Hm, I think the kinds or categories of differences might be significant. Enough for legislators and policy makers, and I think enough for residents of different countries to get some perspective. If there's no context or the context is not well understood, how would one know if things can get better or worse in a meaningful way?

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Enough for legislators and policy makers, and I think enough for residents of different countries to get some perspective.

We can’t have that: we can’t have the threat of a good example specter

[–] JohnDoe@lemmy.myserv.one 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

yeah fair point, do you think it would make sense to say that some have knowledge of it besides academics & people in think tanks? like politicians i guess

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 4 points 8 months ago

Politicians generally aren’t going to be interested in knowing it, because they generally answer to the donor class that wants the threat of a good example suppressed in the first place, and want our shitty for-profit healthcare system to stay the way it is: a cash cow for themselves. Most think tanks would also want it suppressed, because they’re funded & controlled by the capitalist class as well. Corporate media aren’t going to want to tell us that Cubans have a longer life expectancy, either, because they too are owned by the capitalists who don’t want us to know it.

[–] FluffyPotato@lemm.ee -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think the fact that US healthcare is a joke all over the world is a way better perspective than a comparison to Cuba's average lifespan (Even if it were accurate).

For the average person reading an article like this a headline saying "US healthcare is the laughing stock of the world" is a lot more effective title than "Cuba beat US average lifespan for the last 4 years".

If you want to seriously compare healthcare then comparing accessibility and outcomes would be a better stat but not to one specific country but all of them. But that would not make much of a news article, more of an actual study.

[–] JohnDoe@lemmy.myserv.one 1 points 8 months ago

yeah, that's true, i guess what makes it a bit off is i'm accustomed to hearing awful things about the US.