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Okay, just for fun I punched this into a loan calculator. Assume the cost of their medical education is $200,000. (Everything here is USD.) A ten-year loan a

Okay, just for fun I punched this into a loan calculator. Assume the cost of their medical education is $200,000. (Everything here is USD.) A ten-year loan at 10% interest would require paying $2,643.01 a month. According to the article, the Cuban government is making about $2,700 a month on each doctor in Brazil. So even if you factor in free medical education, it's hard to argue the doctors still owe the Cuban government something 10 years after getting their degree.

varjag 9y ago
However the cost of their medical education, while certainly substantial by Cuban standards, is nowhere near that.
- colomon 9y ago
  I am willing to believe that, but I don't have any way to calculate what the number should be, so I took a generous estimate. (Average US post-medical school debt is $18x,000 according to a quick search I did.)
  - varjag 9y ago
    Cuban education lacks major cost components like practice/internship insurance and U.S. level income healthcare professionals in the teaching: their professors are also paid $30/mo. They also have no top-tier equipment, use run-down facilities, don't stick to expensive regulations and protocols and (if their communism is anything like communism of the place I grew up) most likely employ the students for all kind of maintenance chores. I'd put it at $20k tops for 6 year curriculum, and that's being on very generous side.
    - colomon 9y ago
      Well, working with your assumption, $20,000 loan 10% interest over FIVE years is $424.94 a month. Somehow I doubt all the Cuba-defenders here are going to accept your assumption, though, as it makes the outrageousness of the whole thing much more explicit.
frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
Yes but that is the difference between a loan system and a welfare system, you're not just paying for the services you received, you're paying for the availability of all services (including ones you didn't use) for all people.

varjag 9y ago

However the cost of their medical education, while certainly substantial by Cuban standards, is nowhere near that.

colomon 9y ago
I am willing to believe that, but I don't have any way to calculate what the number should be, so I took a generous estimate. (Average US post-medical school debt is $18x,000 according to a quick search I did.)
- varjag 9y ago
  Cuban education lacks major cost components like practice/internship insurance and U.S. level income healthcare professionals in the teaching: their professors are also paid $30/mo. They also have no top-tier equipment, use run-down facilities, don't stick to expensive regulations and protocols and (if their communism is anything like communism of the place I grew up) most likely employ the students for all kind of maintenance chores. I'd put it at $20k tops for 6 year curriculum, and that's being on very generous side.
  - colomon 9y ago
    Well, working with your assumption, $20,000 loan 10% interest over FIVE years is $424.94 a month. Somehow I doubt all the Cuba-defenders here are going to accept your assumption, though, as it makes the outrageousness of the whole thing much more explicit.

frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago

Yes but that is the difference between a loan system and a welfare system, you're not just paying for the services you received, you're paying for the availability of all services (including ones you didn't use) for all people.