美国国家公共电台 NPR--Texas considers extending Medicaid access after birth to make having a baby safer

Texas considers extending Medicaid access after birth to make having a baby safer

Transcript¹

Texas abortion² bans focused attention on the state's already high maternal³ mortality rate. Proposed legislation could let otherwise uninsured women stay on Medicaid up to a year after childbirth.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Abortion restrictions⁴ in Texas trained greater attention on the state's high maternal mortality rate. Now lawmakers are considering extending Medicaid access to make childbirth safer. Elena Rivera from member station KERA in Dallas explains.

ELENA RIVERA, BYLINE⁵: Right now, Medicaid covers half of all births in Texas. Many rely on that coverage⁶ to access everything from doctor's appointments to prenatal vitamins. But the coverage ends two months after giving birth. Victoria Ferrell Ortiz applied⁷ for it after learning she was pregnant in 2017. She had just left a nonprofit job in Dallas and didn't have insurance.

VICTORIA FERRELL ORTIZ: It was a time of, like, a lot of learning and turnaround and pivoting⁸ for me because we weren't necessarily expecting that kind of life change.

RIVERA: Ferrell Ortiz says the coverage was sometimes confusing to use. She spent hours on the phone trying to find a doctor nearby.

FERRELL ORTIZ: 'Cause it took so much time. And then sometimes the representative that I would speak to wouldn't know the answer.

RIVERA: She was glad she was covered when she gave birth, but losing insurance when her baby was so young was stressful.

FERRELL ORTIZ: The two months window just puts more pressure on women to wrap up things in a messy, not necessarily beneficial way.

RIVERA: In Texas, most uninsured adults have few options. Unlike 39 other states, Texas didn't expand Medicaid, which means hundreds of thousands here make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford other health insurance. Pregnancy⁹ Medicaid helps fill the gap temporarily. Close to half a million Texans are currently enrolled¹⁰ in the program. The majority are Hispanic and Latinx women between 19 and 29.

Kari White is a professor at UT Austin who studies reproductive health care in Texas. She says even those who qualify for pregnancy Medicaid have trouble using it.

KARI WHITE: What it looks like from a bird's-eye view is a big patchwork¹¹ with some missing holes in the quilt.

RIVERA: White says many doctors and clinics won't accept pregnancy Medicaid or have long waits for appointments. But she thinks extending the coverage to a year after childbirth would help improve patients' health. White says it would be especially helpful for people with chronic¹² diseases, like high blood pressure or diabetes¹³.

WHITE: And when those health conditions become exacerbated¹⁴, they can have very dangerous consequences for people, regardless of whether or not they get pregnant again.

RIVERA: About 20% of pregnancy-related deaths in Texas stem from chronic diseases. White says a lot of these deaths are preventable.

WHITE: They're trying to raise a new baby. They need to get back to work. And it makes it really difficult for them to do those things when they aren't able to get medical attention to see what's going on.

RIVERA: Black Texans are affected¹⁵ by these disparities at higher rates than other groups. They are twice as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than their white counterparts.

Diana Forester is with the advocacy group Texans Care for Children. She says a full year of postpartum coverage will make childbirth safer in Texas. And both Democrats¹⁶ and Republicans are listening.

DIANA FORESTER: I think we have the opportunity to get 12 months postpartum passed. I feel like the momentum¹⁷ is there.

RIVERA: Victoria Ferrell Ortiz says her pregnancy was one of the biggest changes her body went through. Her daughter Amelie will be 5 soon. But looking back, she wishes she had more time to address health concerns before her coverage ran out.

FERRELL ORTIZ: If I was able to talk to people of the legislature about extending coverage, I would say to do that. It's an investment in the people who are raising our future and completely worth it.

RIVERA: Texas lawmakers have until the end of the legislative¹⁸ session in May to make this change and find other ways to improve the health care that pregnant Texans get every year.

For NPR News, I'm Elena Rivera in Dallas.

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 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

3 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 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。

6 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

7 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

8 pivoting   

n.绕轴旋转，绕公共法线旋转v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的现在分词 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开

参考例句：

• Here is a neat YouTube video showing the Gyro's pivoting mechanism. 这里是一个整洁的YouTube视频显示陀螺仪的旋转机制。 来自互联网
• Dart pivoting is widely used in the gannent pattern design. 省道转移的原理在服装纸样设计中应用十分广泛。 来自互联网

9 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

10 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

12 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

13 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

14 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

16 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

18 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。