Just the facts, M’am,
A Cuban Fairy Tale From PBS
What public television didn’t tell you about health care in Castro’s socialist state. O’Grady’s article on line is by subscription only, but it’s also in today’s WSJ. In it, O’Grady explains that the NewsHour report by Ray Suarez, made with the Communist regime’s “cooperation”, comes across as party-line propaganda, but also makes revealing commentary, such as, when doctors make housecalls,

“Homes are investigated, water quality checked, electrical plugs checked.”

Back in 2007 I was posting about ¡Salud!, a propaganda film about Cuban healthcare that was featured at the Princeton Public Library. The film shows the medics going through a patient’s home, including rifling through furniture drawers, checking for liquor, drugs, and tobacco.

Pause for a moment and ponder whether Americans would be better off being forced to endure an investigation of their home, in exchange for a house call from a medic/doctor who’s getting paid $200 month by the government. Even then the truth evaded Suarez,

As to doctors checking on water quality and electricity outlets, the PBS reporter might be surprised to learn that most Cuban homes have no running water or power on a regular basis. This is true even in the capital. In 2006, Mr. Botín says, a government minister admitted that 75.5% of the water pipes in Havana were “unusable” and “recognized that 60% of pumped water was lost before it made it to consumers.” To “fix” the problem, the city began providing water in each neighborhood only on certain days. Havana water is also notoriously contaminated. Foreigners drink only the bottled stuff, which Cubans can’t afford. In the rest of the country the quality and quantity of the water supply is even less reliable.

Go read the rest of O’Grady’s article, and keep in mind that your taxpayer dollars pay for PBS.

Cross-posted at The Green Room.

UPDATE
John Hinderaker ponders the World’s Most Successful Propaganda Campaign?