@gjohnsit

nor to defend the US healthcare system, but I have to take issue with this:

As the lousy U.S. for profit health care system has led to over 175,000 deaths

Trump, clueless federal agencies, big pharma, irresponsible blue state governors, not to mention Chinese bioweapons research, social media suppression of information about therapeutics *and* the US health care system have all contributed to the high US death toll - but a big, if not the biggest factor - one that rarely seems to get mentioned - may well be simply the poor state of Americans' health.

Japan has never gone to severe lockdowns, kids are back in school (about half of universities are still doing remote classes only) and total COVID-19 deaths (about 1500) are less than 1% of US deaths - in a country with 1/3 the US population.

The numbers may change and there are no doubt multiple factors involved - but I'm convinced that a major one is that Japanese are, overall, much healthier than Americans.

Not unlike debt - keeping people in ill health is profitable for some, and enforces dependency. Still, if people acquiesce in letting corporations and bureaucrats make their healthcare decisions and fail to take personal responsibility - or demand it of their leaders - the situation is not going to improve.

#3
Cuban doctors.

Just do a Google Search for "cuban doctors nobel prize".
They are almost universally loved by anyone outside of the United States.
While the rest of the world pulled back because of covid, Cuba sent out thousands of doctors, and they saved countless lives.

When covid slammed the world, Cuba was ready. Its medical brigades went to Italy, when that country was hardest hit, and its doctors received a standing ovation when they arrived in the airport. A medicine Cuba developed, interferon alpha 2b, showed so much promise with covid patients in China back in January that 45 countries have since requested it from Cuba. But there is no mention of this covid treatment in the U.S. media. Cuba, a small, relatively poor island country, has shared its medicines and its medical personnel – at great risk to their lives – with countries across the globe throughout the covid pandemic. This has led to a push for Cuban doctors to get the Nobel Prize. They certainly deserve it.
...
“The conspiracy of silence surrounding the resounding success of Cuba’s health system,” Fitz writes “is egregious and it casts a doubt on the good intentions of” international health organizations. Fitz is too kind. This conspiracy reveals active, bad intentions. Those were never so fully on display as during Hurricane Katrina, when Cuba offered to send 1500 doctors to New Orleans. The Bush administration refused, revealing, as Fitz comments, that the U.S. preferred needy Americans to die than to accept help from Cuba and thus concede the superiority of Cuban medicine.

The same happened with Covid-19. As the lousy U.S. for profit health care system has led to over 175,000 deaths, Cuban medical personnel have travelled the world, saving lives. Just as they did after Chernobyl, when Cuba took in 25,000 Ukrainian patients and treated them gratis – for years. For many in the Global South, the only doctor they’ll ever see is a Cuban doctor.