美国国家公共电台 NPR--Many people that were on Medicaid are finding themselves uninsured

Many people that were on Medicaid are finding themselves uninsured

Transcript¹

All 90 million Medicaid beneficiaries will have their eligibility² checked, and many will no longer have health insurance — as pandemic-era rules that automatically renewed their coverage³ expire.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

During the COVID pandemic, Medicaid was a lifeline for more than 90 million people. For three years, states could not kick anyone off the public health insurance program. But that's changing quickly now, and many are finding themselves uninsured. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin reports.

SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE⁴: It's being called Medicaid unwinding. All 90 million beneficiaries will have their eligibility checked at some point over the next year. Ideally, those who are still eligible⁵ will keep their coverage, and those who don't qualify any more will get dropped. But in reality, it's going to be a lot messier than that. Take Florida, for example. Last month, Liz Adams, who lives in Plant City, was trying to figure out the time of her son's biopsy appointment. Her son survived leukemia and has a variety of ongoing⁶ health problems.

LIZ ADAMS: I called the surgery center, like, hey, what time is his appointment? Oh, well, we canceled that. He doesn't have insurance. So I jump on the portal, and sure enough, they don't have insurance.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: She was incredibly frustrated⁷. She then had to try and enroll⁸ her two kids in health insurance while also trying to figure out how to get her son's care back on track.

ADAMS: I waited a year to get in with a rheumatologist. And we finally got the biopsy and then finally got bloodwork ordered. And I can't go do any of it 'cause they canceled my insurance.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Adams' kids were among 250,000 people who lost Medicaid in Florida last month. Joan Alker is with the Georgetown Center for Children and Families.

JOAN ALKER: I am very worried about Florida. We've heard the call centers overwhelmed. The notices are very confusing in Florida. They're very hard to understand.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Of those who lost Medicaid in Florida, 80% of them lost it for procedural reasons - like they didn't respond to the notice. And many of them are children because Florida didn't expand Medicaid to more low-income adults. But Alker says unwinding is not going badly in every state.

ALKER: We're really seeing divergence⁹ here. We've seen very, very concerning numbers from Florida, from Arkansas, from Indiana, but we've seen much more reassuring¹⁰ numbers from Arizona and Pennsylvania.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Alker says in Pennsylvania, only 10% of people whose applications were looked at lost coverage in April. She says it's up to each state how they manage this daunting¹¹ task. But the federal government also has the power to make a state pause disenrollments, for instance. Alker says it remains¹² to be seen if federal health officials will use that power in places where people who shouldn't be losing Medicaid are getting kicked off anyway.

Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News.

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 eligibility   

n.合格，资格

参考例句：

• What are the eligibility requirements? 病人被选参加试验的要求是什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望
• Eligibility for HINARI access is based on gross national income (GNI). 进入HINARI获取计划是依据国民总收入来评定的。

3 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。

4 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。

5 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

6 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

7 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

9 divergence   

n.分歧，岔开

参考例句：

• There is no sure cure for this transatlantic divergence.没有什么灵丹妙药可以消除大西洋两岸的分歧。
• In short,it was an age full of conflicts and divergence of values.总之，这一时期是矛盾与价值观分歧的时期。

10 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

11 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。