Like any true politico, I freaking LOVE talking about healthcare reform. I think most of my love comes from the amazingly terrifying phrases that lobbyists have come up with to drum up support for their side. "Death Committee"- can't you just see a panel of stern-looking men in horn rimmed glasses shuffling through a pile of papers, as one angry looking woman in judges robes bangs her gavel and barks "DEATH!!!" Socialized Medicine" drums up pictures of men in tan uniforms and Hitler mustaches holding syringes and laughing manically as they approach trembling patients. And of course, conservatives are terrified of "losing your family doctor"-- cue a friendly man in a white jacket waving sadly as you drive away from his farmhouse office and toward the Huge And Dark Government Hospital.
Is it clear yet how i feel?
As one who pays for her own (very, very expensive) private healthcare, I have my fingers crossed for a public healthcare option. In the end, I dont enjoy my healthcare decisions being between me, my doctor, my insurance company, their investors, and the panel of doctors they hire to decide which treatment is appropriate for which symptom that I have-- all for the end goal of making money. But an even more important part of the bill is often overlooked-- the part that would forbid companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Because, y'know, if you're born with it, it may have always existed.
Most importantly, this bill encourages people to have preventative heathcare, instead of reactionary. Example: you can't afford regular healthcare, so you dont go to regular doctors appointments. You ignore that nagging cough/ache/scratch, until you are forced to go the emergency room and rack up expensive bills for an illness that could have easily been detected with regular check-ups.
In the spirit of this reform, and to put preventative health care in your hands (or mouth), I give you the Best Salads in Chicago. Chew on these, and then chew on this-- a Consumer Reports article on heathcare reform.
HP's Preventative Healthcare Special (or, Best Salads in the City)
- Warm Goat Cheese Salad from Julius Meinl. Green beans, arugula, hazelnuts, and warm bacon vinegrette. Because bacon makes everything better.
- Chopped Chicken Salad from Pompei. Hands down, my absolute favorite salad in the city. Chicken, tiny bits of crunchy procuitto, kalmata olives, red onions, gorgonzola cheese, all served over romaine with a sweet italian dressing. For you veggies out there, there is a no-meat version too (Marie's Special). Oh, and they deliver.
- Cobb Salad from Plymouth Bar and Grill. For you Loop-ers, this is a staple after-work beer and cheeseburger joint, with a fantastic rooftop and too many lawyers to count. But their Cobb Salad is the reason I eat here nearly once a week. Filled with goodies like avocado, hard boiled egg, bacon, and artichoke, the real kicker is the toasted pita that comes on the side to scoop everything up. Come to think of it, it's not that healthy. But, it is delicious.
Know an awesome salad? Have a thought on healthcare? Leave me a comment, and I'll post the best ones next time. Stay hungry!
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4 comments:
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I like the skirt steak salad at Joey's Brick House.
That said, the situation with the health care reform grates because every time it comes about it seems to be our government feels the need to enact sweeping change, throw the old out and bring in a whole new system. If history has taught us anything its that our government is quite incapable of handling anything of that magnitude. Our politicians seem far more successful when they stay small and focused, almost modular, in their legislation. Rather than taking on a complete overhaul I'd much rather see them systematically enumerate the issues with health care and create individual, specific and focused legislation to handle the issues over time while using a standards committee to ensure compatibility between the initiatives.
-CRV
Gotta tell ya, CRV, from where I'm sitting (that being Scotland). Obama's plan looks about as modest as it could be and still be worth all the effort.
When Clement Attlee and Aneurin Bevan* inaugurated the National Health Service just 1000 days after we finished fighting WWII, that was a sweeping change and a whole new system.
Opponents of the President have been keen to assert that his reforms are a wholesale repudiation of the American way of life, set to make healthcare an unfamilar and bewildering new land for every citizen.
But, really? Anyone who has private healthcare will be able to - indeed, until they want to change it, will be assumed to - keep that provider, keep their doctor, and use the same hospitals they always did. Anyone who doesn't have private cover but wants it and can afford it will be able to buy it from the same people in the same places as before. Those providers will just be expected to behave in a slightly more civil manner, with the worst anti-patient scams outlawed. So far so modular.
And on top of that, there will be a public heath insurance scheme, available to all as an option on the open market but compulsory on absolutely no-one. Not so much a sweeping change as a nudging adjustment - and significantly smaller in scope than the unAmerican outrage that was the introduction of universal, taxpayer-funded Medicare in 1965.
Oh, and on the other point at issue - I have never knowingly ordered a salad.
G.
* We knew how to name politicians back then, a field in which you guys have comprehensively overtaken us. They were Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health, respectively.
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