Send Prozac and Bug Spray

Enough with the precarious fate of Vietnam adoptions -- let's talk about poverty and crappy health care! 

Last Friday, after a day spent weeping and obsessing over whether or not the US will renew the bilateral agreement with Vietnam, I came home from work and we ordered Chinese and watched "Sicko."  Although it has its wry moments, overall the film did not improve my mood.  Except, perhaps, in inspiring me to plot out a way to move to France once we get our daughter home (WHICH WE WILL, I refuse to believe otherwise).  Seriously -- I knew about the short work weeks, long parental leave, and subsidized child care, but 24-7 house calls for everyone (free!) and state-provided mothers' helpers for new moms (ALSO FREE!)?  Um.  Hello! 

As usual, Michael Moore almost jeopardizes his own message by resorting to the absurd and self-indulgent (carting a bunch of 9/11 rescue workers to Guantanamo for medical treatment, for example), but on the whole he makes some very good points.  Why can't we, as a society, make a decision to band together to take care of one another, like pretty much every other country does?  Why is it so hard for us to wrap our minds around universal health care -- is everyone really afraid that we would morph into God-hating Commies overnight if we tried to provide care for every man, woman and child in this country?  If we can provide free public schools to all those who want them, why not health care as well? 

I realize I'm oversimplifying the issue, but it's really shameful that, as a nation, we've allowed the profits of insurance companies to decide people's access to health care -- and those are the people WITH health care coverage, who often have to expend time, money and energy fighting for coverage of sometimes life-threatening conditions, even though those same people pay insurance premiums in order to get the protection they're seeking.  I mean, isn't that the whole CONCEPT of insurance?  Gah.  It's infuriating.

So anyway, after "Sicko", 20/20 was on, and it featured a story about a bunch of kids who live in abject poverty in Camden, New Jersey.  Among the needle-ridden playgrounds, the nightly gang shootings and the slum-like living conditions, these kids have to try to go to school and basically just survive until, with any luck, they can get the hell out of there.  It was so deeply depressing -- yet the kids have all these poignant dreams and hopes, just like kids everywhere, and it just tore your heart right out.  And pretty much at that point I needed 47 glasses of wine and 50 pounds of chocolate to lift my mood.  Good Lord.  Surely this week has to bring something better.

Separately, has anyone else ever had (shudder) house centipedes?  (If you have a strong stomach, you can check one out here -- EEEEYYAAAAAAGH).  I have seen three in our apartment in the last few months, and OH MY GOD, the grossness. 

We've had an exterminator come, and it's not like an infestation or anything, but I would prefer to have a bug-free existence, thank you very much.  Wiki doesn't have any advice about getting rid of them (aside from the aforementioned exterminator), but I know my sage readers must have something to offer in this regard.  Not that I am suggesting you have lots of household pests, but perhaps you're a bit more worldly than I, since I'd never seen nor heard of these BEASTS until this past summer, when one appeared on the bathroom door just as I sat down to pee.  (Jonna helpfully identified them for me when I described the incident to her.) 

To top it all off, I have a crippling case of PMS.  I think the solution is for me to go hang out on a white sandy beach somewhere with an IV drip of Bellinis until we have a referral.  Because as much as I care about the rest of the problems in this world, let's get real -- it's all about me and mah baby!

Comments

[GJR]

house centipedes are HORRIBLE! They move so fast. Luckily, I have not seen any in my apartment, but I used to see them at my parents' house. Freaky.

[Dave]

Oh how I don't miss house centipedes. We had them in my college apartment. If you want to hear a really gross story about them, just let me know.

[Allison]

OR the other solution would be to come to Monroe for Thanksgiving and gorge yourself on peanut butter pie and turkey.

We only have ants here.

[Debbie in the UK]

I get house centipedes all the time in my bathroom. My house was built in 1914 and we get lots of bugs. A LOT of woodworms too which are also YUK!! The worst thing though was when we found a bat in the lounge!!! Eek.

[Loth]

Bleh! Come and live with me in Scotland. We have (pretty good) universal free healthcare and NO CENTIPEDES! At least, not like that thing and not in your house!

[Julie]

I'll join on that beach with a few drinks. We sure need it after the last few days and we have a long couple of weeks ahead of us.

[Jessica V]

There is a reason that we Americans can not wrap our minds around Universal Healthcare. Have you ever heard of anyone going to Canada(or any other country with universal healthcare, there are not as many as you think)for an advanced medical procedure??? Didn't think so. They come here because we still have the best healthcare in the world. When it comes down to it Universal Healthcare IS boarderline communism. The costs are staggering(sp?) and the quality is extremely lacking. Yes, our healthcare system needs help but Universal Health Care is NOT the answer. I think the answers lie in Crack down on illegals that are using our healthcare system for free, and cracking down on the big health insurance companies that invent reasons to decline coverage to basically healthy people.

Ok, well this may have been the longest reply I have ever written. lol

[jonniker]

Re: healthcare, I don't have the answer, I'm just averse to anyone who automatically shuts down one or the other, because, like anything, the right answer is very likely somewhere in the middle.

(Jessica, the French and Canadian systems are night and day, and shouldn't necessarily be compared in the same sentence.)

As for house centipedes, every single exterminator I've met with tries to dissuade me from getting rid of them, because they're fast, they rarely bother humans (except for their giant MOUSE-LIKE appearance that scares the shit out of me), and they eat tons of insects.

I, however, could not bear to live with them, because my cat would trap them in the bathtub for some gladiator-like action, leaving me to find piles of gross little legs and bodies all over the shower. GROSS.

[CraigNY]

Regardless of the reality or perceived reality of whether the French system is better, you are tilting at windmills. The French equivalent of federal income tax, including their "social tax", tops out at 55% of household income (not including local taxes), and the top tax bracket is at an income level of approximately $80,000 for a household (a U.S. household making $80,000 pays at a rate of 25%; our top tax bracket kicks in at $336,550 and is 35%). Good luck getting American households to buy into that extra 20%-30% out of their paychecks so that they can have housecalls and "free" healthcare (you have an odd definition of "free").

[Sarah]

EWWWWW! We had fleas from the cats for awhile, but not nearly as bad as house centipedes. Far fewer legs, at least! Hope the exterminator gets them all.

And can I join you on the beach? I'm not suffering from PMS, but yesterday was pretty much the accumulation of several bad months, plus two bad weeks, plus a bad day all combusting into one. I could sure use one of those little umbrella drinks.

[Kristie]

I think free healthcare should be mandatory in the US and everywhere in the world. I'm sure it won't happen in my lifetime, but maybe for our children.

[rachel]

No one will ever, as long as I live, be able to explain to me why this country cannot get it together enough to have decent health coverage for ALL. There is just no excuse.

And ewww...yes, we occasionally see centipedes here, too. Usually relaxing on our bathroom tile, or in the basement. BLECH!

[Alyce]

We have house centipedes. Mostly in our bathroom. They are fast mofos. And nothing we could do to get rid of them, our local exterminator said.

Sorry that wasn't helpful.

[Jamie]

I hated house centipedes (which were in every apartment I've ever had) until I read this, courtesy of your Wikipedia link:

"Because they eat household pests, house centipedes are considered among the most beneficial creatures that inhabit human dwellings, but because of their alarming appearance, frightening speed, and painful bite, few homeowners are willing to share a home with them"

Knowing this, I'll put up with not being able to catch an occasional "thousand legger," which is what I called them before I knew their actual name. If they want to eat spiders, termites, cockroaches, and ants, then I say GO FOR IT.

[Heather M]

I'll have a little mind numbing something myself! Well, since I don't do that, I treated myself to A Whopper Jr with Cheese & Onion Rings from BK & A Nice long drive blasting the new Big & Rich CD! At least I didn't think about adoption for a whole hour....my brain needed a break! A little umbrella drink does sound nice...

I don't think we have those critters in Texas! :)
Heather M.

[Christine]

Yes to some form, any form! of healthcare other than what we've got going on.

And Jessica, I would certainly not blame illegal aliens for the costs of the healthcare system. There's fraud all over the place plus the high premiums that come with a litigation happy society - and that's coming from an attorney (at least in PA). Plus you take into account an aging society with added healthcare costs, and various other problems and tada there's a whole lotta debt and money spent.

As for the house centipedes, they gross me the hell out. But if they're eating something else, I try to say my mantra of "live and let live." I swear, I grew up in North Jersey and had not seen one until I moved to South Jersey/Philadelphia and it was like I moved to another planet...a planet inhabited by the strangest motherf***ing bugs I had ever seen (and I lived in Florida for eight months). Blech! I guess, the best method would be to get rid of whatever they might be eating...which probably entails getting an exterminator or going it your own by killing bugs.

[Dinamyte]

The argument that the French are taxed at a higher rate and therefore the system isn't "free" is somewhat fallacious (ha!). Yes, Americans generally pay a lower income tax, but then we end up privately buying the things that the government pays for in France, Germany, etc. ... if we can afford it. So while in both systems the rich pay for the medical benefits they receive, only in countries with statutory healthcare do the poor actually have a chance to receive affordable medical care.

I lived in Berlin for a while, and the benefits of the higher tax rate go far beyond healthcare. You get free healthcare. You get free COLLEGE education. You get well-maintained highways and city streets (whereas every time I take my car out in Boston, where I now live, I'm afraid I'm going to come back with only 3 wheels). You get clean, fast, well-maintained public transportation. The list goes on. The lack of all those things in the U.S. means that we end up paying for them privately (from setting aside $100,000 to send a single kid to college to buying new shocks for the two cars your family needs to get to work), instead of through taxes - but only if we can afford them. If we can't afford them, we're SOL, and have to go collect welfare from the government instead.

But then on the other hand, German and French citizens don't get to pay $440 billion on defense and occupy a country halfway around the world, which is of course... priceless.

[CraigNY]

The argument I made isn't that the U.S. system is somehow better, but rather that it is an absolute impossibility to sell the American public on a vastly increased tax rate even though there would be a reduction in health care payments. Any Congressman or executive branch officer who even suggested it would be committing political suicide. This fact of American life makes any discussion comparing European and U.S. health care systems nothing more than mental masturbation.

[Lawyerish]

I am relieved on some level to know that so many of you have encountered house centipedes, and I agree that the fact that they kill other pests is heartening. If only they didn't look so damn freaky!

Dave - I am up for hearing the house centipede story if you're up for telling it.

Thanks for the debate on the health care issue. I know it's nuanced and complex, and it's not something we can easily cover in this forum.

I will say, though, that Dinamyte's point is a good one, in that the higher taxes paid by Europeans (for example) actually get them services, and lots of them. Whereas I pay through the nose at a very, very high tax level (not far from what they're paying across the pond, when you consider state and local as well), and I STILL have to pay for health insurance, copays, and my kids' college education -- and those are not small amounts, especially college. Good Lord. I feel faint when I think about it.

[billpaulaandwill]

Okay, so I know I'm late with this one, but I'll encourage you a bit on your centipedes. You see, right now, I have WASPS living in my family room and kitchen! OH MY LORD, HOW I DO NOT LIKE THEM! Evidently, they seem to think our attic would be a cozy place to spend the winter, and three chemical-laced attempts by Terminix have not convinced them otherwise! In a screaming fit a few days ago, I told my husband we should go back to the city where they don't have grass (or houses!) and therefore, don't have WASPS! :) The centipedes seem gross too, but my wasps zap around and you can hear them buzzing - so awful at 9:00 at night when I just want to watch TV already! :<