美国国家公共电台 NPR Parents Worry Congress Won't Fund The Children's Health Insurance Program

Parents Worry Congress Won't Fund The Children's Health Insurance Program

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Nine million kids get their health insurance through the federal Children's Health Insurance Program. Congress, though, has let the program expire, and it's unclear whether lawmakers will save it. Now more and more states are running out of money to keep the program going. NPR's Alison Kodjak takes a look at how this is affecting parents.

ARIEL HAUGHTON: Go for it.

ROSE HAUGHTON: Bye-bye.

HAUGHTON: Bye-bye.

ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE¹: Ariel Haughton is trying to keep track of her 2-year-old son as she cheers on her daughter, who's pedaling away on a tricycle in front of her home in Pittsburgh. It's a beautiful morning, but Haughton is stressed out about her kids' health insurance.

HAUGHTON: So we're like a low-middle-class family, right? I'm studying, my husband's working. And our insurance right now is 12 percent of our income just for my husband and I. And it's not very good insurance either really.

KODJAK: It has high fees for doctor visits, a big deductible, and it doesn't cover her kids. Luckily, little Rose and Nonnie are covered by the Children's Health Insurance Program. CHIP is for families who make just too much money to qualify for Medicaid. But states like Pennsylvania are starting to run out of the money they have left for CHIP. Haughton says if CHIP disappears, she'd try to scrape together the money to add her kids to her insurance. But the $150 copayment on her policy would mean she'd think twice before actually taking them to the doctor.

HAUGHTON: That's not a small deal to a family like mine, $150. If you have to pay that, you ask yourself, like, are they sick enough? Like, does this merit a doctor visit?

KODJAK: And hesitation² like that could have severe consequences, like for Haughton's daughter.

HAUGHTON: She was about 2, and she developed this fever and a rash on her face.

KODJAK: The fever wasn't that high, but the rash was odd.

HAUGHTON: So I took her into the doctor. And the doctor looked at her, and she said she has Lyme disease. And that she found a little tick.

KODJAK: Rose got on antibiotics³ right away, and today she's fine. But if Lyme disease isn't treated immediately, it can turn into chronic⁴ arthritis⁵ in kids.

HAUGHTON: And I know, I know that if I had had to pay $150, I would've thought, you know, like, let's wait.

KODJAK: Todd Wolynn is the Haughtons' pediatrician. He says families all over Pittsburgh are worried.

TODD WOLYNN: Parents are literally⁶ telling us they don't know what to do. I mean, they make too much to get Medicaid. And they don't have jobs or earn enough to get the commercial insurance. I don't know what to tell them to do.

KODJAK: So now doctors and patients around the country are worried too, especially as CHIP money runs out in one state after another. For example, Utah announced it will end CHIP at the end of January if Congress doesn't come up with money for the program. And Oregon, which already has run out of federal money, is borrowing from its Medicaid budget to insure its 80,000 CHIP kids keep their coverage⁷ through April.

KATE BROWN: I'm absolutely opposed to kicking these vulnerable families off of access to health care.

KODJAK: That's Oregon's governor, Kate Brown.

BROWN: It's appalling⁸ to me that Congress is not taking action and is not doing their jobs on this issue.

KODJAK: Back in Pittsburgh, Ariel Haughton agrees.

HAUGHTON: They could've worked on something in August or July and passed it in September instead of just letting funding lapse⁹ and playing this game of chicken with our children's health insurance.

KODJAK: So she's been calling and writing to her senators and members of Congress, telling them how important CHIP is to her children. Alison Kodjak, NPR News, Washington.

1 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。

2 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

3 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

4 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

5 arthritis   

n.关节炎

参考例句：

• Rheumatoid arthritis has also been linked with the virus.风湿性关节炎也与这种病毒有关。
• He spent three months in the hospital with acute rheumatic arthritis.他患急性风湿性关节炎，在医院住了三个月。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 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。

8 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

9 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。