Manzi on HCR, with an even more interesting comment

A nationwide experiment to improve health occurred in Cuba between 1989 and 2000. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, subsidies to Cuba were slashed. The result was:

"There was a drop in the daily per capita food availability from the late 1980s to 1995, resulting in a daily energy intake decline from 2,899 kcal in 1988 to 1,863 kcal in 1993. In 1987, 30 percent of Havana residents were physically active. From 1991 to 1995, 70 percent of Cubans were physically active as a result of widespread use of bicycles and walking as means of transportation. Obesity prevalence in Cienfuegos, Cuba, decreased from 14.3 percent in 1991 to 7.2 percent in 1995.

During the end of the Cuban economic downturn and the years following it, there were substantial declines in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and all-cause mortality. The researchers report a plateau in the number of deaths from diabetes during the food shortage of 1988-1996, when physical activity increased and obesity decreased."

This study was written by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 10/1/2007. In a word, the medical system doesn't make you healthy. Your exercise and nutrition choices determine your health, assuming decent sewage, water supply, and vaccinations.