A view from the inside:

It has been more than 20 years since I came from a communist country (Cuba) where I was employed as a physician for over 10 years.

During this time I observed firsthand how socialized medicine really works. The basic failure to provide minimal quality of care, compounded by the scarcity of vital medications and supplies, made every day a battlefield. The waiting list to have elective procedures and the restrictions on ordering expensive tests were a nightmare. I witnessed how medical directors, high-ranking administrators and heads of departments manipulated statistics using deceptive formulas to adjust data in order to reach goals imposed by “El Commandante” Fidel Castro.