A more correct interpretation would be "Much higher chance of dying of something trivial at any time before 85."

Average US life expectancy: 79

Average Cuban life expectancy: 78

High priced and highly available medical care doesn't always buy the outcomes one would expect.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe...

Do the Cubans have as much American food? (Otherwise, it might not be a fair comparison.)

You've picked a hell of a confounder there. Cuba's medical corps has been grown as if it were a civil defense project of a country on the brink. They have 2-3 times as many doctors as the rest of us per capita - but it's also a very poor country crippled by a lack of supplies and equipment, and doctors in Cuba often have second jobs where they get their actual income.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...

I was thinking more like 500 A.D. versus today.

Medical technology and available procedures have exploded in the last 50 years or more.

i would like to see a survey of the actual number of invasive medical procedures done per capita today compared with say 1950 and 1900.

That includes what are today routine things like being put under for wisdom teeth extraction, joint repair and replacement work, reconstructive surgeries, cosmetic surgeries, skin cancer removal, etc.

Number of errors versus expected value of errors is important. So plenty of the right kind of medical care would be an important qualifier.

Routine preventive medical care with no fee-for-service perversions creating incentives to over-treat, perhaps more errors, but each of lower consequence: live to 95.