I've noticed recently just how frequently we talk about various conditions of health in wholly inaccurate terms. When someone says they have "a cold," they refer not to a particular disease of infection but to an assortment of various (often generic) symptoms that could be caused by any particular bacterial or viral strain or infection. I reflect on this now because I feel sickly (which, despite appearances, is an adjective, not an adverb). I'm using this word in a quite similar situation to my previous example: as a catch-all term to incorporate my stiff jaw, indigestion, exhaustion, and sinus pressure into a single affliction about which I can then conveniently complain. This series of irritations comes ironically close on the heels of a post-presidential-debate discussion I had last night about various forms of health care–which, both candidates might be surprised to hear, is not the same thing as health insurance. In fact, the two are extremely strange bedfellows: insurance companies thrive by receiving payments to not provide healthcare (or, more specifically, the funding for healthcare). If I ran an insurance company, I'd be thrilled by either candidate: If McCain wins, I could compete by cutting the meager services I actually offered and thus decreasing overhead; if Obama wins, then a number of people would be bound by law to purchase my services or the services of a competitor. Either way, it's a boon for the industry. As a citizen who's not feeling well, however, I cringe in the knowledge that no matter the outcome of the current political race, I still won't be able to afford many healthcare services that would be greatly beneficial to my quality of life, such as preventative care. The worst part, though, is knowing that if I can't afford healthcare, there are many, many more who can't even afford the pieces that I receive. So I'm tucked in with a glass of water and a bottle of vitamins, praying that something will be done to keep people from ailing and dying from common diseases with simple–yet prohibitively expensive–treatments.