美国国家公共电台 NPR--A broken wheelchair can bring life to a standstill and create multiple problems

A broken wheelchair can bring life to a standstill and create multiple problems

Transcript¹

Wheelchairs break down often, and insurance bureaucracy can delay repairs for weeks or months. Wheelchair users say the delays can have serious consequences.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A broken wheelchair can bring the user's life to a halt. It creates medical and financial problems. And repairs to custom wheelchairs usually take a long time. To understand just how big a deal this is, listen to Gabrielle Emanuel of our member station WBUR in Boston.

GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE²: Pamela Daly (ph) was on vacation in New York City. She took a moment to look up and admire the buildings.

PAMELA DALY: All of a sudden, the world just kind of started to tilt³ to the left. And I actually thought maybe we were having an earthquake.

EMANUEL: It wasn't an earthquake, but it was a disaster for her. One of the small front wheels had fallen off her wheelchair. A passerby⁴ helped put it back on. But a few blocks away, the wheel came off again. Daley fell. A broken wheelchair and now a broken hip⁵.

DALY: I felt very vulnerable, extremely vulnerable.

EMANUEL: She says, ultimately, the wheelchair was worse than the hip. Without a working chair, she was stuck in her apartment, unable to get to work and doctor's appointments. This lasted more than a month. She waited for insurance to approve the repair and the part to arrive. Daley remembers when the technician finally came.

DALY: And the guy opens the package in front of me. And it's the wrong part. And it always is the wrong part. Always. Always.

EMANUEL: Daley's story is not unique. For Murshid Buwembo (ph), it was a flat tire at work at Home Depot⁶ in Boston. Colleagues and friends tried to help him fix it.

MURSHID BUWEMBO: A police officer who's a friend of mine tried to take it at a gas station. Nothing could work.

EMANUEL: Buwembo missed three days of work. And he estimates, all told, the ordeal⁷ cost him $700.

BUWEMBO: I had to skip buying groceries.

EMANUEL: In a typical six-month period, more than half of wheelchair users report that their chairs break down.

LYNN WOROBEY: If 50% of people had their car break down in a six-month period, they'd probably be pretty upset.

EMANUEL: Lynn Worobey from the University of Pittsburgh has been tracking wheelchair breakdowns⁸ for years. Her research shows they often cause real problems, like missing school and increasing the chance of hospitalization. They've been linked to serious sores that can happen when a back-up chair doesn't fit or you're bedbound.

WOROBEY: So some pretty significant health consequences.

EMANUEL: So what's going on? Mark Schmeler, also a professor at UPitt, says Medicare is part of the problem.

MARK SCHMELER: Medicare doesn't have a allowance to do preventative maintenance. That's one of the biggest culprits right there.

EMANUEL: For a car, you have oil changes, for a bike, tune-ups. For a wheelchair, there's nothing. A part has to break before Medicare pays to fix it. And what Medicare does matters because private health insurers often follow suit. Schmeler says another problem originated in the late '90s and early 2000s.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Attention Medicare and insurance beneficiaries.

EMANUEL: In TV ads, scammers convinced people to get chairs on Medicare's dime⁹.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: You may qualify for a power chair or scooter at little to no cost to you.

EMANUEL: About $1 billion later, Schmeler says, Medicare said it would only cover a wheelchair that's primarily used in the home. That means it isn't designed to withstand the wear and tear of life.

SCHMELER: It makes no sense whatsoever¹⁰. But, you know, they had to do something.

EMANUEL: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services declined requests for an interview, but said its policies are guided by federal law. Charles Sargeant is with National Seating & Mobility¹¹, one of the biggest providers of wheelchairs. He blames health insurers for the slow repairs. Often, they require a doctor's approval before repairs can start. Sergeant¹² says that can increase repair times by a month or more.

CHARLES SARGEANT: Ninety-nine-plus percent of the time, they're going to give the authorization¹³.

EMANUEL: Several health insurers declined interviews. Whatever the issue, wheelchair users say they are the ones stuck living with the consequences.

DALY: It's something that prevents us from living to our fullest.

BUWEMBO: You can't go to work. You lose your independence.

EMANUEL: Pamela Daly and Murshid Buwembo say they go through life fearing a flat tire or a faulty motor.

For NPR News, I'm Gabrielle Emanuel.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

4 passerby   

n.过路人，行人

参考例句：

• We had our photo taken by a passerby.我们请了一个路人为我们照相。
• A passerby heard her screams and rushed to her aid.一个过路人听见她的尖叫，便冲过去帮助她。

5 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

6 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

7 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

8 breakdowns   

n.分解( breakdown的名词复数 )；衰竭；（车辆或机器的）损坏；统计分析

参考例句：

• Her old car was unreliable, so the trip was plagued by breakdowns. 她的旧车老不听使唤，一路上总是出故障。 来自辞典例句
• How do we prevent these continual breakdowns? 我们如何防止这些一再出现的故障？ 来自辞典例句

9 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

10 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

11 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

12 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

13 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。