Cash-strapped Cuba will require visitors to buy health insurance if they want to enter the country, according to a new government measure disclosed on Saturday.
Under the measure, which takes effect in May, the insurance will be sold by foreign companies approved by the Cuban government or by Cuban firms at ports of entry to the communist-led island, the government said in the online edition of Cuba's Official Gazette.
The measure decrees that tourists, foreigners with temporary residence in Cuba and Cubans living abroad who return to visit will have to be insured.
It exempts diplomats and representatives of accredited international organizations. The cost of the insurance was not disclosed.
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this is good because I heard their healthcare system is better than the U.S. and that some Americans found that out and started going there for treatment hehe....
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It sure makes my job as a travel agent easier to sell my clients the formerly optional travel insurance but as a traveller myself I dislike these sorts of sweeping government dictates. I was in Cuba 6 weeks ago having visited a couple of times previously and love the country but am not loving this intervention.
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It makes perfect sense to me, because Cuba could otherwise become a destination for travelers with medical conditions who lacked the means to pay for their treatments.
This is a minor requirement compared to the lack of freedoms enjoyed by regular Cubans.
Are you prepared for an emergency? 
