i was wrong cuba has slighly lower life expectancy than US but very good considering its nowhere near as wealthy and under US embargo.
I hadn't checked but I'm gonna take an educated guess and say they're within 2 years or so. They've got a very respectable healthcare system - that was one of the things Castro was very big on, and it was one area where they never met any resistance for supplies and machinery from the US pressure on them and their prospective trading partners because it obviously was considered to be a humanitarian issue, and I believe they even received medical aid in the form of medicines and supplies from some of our allies.
The fact remains, that we're spiting ourselves by not having free universal healthcare for all. People think because they already have insurance right now that it wouldn't be better system - but it would be light years beyond what we have now - you'd be taking the profit motive out of medical decisions, and this I can assure you, business and ethical medicine don't mix. We're already paying for it. Just on the wrong end - the back side. We pay for it in higher medical costs, extra taxes on products with possible health risks, increased premiums, free medical care for the indigent(no person refused treatment), etc etc.
Why not pay for it up front? Put those costs toward free universal healthcare for all. Pay doctors who work in the system fair but reasonable yearly wage - $250k-$350k average, with $500k available to those who are more highly specialized, and cut back their hours to 6-8 per day on average. That's a fantastic wage for a 30-40 work week, and still leaves them time to practice medicine outside the universal system for whatever the market rate dictates - they'll still be the highest average wage earners nationwide outside of executives, high-end lawyers, and those in high finance, just like now.
But we'll have free healthcare that doesn't decide whether we live or die based on if the treatment is profitable or has the right cost/benefit numbers to be deemed a necessary procedure or an available route of treatment for you or medicine that may be beneficial for your condition.