Some of this would actually be funny, if it wasn’t so sad, especially the bit about Turkmenistan:
In a frankly insane healthcare reform effort, [President-for-life Niyazov] restricted the public’s access to care by replacing up to 15,000 doctors and nurses with unqualified military conscripts. The next year, he ordered hospitals and clinics outside of the capital, Ashgabat, to close — even though the vast proportion of Turkmenistan’s population lives in rural areas…He also implemented fees and created an “unofficial” ban on the diagnosis of certain communicable diseases, like hepatitis.
As a result, an epidemic of the bubonic plague reportedly broke out (Turkmenistan’s highly secretive government does not allow in organizations like the WHO) and existing rashes of AIDS, hepatitis, and tuberculosis worsened.
This sounds more insane than anything else I have heard of a modern dictator doing. Even worse than Robert Mugabe, who ruined Zimbabwe. I’m interested to hear what Chris thinks.
Another interesting tidbit: Roughly 600,000 people file for bankruptcy in the US each year because of medical bills.
You should read the whole thing, here. (Via Tyler Cowen)
