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Dog
contemplates the meaning of a “no dogs” sign on a
playground fence in the Champ de Mars.
I think what
causes him consternation is that the image of a schnauzer
is not one that he identifies with.
On
Monday, Tom and I walked up to the very cute
market street of rue Poncelet, where our friend Karima’s
family has a Jeff de Bruges chocolate shop.
The shops
were closed on Monday, but the open market was still
going.
This
restaurant that opens onto both rue Poncelet and
avenue Wagram
specializes in Salers meat (high
quality) and has extremely reasonable prices.
We have
not yet dined there because we never seem to be in that
area when it is time to eat.
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Thursday, August 2
A friend just
wrote to say that she disagreed with me about my assessment of the relative
states of health care in France and the U.S. I think she did not pick up on the fact that
I am saying we have a terrible problem in the U.S. because people don’t have
health insurance coverage, and therefore do not have access to the high
quality health care that is available.
Here’s what I wrote to her:
Please do not misunderstand my view
on the different health care systems. This is very important to
me. We absolutely must solve this problem in the U.S.
We have actually experienced the
health care system here in France
and we know it in a way that others in the U.S. do not. And of course
we have had lots of experience with the U.S. system, not just as
patients. I have worked for two hospitals and I have worked as a
Medicare claims processor. I also worked for a large outpatient
clinic. My B.S. degree is from the OSU School of Allied Medical
Professions in medical communications (1979). Dan and Mary are working
as nurses in hospitals in Louisville.
They keep us current on the state of things in this field.
I don't want Americans wasting a
lot of time trying to improve the QUALITY of care we get when the real
problem is ACCESS. We must absolutely focus on ACCESS. Every
American should be covered by health insurance and everyone should have
access to the high quality of care that we have. We must fix THIS problem
of access, and having people tell us to waste time and energy on something
else (quality) is only going to get in the way of fixing the real problem.
The French rightly should be
criticized for their two-tier system. If you are French and poor, and
you go to the public hospital for care, it is right that they don't even
x-ray your arm to find out that it is broken when you have all the signs and
symptoms of a broken arm? I don't think so. And this wasn't just
anywhere, it was the MAIN public hospital in the middle of Paris! So you can go to the public
hospital in the middle of Paris,
and someone may look at you, and it is free, but you might not be
diagnosed or treated for what's clearly ailing you. That's access, but
it isn't quality.
Access to health care in August
has been a problem in France,
but that seems to be under control now after the disastrous, deadly heat wave
of 2003 (which we also experienced).
The public hospitals here look
beat up and slightly disgusting. We walk by many of them on our long
walks. We've even gone into them occasionally, like the huge
Pitié-Salpetrière (there's a pretty old chapel in the middle of it).
And according to the local newspapers, the public hospitals here have a
big problem with high rates of infection. Every summer, it seems, they
find Legionnaire's disease in at least one of them. Ventilation in them
is poor, and they are not generally air conditioned. I wish I could
have taken Michael Moore on a tour here.
If you are fortunate enough to
have the means to experience the private health care system here in France, I
think you are in good hands. But I would not place its level of quality
as being greater than the quality of care in the U.S. No way.
Let's not waste time fixing
something that is not broken. We must focus instead on allowing
everyone in the U.S.
to have full access and coverage when it comes to health care. If we
can do that, we will have a much better complete health care system than the
French have.
Okay. That said, let’s get back to the topic of
hotels – much better places to be than hospitals!
The other day,
I praised Ms. Clemente for her great descriptions of the very best Paris hotels in her
book, The Riches of Paris. Today, I must share with you a bit of info from
the newspaper about the cost of regular hotels here. The newpaper article’s author seemed to be
astonished by the recent increase in prices, but I think they still look like
a bargain compared to those in other world-class cities. Another aspect of hotels in Paris that I love is
the star rating system. It really
means something, and you can rely on it.
A two-star hotel is really all you need when you are vacationing here. If there’s a heat wave and you need air
conditioning, you’ll want to choose a three star hotel, but otherwise, it
isn’t necessary. Here are the going
rates and the percentage increase since an increase in occupancy rates
happened in June, according to the market research office of Deloitte:
·
4
stars, €329, increase of 8.1%
·
3 stars,
€120, increase of 5.8%
·
2
stars, €73, increase of 3.2%
And this is in
Paris! Checking on kayak.com, I find that prices
are even lower. For example, a
two-star hotel at the average rate above of €73 translates to $100 at today’s
exchange rate. But in reality, on
kayak.com, you can book two-star hotels in the middle of Paris for as low as $75.
That’s all for
today. I must get busy scanning pages
before we send a package off to New
York tomorrow.
Cheers!
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