Cubas Health Care System: a Model for the World

[Igel]

10. But if you rustle down in the weeds

that the assumptions are hidden in something disturbing to the conclusion can be seen: In the US, Latinos have an unexpectedly low infant and maternal mortality rate (better than whites', very often), and an unexpectedly long life expectancy.

This, in spite of the fact that they are, on the whole, lower in education and much lower in income. This goes for Central Americans, it goes for Cubans. It's unexplained, or usually considered unexplained.

So if poor Cubans in the US have an above-average infant mortality rate, why should Cuba's Cubans be worse?

Meanwhile, a lot of white Americans' first births are later in life. Pre-natal care is important--here Cuba beats us--but many white Americans are obese and that's a complication for pregnancy. These aren't part of the US health-care system, they are observations about what the stats are based on. More often than in many countries, American births are risky births, and they'd have been aborted or miscarried in other countries. This is where the US system is better and produces worse stats.

We look at conclusions and think that they're facts without assumptions. Critical thinking says to examine the facts and understand them before you accept them. Even if the facts you're critiquing are important in supporting what you've always known to be true. (That's when critiquing is most important. "I want to believe" is the enemy of critical thinking.)