密歇根新闻广播 是时候分享密歇根得医疗补助计划了

That's a reminder¹ that it's time for the state of Michigan to pony² up some of the Medicaid expansion program's operation cost. That Healthy Michigan program means health insurance for some 600,000 lower-income Michiganders.

Marianne Udow-Phillips is with the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation³.

She tells us that under the Affordable⁴ Care Act with the expansion of Medicaid, the federal government covered 100% of the costs for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 calendar years. Starting next year, she says "the state has to start paying a little bit."

She explains that the state will be responsible for 5% of the cost the first year,

and that amount will gradually increase year over year until 2020, when the state will have to pay 10% of the cost.

"By the time we get to 2020,

it would cost the state about $62 for every person that gets covered under the Healthy Michigan plan."

According to Udow-Phillips,

the governor's budget will be adequate to cover these costs.

"The state match, the $108 million,

is actually matching $3.4 billion from the federal government for the Medicaid program. That is enough to cover all the individuals that we have currently enrolled⁵ and that we expect will continue to be enrolled in the plan," she says.

That $108 million still needs the approval of the Legislature,

and Udow-Phillips tells us there are some legislators who don't seem to want to commit to the plan. That said, she believes the majority of legislators will support the proposal "because the state is still getting savings⁶ from the general fund as a result of this federal contribution."

She explains that the state has had to use general fund dollars to pay for a lot of services in the past,

particularly mental health care. With the federal government taking on a chunk⁷ of that burden, Michigan will have some room to sock some money away.

Udow-Phillips expects that the state will continue to save money until 2020,

when it takes on that 10% of the cost. At that point she says Michigan will probably be paying a little bit more for the program than the net savings, "but again, relatively⁸ low cost for people who are getting coverage⁹."

"We estimated that by the time we get to 2020,"

she says, "it would cost the state about $62 for every person that gets covered under the Healthy Michigan plan."

If at some point along this process this budget proposal gets rejected or jammed up by the Legislature,

Udow-Phillips tells us the Healthy Michigan plan would end and some 600,000 people would lose their health care coverage.

1 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

2 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

3 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

4 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

5 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》

6 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

7 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 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。