Health, Economics And Travel
Health Care System in Cuba and the U.S. : A Comparison
By: Brian Davis
I remember when I broke my tooth during my freshman year at The Pennsylvania State University. Until this day I don’t recall how it happened but I was in so much pain because the nerves in my mouth were exposed. This caused me to lose four hours of sleep everyday, an interruption of my study hours, as well as my eating habits. Initially when this happened, the first thing I thought of was how much it would cost to fix my tooth. With such poor insurance, I knew it would cost me a lot of money to go to the dentist. So I started to panic. The first thing I did was call my mother and explain to her how much pain I was in and if she had any suggestions. Because of our poor insurance along with my mother’s heavy financial responsibilities that involved paying three college tuitions, I knew I had to pay for this out of pocket.
Walking home in so much pain, I called the local orthopedics to set up an appointment. After a short phone conversation, I was told that the office did not have any availability for the next week and a half. This was very discouraging because I couldn’t sleep until 5am while having class everyday at 9am.
Every time any small piece of food touched the exposed area in my mouth it caused severe pain. During that week and a half of misery I was losing even more sleep and the pain was getting much worse. Losing many options, I felt inclined to walk to the University Health Services at Penn State to get sleeping pills because I couldn’t sleep and my class performance was tremendously affected. This visit alone cost me $206 with my low-quality insurance. The sleeping pills cost around $15. Even though I had sleeping pills I was still getting less sleep because of the pain. When it was time for my appointment with the dentist, I was very excited, but all the dentist did was clean my teeth and do an X-ray on the affected area. Below is the picture of the bill from the University Health Services.
The secretary at the front asked me for my insurance card when I left to set up an appointment with the local endodontist. She made at least six phone calls and five minutes later after a long conversation, she told me that neither their office nor the Endodontic office in the town accept my insurance. The secretary went on to say, “ You can expect to receive a bill in the mail from this office within the next few days, but we have set you up an appointment with the Endodontist in Boalsburg later today. The bill for cleaning my teeth as well as doing the x-ray would cost $375. On my way to the Endodontic office, I had a moment of excitement because I thought this painful experience was over.
After a procedure that took hours, I had a root canal and I a temporary fill-in that would eventually need to be replaced. Upon walking to the front counter, I noticed much confusion in the clerk’s face. They told me they didn’t accept my insurance and the root canal would cost me $950. They also told me the price of the fill-in would was another $700 and I had to make a payment that day for the root canal. When I told them all I could pay was $17 they looked at me with confusion. They took the $17 and told me to expect a bill in the mail. One could imagine how much I had to go through to get this problem fixed. My bills totaled almost $1,500 for all of the procedures listed above. Because I could not afford it I am currently on a payment plan of $75 per month.
"the system makes people hesitate to seek treatment if they cannot afford good insurance"
I share this story to show how problematic the United States health care system is, how the system makes people hesitate to seek treatment if they cannot afford good insurance or insurance in general, how the quality of the health care system is not parallel to the amount paid for service. In Cuba, I had a totally different experience with the health care system. Everything was much faster, the doctors came to visit me, and it was very affordable.
In Cuba, we met with the health professional, Miguel Paneque and community activist Henry Heredia to talk about the Cuban Health Care System. The conversation started off by discussing the life expectancy in Cuba. The life expectancy for men in Cuba is approximately 78 years, and for women 79 years. In Cuba, the five top causes of death are similar to the top five in the United States, which are; Cancer, Heart Attacks, Strokes, Car Crashes, and Influenza. Dr. Paneque went on to explain how people
The pinnacle of the conversation occurred when Dr. Paneque said “ Health Care is free of charge and available for all people.” Dr. Paneque explained how Cuba made a huge emphasis on making medicine affordable as well. In this amazing conversation we also learned that the Cuban health care system was broken into three parts: 1) Family Practice, 2) Hospitals, and 3) National Research Institutes. At the heart of all of these wonderful systems is the idea of prevention. Cuba takes a proactive approach to the health of it’s citizens. Dr. Paneque explained “In Cuba, we start care at the moment of pregnancy and if a pregnant women gets sick, she receives the right treatment to insure that at the time of birth the baby is healthy.”
According to a BBC article entitled "Prevention Better Than Cure in Cuban Healthcare System" released in 2015, Tanya Rosa de la Cuevas Hill is a specialist in comprehensive medicine and runs a neighborhood clinic in Old Havana. Along with her nurse, she looks after 334 families who live in the surrounding streets. Tanya says, "Being a family doctor, I love it.” "The first mission we have is to prevent illness. That's the wonderful thing about my job. Prevention of diseases, prevention of accidents, that's what I like best. Key to the prevention model is the annual health assessment, a full health check-up which every single one of their 1,287 patients will undergo, often at their homes (BBC).” This not only backs up what Dr. Paneque was saying about the preventative system but it shows how Cuba cares about its citizens. Things like this do not happen in the United States where we have to beseech medical attention. There is no human connection between the doctors and patients.
in Cuba who are diagnosed with Cancer can live with it with free vaccines that are made and manufactured in Cuba. Simultaneously noting that there are advanced drugs in poor countries.
According to a Huffington Post Article by Salim Lamrani, “With an infant mortality rate of 4.2 per thousand births, the Caribbean island is the best performer on the continent and in the Third World generally. This is also demonstrated by the quality of its health care system and the impact it has on the well-being of children and pregnant women. The infant mortality rate in Cuba is lower than it is in the United States and is among the lowest in the world (Lamrani 1).” This is exactly what Dr. Paneque, a health practitioner in Cuba was saying about the approach to meeting its citizen’s needs. During our Q&A with Dr. Paneque and Henry Heredia, they said “ In Cuba you could get plastic surgery for free and any procedure that isn’t free is made affordable for all Cubans. What I see from this information is that Cuba wants to protect its citizens. In the United States, certain procedures are just completely unaffordable. If you don’t have money and lawyers, bill payers will hunt you down. Some hospitals may not even perform procedure if they don’t think you are able to afford it.
In Cuba, there is a different hunt down. The hunt down for making sure every Cuban is healthy. According to the British Broadcasting Company, World Health Organization Director-general Margaret Chan has praised the preventative nature of the Cuban health system saying “Other countries need to follow the Cuban approach to health care. Healthcare in Cuba is free and universal, enshrined in the Cuban constitution as a fundamental human right, guaranteed by the state and the foundation of their preventative health care model is at primary care level, the family doctors who oversee the health of those who live around the clinic (BBC).” Dr. Paneque explained this to us when he told us about the different levels of the health care system.
I have also had a personal experience in Cuba with the health system. Last summer I had a pilonidal cyst develop on my tailbone. Because of the excruciating pain I had to miss class for a week, I had to call off of work for a week, and I had to lie in bed in pain all day long. My friends had to bring me food as well as turn my classwork in for me. The pain was so dreadful I felt like I could not walk to the University Health Services Building to get the cyst drained. I called and asked to be picked up from my dorm. The University Health Services said that they could not pick me up from my dorm, and stated: "the only way you can get picked up is if you go to the emergency room at the local hospital.” I kept explaining to them that I could not walk without pain. Because I felt like I had no choice, I walked to the UHS from the Pollock halls. What was a 4 minute walk turned into a 50 minute nightmare. After a 35-minute wait they drained the cyst and told me to go check my bill online. Though the pain was gone, I felt pain coming from my wallet. The drainage cost $340 and the antibiotics cost $30. Here is a copy of my bill:
In Cuba, the pilonidal cyst reoccurred half way through the trip and it was devastating. I sought treatment in Cuba and this experience changed my life. The health center’s reaction was so fast and helpful. I was given antibiotics and anti-inflammatory + anti-bacterial cream. The service was 15 minutes long. The nurse did not ask me for an insurance card, nor to sign any papers. The total cost for my medicine was $7. The cyst went away in 1 week after taking the anti-biotic and the doctor checked on me twice every day while I was undergoing treatment in Havana.
In conclusion, The Cuban Health System is an example that should be emulated in The United States where more money is spent in Health Care than in Cuba, which has a lower infant mortality rate as well as a high life expectancy rate. It is clear from my argument that Cuba takes a more hands-on approach to health, making sure people get the best care possible. In the United States the health care system is controlled by private corporations who are only interested in profit. For that reason, a large number of the population cannot afford the health system and doctors do not conduct regular visits to check on their patients like they do in Cuba.
Hill, F. (2015, December 13). Prevention better than
cure in Cuban healthcare system. Retrieved May 31,
2016, from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35073966
Lamrani, S. (2014, October 08). Cuba's Health Care System: A Model for the World.
Retrieved May 31, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/salim-
lamrani/cubas-health- care-system- _b_5649968.html
Paneque, D., & Heredia, H. (n.d.). Cuba Health Care System. Speech presented in
Cuba, Havana.