Comparing Health Care in Cuba to That in U.S.

Yet another glowing look at health care in Fidel Castro’s totalitarian “workers’ paradise” (“Old-Fashioned Doctoring Keeps Cubans Healthy,” July 9).

The article said “basic health care for all of Cuba’s 11.2 million residents is provided, unlike in the United States, where an estimated 40 million Americans lack health insurance.” This is comparing apples and oranges in what seems to be an attempt to make Castro look good at the expense of the United States.

You see, “health insurance” is not the same as “health care.” In the U.S., we all have access to health care such as that offered by Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, insured or not. While by no means perfect, I daresay most of us would rather be there than in a Cuban facility, with its “duct tape and bailing wire kind of medicine” (according to the article).

The professionals at County-USC and similar institutions do a remarkable job, especially with the added pressure of so much immigration. The Cubans, of course, don’t have to worry about that because people are trying to get out of Cuba, not in.

TOM VAN DYKE

Tujunga

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I read this story with my mouth open. These articles about Cuba are always written by someone who has no actual knowledge about conditions and oppression in Cuba. The doctor’s office is described as [worse than] decrepit, having broken equipment, no medicines, no emergency systems in place, yet Cuba is a model for health systems? The writer said that basic health care for all citizens is provided, but who wants that type of health care?

MARGARITE HERMOSILLO

Glendale