密歇根新闻广播 斯奈德在医保问题上的困惑

 

Governor Rick Snyder has done two remarkably¹ positive things for Michigan in his nearly seven years in office, both in his first term. First, he found a way to get around a legislature corrupted² by campaign donations and make a deal for a new Detroit River bridge.

Granted, the Gordie Howe International Bridge has yet to be built, but it now seems all but certain it will be. That's something crucially important for the long-term economy of this state and region. But the immediately worthwhile thing Snyder did was narrowly succeed in pushing the legislature to accept Medicaid expansion four years ago.

This has resulted in a staggering 600,000 Michiganders having health insurance who didn't before, something that for the first few years came at absolutely no cost to the state, and thereafter will never cost us more than ten percent of the total bill.

This has resulted, as the governor predicted at the time, in a healthier work force and a healthier state. Any rational group of lawmakers would have voted unanimously to accept this in two minutes. But it nearly failed because of a group of irrational⁴ right-wing ideologues who cared more about trashing anything related to the Affordable⁵ Care Act than they did about the health of the citizens they were sworn to protect.

But Snyder, in the key major legislative⁶ triumph of his career, succeeded in persuading just enough of them to switch and approve the expansion, though we did lose millions because in a fit of spite, they refused to give the bill immediate³ effect. At the time, the governor sensibly said "this isn't about the Affordable Care Act. This is about one element we can control in Michigan that can make a difference in people's lives."

That was four years ago, and now the Republicans are gearing up for a second attempt to kill Obamacare, and Medicaid expansion with it. The Senate is expected to vote soon on a "repeal⁷ and replace" substitute called Graham-Cassidy. If this passes, according to Jay Greene, a respected health care reporter for Crain's, it would mean the complete elimination⁸ of benefits for those now covered under the Medicaid expansion within less than nine years, unless the state were willing to pay all the costs itself.

This would be a massive health care disaster for our state. Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, said this would be "simply unacceptable." A number of Republican governors are strongly opposing Graham-Cassidy, including John Kasich of Ohio.

But Rick Snyder hasn't said a word.

When a Crain's reporter asked the governor's office for comment, it issued a statement saying: "We are still reviewing provisions of the bill and how it might affect Michigan. Feel free to check back next week." The owner of a major Lansing public relations firm told me, "I guess all those people who thought Snyder was truly some form of independent can now see that he has just evolved into a typical Republican politician."

But it's baffling why the governor is abandoning something he cared about and which was a huge success. His political career, thanks to Flint, will be over after 2018.

Graham-Cassidy would be a disaster for the business interests he says he cares about. For years, many people in Lansing felt they never really knew who Rick Snyder was.

Perhaps we never will.

Jack⁹ Lessenberry is Michigan Radio's Senior Political Analyst¹⁰. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

2 corrupted   

（使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏

参考例句：

• The body corrupted quite quickly. 尸体很快腐烂了。
• The text was corrupted by careless copyists. 原文因抄写员粗心而有讹误。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 irrational   

adj.无理性的，失去理性的

参考例句：

• After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
• There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。

5 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。

6 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。

7 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

8 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

9 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

10 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。