美国国家公共电台 NPR Meet The Republican Governors Who Don't Want To Repeal All Of Obamacare

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

The future of the Affordable¹ Care Act means a lot to the people we're about to meet in Ohio. Republicans in Congress are moving to repeal² the law and have not said what they want to replace it. One part of the law known as Obamacare allowed states to expand Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. Some States declined that opportunity, but Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich, took it. Nick Castele of WCPN Ideastream met people who were affected³.

NICK CASTELE, BYLINE⁴: It's lunchtime at a social services drop-in center in Cleveland. In the back of the cafeteria, a pair of health care navigators are making calls to help people sign up for Medicaid. Nearby, Evelyn Johnson says health insurance has really helped her.

EVELYN JOHNSON: So far, I've gotten a pair of glasses. And they're going to do my teeth.

CASTELE: Johnson is living with a friend, does not have kids and makes some money babysitting. She says without Medicaid, she would not be able to get the various prescription⁵ drugs she needs.

JOHNSON: If I had to pay for my medical costs, I wouldn't be taking no medicine. There's no way. I take too many pills.

CASTELE: Around 700,000 Ohioans have signed up for expanded Medicaid since January 2014. It used to be limited largely to low-income children, parents and people with disabilities. Now all individuals making at or below $16,000 a year for a single person can be covered. Ohio Governor John Kasich staked out an unpopular position among many Republicans. He fought his own party and then sidestepped the state legislature to get the expansion done. At an event with business leaders this month, Kasich argued it's been a good deal for the state.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN KASICH: If they don't get coverage⁶, they end up in the emergency room. They end up sicker, more expensive, and we pay one way or the other. And so this has been a good thing for Ohio.

CASTELE: Also defending their decisions to expand Medicaid are such Republican governors as Rick Snyder in Michigan and Brian Sandoval in Nevada.

INSKEEP: You pull on one thread, you topple the whole tower.

CASTELE: John Corlett ran Medicaid in Ohio under the previous Democratic administration. Now he runs a think tank in Cleveland called the Center for Community Solutions.

JOHN CORLETT: There's nothing to say that the program can't be improved - that it can't be, you know, made better. But to - just to say we're going to get rid of all of it and then we'll figure out how to make it better, I think, would be really disruptive. It'd be disruptive to health care providers, to patients.

CASTELE: Medicaid covers about 1 in 4 people here in Ohio. So if there are cuts, doctors and hospitals will see a financial impact. Last year, the state asked the federal government to require beneficiaries to pay into health savings⁷ accounts. The feds denied it. But with a new administration, there could be changes on the horizon.

GREG LAWSON: Well, I think that with the constellation⁸ in Washington the way that it is, that there's going to be an awful lot of opportunities.

CASTELE: Greg Lawson is a senior policy analyst⁹ with the Buckeye Institute, a conservative think tank in Ohio that opposed expansion. He'd like to see limits on federal spending per state. And he hopes Ohio will get more freedom to alter Medicaid, such as by adding a work requirement for some beneficiaries.

LAWSON: I don't think you're going to see the light switch, probably, just get turned and, you know, one day it's all going to just disappear. I think what you're more likely to see is major structural¹⁰ changes to the program that, over time, will have budgetary impacts.

CASTELE: But it's not clear yet what shape those changes will take or whether the governor who expanded Medicaid here will support them.

For NPR News, I'm Nick Castele in Cleveland.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

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 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

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 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。

8 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

9 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。

10 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。