in favor of this proposal, except that it would probably be preferable in such a case to admit immigrants from less prosperous parts of the world who would go on to earn substantially less than that. This would bring the overall income figure down, but would still be a major win for the world's overall prosperity.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com