Leftists are Only Praising Castro to Protect Their Own Orthodoxy: Socialized Healthcare, by Frank Camp.

To understand why the progressives heap praise upon Fidel Castro while essentially ignoring his barbarism, one must understand their agenda.

Hidden within the rotting corpse of the Cuban government is the socialist gemstone long extolled by American progressives: Government-run healthcare.

According to progressive orthodoxy, socialized medicine is the pinnacle of healthcare. One of the most frequently touted examples of an exemplary healthcare system is Cuba’s. Celebrities, media personalities, and documentarians (see Michael Moore’s Sicko) repeat ad nauseam the claim that Cuba has an extraordinary and inexpensive healthcare system.

As it happens, Cuba does have a sterling government-run healthcare system … for wealthy tourists and government officials. The Cuban system is multi-tiered. There are the pristine, sanitary medical facilities used by the wealthy and well-connected, and the squalid facilities used by the Cuban people. This has been shown to be the case time and time again, yet American progressives — either out of ignorance or malice — glorify the Cuban system as one we should emulate.

Cuba’s healthcare system is abhorrent; the further one digs into the data, the more it becomes apparent that the glorification of the Cuban system by American progressives is based on manipulated statistics and cherry-picked information. However, the Left needs to maintain the illusion that Cuba is a prime example of a well-functioning government-run healthcare system.