美国国家公共电台 NPR Shopping For Obamacare Opens To Mixed Reviews From Consumers

Shopping For Obamacare Opens To Mixed Reviews From Consumers

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And today is the first day that people can buy insurance through the Affordable² Care Act for 2017. Many people who get their insurance through the federal health law are worried after news that premiums⁴ would rise an average of 22 percent next year.

As NPR - as Alison Kodjak reports, that average masks a more complex reality, one where prices are going up for some but falling for others.

ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE⁵: Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell has her work cut out for her. After a week dominated by news of big price increases for Obamacare insurance plans, it's Burwell's job to convince millions of people that they should go online and shop for a good deal. Her biggest challenge...

SYLVIA BURWELL: Helping⁶ people focus on what the consumer pays because that's the most important thing. And that's what consumers actually care about.

KODJAK: But it's not always easy to figure out what the consumer pays. That's because the people who buy policies through the Affordable Care Act can qualify for discounts on premiums and out-of-pocket expenses based on their income.

BURWELL: Eighty-five percent of those folks actually receive tax credits or subsidies⁷. And for them, that insulates them from these changes.

KODJAK: That's what's happening to Darvin Bentlage, a farmer in southwest Missouri. Like many farmers, he's been having a rough time recently. He raises corn, soybeans and beef. And prices for all his products have plummeted⁸ in the last two years.

When I talked to him late last week, he was pretty upset because he got a letter from his insurer saying his policy was going up $200 a month. Even after his subsidy⁹, he thought he'd be paying $500 a month just for his premium³. On top of that, he spends about $300 a month on medications for diabetes¹⁰.

DARVIN BENTLAGE: So I'm going to be paying close to $10,000 for my medicine and my insurance on a $20,000 income.

KODJAK: But Bentlage hadn't yet logged on to healthcare.gov to shop for a plan. But he did that over the weekend and called me back. He was much happier.

BENTLAGE: It comes up that I get a $664 tax credit.

KODJAK: Wow, so that's about double what you were getting before.

BENTLAGE: Yes, that's about double.

KODJAK: He says he found a plan that will only cost him about $150 a month, and it has a lower deductible.

BENTLAGE: So that was a pleasant surprise, you know.

KODJAK: Bentlage says he's glad he doesn't have to go without insurance like he did before the Affordable Care Act. At that time, he couldn't find coverage¹¹ because of his diabetes.

BENTLAGE: No. And I went through those colon¹² surgeries and had to go through and refinance the farm.

KODJAK: If Bentlage is the story Sylvia Burwell wants to hear, Will Denecke is her nightmare.

Denecke is 63, and he's a self-employed urban planning consultant¹³ in Portland, Ore. He makes too much money to qualify for financial assistance. He's also pretty healthy and doesn't use much medical care. But his premiums have almost tripled in the last three years. To him, it's just too much.

WILL DENECKE: I am not willing to pay $930 a month for coverage and to pay a $3,000 deductible.

KODJAK: Unless he can find a better deal.

DENECKE: I'm going to hope that if I have a health issue, I can go back during the middle of the year - not during open enrollment¹⁴ - and go on to the marketplace and buy insurance.

KODJAK: Now, people are only supposed to be able to buy insurance through the ACA mid-year if they've had a big change. Maybe they got married, or they lost their job. But Denecke says those rules are easy to get around. He knows from experience.

DENECKE: I've done it before, and my broker¹⁵ helped me. The great thing was we got an answer, like, in two minutes.

KODJAK: Denecke's actually a supporter of Obamacare in theory. And he's aware that what he's thinking of doing could undermine the whole system. That's because insurance only works if sick people and healthy people both buy in. But if lots of people abandon the program, the people who run Obamacare will be spending next fall trying to explain even more price increases.

Alison Kodjak, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 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。

3 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

4 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

10 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。

11 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。

12 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

13 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

14 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

15 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。