New Mexico House speaker touts Cuba as health care “model”

People often ask me why New Mexico remains at the bottom of the good lists and at the top of the bad ones. It comes down to electing politicians who fundamentally do not understand economics and the critical importance of individual freedom.

Take New Mexico’s House Speaker Javier Martinez as an example. Recently in a debate over medical malpractice Martinez took the opportunity (reported here in the Santa Fe New Mexican) to decry the “for profit” American health system and tout Cuba’s socialized model. It is rather wild that he mentions Cuba as the model since it is such an impoverished country relative to Canada and the UK and other nations with socialized health care. In Canada, for example, wait times recently were reported to have grown to 28.6 weeks, the second longest period on record. 

But, under a socialized system, what level of doctor choice is there? According to one Canadian website, “Many Canadians falsely believe that a patient cannot sue their doctor in Canada.” Does that sound like a place where doctors are held accountable by an aggressive legal system?

It is also worth asking Martinez about the fact that 45% of American health care and a much higher percentage of New Mexico’s health care spending considering our outsized Medicaid population is done by the government

Interestingly, Martinez ALSO makes a strong case in his remarks against the US efforts to prevent oil and gas shipments to the Island. Maybe deep down Martinez understands the importance of traditional energy sources better than he lets on? Check out his remarks here: