Lots of people understandably jump to the idea of "free healthcare" when trying to understand this phenomenon. While that is somewhat correct, there is lot more that needs to be done to achieve what Cuba has in terms of public health. The mode and amount of payment by patients is just one aspect of it. They also have train doctors of the appropriate quality and in the adquate quantity. Then they have to invest in the infrastructure and products that the health system needs which they manage despite crippling sanctions. There are a ton of other things as well, like ensuring that the rural areas have access to clinics and doctors which is one of the biggest of the countless failings of the Indian medical system.

I guess that the point I am trying to make is that you need a government that gives a shit about the people and considers them people rather than expendable workhorses for the owning class. Cuba, emerging out of a people's revolution, had this checked off. I bring this up because I feel even if Bernie had won the nomination and presidency he would have been able to only make marginal improvements to the American condition with his promise of a single-payer healthcare system which tackles only one small aspect of a deeply rotten healthcare system that the USA has. If he was somehow able to make any noticeable improvement without getting assassinated, they would be rolled back by whatever administration followed his kinda like how UK's NSA is slowly being strangulated as we speak.

You cannot have "free as in free speech" healthcare when the reigns of power are held by a wealthy minority.