Castro's Marielitos For Medicaid

Castro's Marielitos For Medicaid
10/13/2015 05:25 PM ET

Socialism: After years of touting the putting-people-first humanity of
Cuba's communism, the Castro regime has decided it's easier to outsource
costs for its retirees to the U.S. When did the U.S. become Cuba's 401(k)?

For years, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and his brother Raul have
preached the virtues of socialism over capitalism, claiming his
government model was all about prioritizing human needs — above all, in
free health care.

As a result of this focus on human needs over, say, war or corporate
profits, as the propaganda went, Cuba has more doctors per capita than
anyone, and it's all "free."

Some, like director Michael Moore, have been easy marks for this
claptrap, making a movie called "Sicko" praising Cuba's system, which
Obama administration officials have said was an inspiration for ObamaCare.

But with Cuba so superior to the U.S., why is Castro shipping its vast
and growing elderly population to the U.S. for retirement instead of
taking care of it itself?

Turns out Uncle Sam is another easy mark for the Castro brothers' filchings.

A relatively little-noted investigation from the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel reports Castro is shipping Cuba's old to the U.S. in
soaring numbers — because the Cuban Adjustment Act entitles them to free
housing, free Medicaid, free Supplemental Social Security and even
welfare. No matter if they have relatives who can care for them, a free
retirement plan is theirs for the taking.

That's quite an enticement, given that Cuban old-age pensions run about
$7 a month, and Cubans live in shambling misery with shortages, ration
cards, broken-down transport and long lines. By contrast, the lowest SSI
package is about $700 a month.

With free housing, free health care and free spending money added on,
Cubans have a retirement plan unlike anything they can imagine in Cuba,
all without having contributed a penny.

The Sun-Sentinel found that in Cuba, knowledge of these benefits is
widespread. A surge of elderly Cubans coming to the U.S. for benefits
has already begun, nearly doubling from 1,460 to 2,685 so far this year.
And Castro has encouraged the emigration of the most costly.

It's part of an overall surge in migration, ever since President Obama
announced normalization of relations. Customs and Border Protection data
show that from October 2014 to June 2015, 27,296 Cubans entered the U.S.
for residency, a 78% rise over last year.

More are coming. Cuba has the hemisphere's oldest population. The
average age is 47, and nearly 24% of the population is above age 55,
according to CIA data.

The Sun-Sentinel reported arrivals of Cubans over age 60 have risen
fivefold since 2010, based on data from Florida's Department of Children
and Families. So long as Cuba's economy continues to fail, as socialism
always does, and the U.S. welfare spigots remain turned on, the trickle
may become a Europe-style flood.

It's become a convenient pressure valve for the Castro regime to rid
itself of its old people, with all their costs of aging, while holding
on to power.

The cost to U.S. taxpayers for this retirement plan for Castro's
castoffs is likely billions. The Sun-Sentinel found welfare alone for
all Cuban refugees is about $685 million, and Cubans are the No. 1
recipients.

This makes a mockery of the increasingly suspect system of instant
asylum to any Cuban who makes it here. Castro has rapidly learned to use
that law to dump his high-cost elderly on us, laughing all the way to
the bank.

The cash enables them to fly back and forth from Miami to Havana,
belying claims to asylum from an oppressive communist regime, which is
the whole reason they're granted instant asylum. Some have so much cash
that they set up second apartments in Cuba.

By contrast, the report notes, legal immigrants from other countries,
such as the Dominican Republic, some of whom have spent 45 years
cleaning houses, get nothing as lavish, even after paying for years into
the system. And they can't afford to visit their homelands at all.

Source: Castro's Marielitos For Medicaid - Investors.com -
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/101315-775412-castros-marielitos-for-medicaid.htm?p=full