美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Just The Right Policy': Pete Buttigieg On His 'Medicare For All Who Want It' Plan

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

What questions do voters have for the 2020 presidential candidates? South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg sat down this week with NPR host Scott Simon and two undecided voters for Off Script. It's our series of conversations with presidential candidates. They all met at a South Bend restaurant called Pegs¹. Voter Michael Logan (ph), a retired² police detective sergeant³, started with a timely question.

MICHAEL LOGAN: What's your favorite sport and why?

PETE BUTTIGIEG: It's football 'cause I grew up going to games with my dad. And, you know, I mean when you're in South Bend, I think you're either a football fan, or you're a contrarian.

MARTIN: So that existential question being settled, the conversation went on to cover a wide range of topics. The most pressing for voter Jackie Stahl (ph) was health care, given her son's medical bills.

JACKIE STAHL: Personally, my son has a condition where his medication costs up to $35,000 a month.

MARTIN: Stahl works in the health care industry as a marketing⁴ director. She pressed Mayor Buttigieg edge on his plan, which he calls Medicare for all who want it. Stahl wanted to know how it would make health care more affordable⁵ and less complicated.

STAHL: My CEO and I were joking because we work in health care, yet it's so difficult to navigate⁶ health care. And we're in it. You know, so many times, we see patients that do the right steps to make sure that they're in network and that everything is covered by their insurance, but yet they have a surprise bill of $300 or thousands of dollars. That has to stop. How do we get that to stop?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, and another thing we're proposing is to end surprise billing. So we would set - 200% of Medicare would be the highest that even an out-of-network therapy could cost when you have a hospitalization or something like that because, you know, some of this is also the responsibility of hospitals and health care providers. This can't just be handled on the insurance side. Now, we want hospitals to grow, and we want, you know, providers to do well. And we can do that in a way that also manages these costs.

But it sure will help, I think, if we can take steps like what I'm proposing with Medicare for all who want it to make sure everybody's covered, and no one's falling through the cracks because then we're more likely to see an evening out of the radically⁷ different prices that can be attached to the same procedure or the same bit of medication depending where you are in our current patchwork⁸ of coverage⁹.

SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE¹⁰: Let me ask a question, Mr. Mayor, to follow up. There are lots of ambitious health care plans that have been proposed in this campaign alone. Can you get yours passed? 'Cause that's kind of the acid test, isn't it?

BUTTIGIEG: It is. I mean, the reality is all these beautiful proposals we all put forward - their impact is kind of multiplied by zero if you can't actually get it through Congress. And it's one of the reasons why I do favor the approach that I have - what we call Medicare for all who want it. We create a public plan, Medicare-type plan for every American. But - and we make sure that everybody can afford it, but we don't require you to take it. And partly, I think that's just the right policy because I think people should be able to choose.

But it's also really important that that's a policy that commands the support of most Americans, which, by the way, is a big deal because this would be the biggest innovation, the biggest move forward in health care in about 50 years. But we have a moment where we can get something that big done, and most Americans want it done. That's not true of some of the other ideas out there, which would make it much harder to actually achieve them, no matter how good they sound in campaign season.

SIMON: May I try another question? You are married to a real social media celebrity¹¹.

BUTTIGIEG: (Laughter).

SIMON: Your husband, Chasten, has really taken off. But I have to raise a question with you - 'cause I was hoping not to ask anything about orientation¹². But as you know, there's some information recently reported by The New York Times that says the fact that you're a man married to another man might be causing some reservations and misgivings¹³ specifically among African American voters in South Carolina. I wonder what you would say to voters who have that reservation.

BUTTIGIEG: Well, I think that that perspective - it's so simplifying and, I think, not fair to a diversity of views among African Americans and among a lot of people who are Democrats¹⁴ who may have come up in a socially conservative background but are also on a journey, as the country is. I think the question that voters are asking is, how's my life going to be different if you're president? And in order to earn votes, my job is to go out there and answer that question. And I think a lot of the other stuff falls away if and only if you have a good answer to that question.

MARTIN: We should note The New York Times reports that information came from an internal Buttigieg campaign memo¹⁵ on focus groups it held that included two dozen uncommitted black voters. You'll hear more of Pete Buttigieg's conversation with Weekend Edition host Scott Simon and undecided voters across NPR today and tomorrow. And you can watch video of the conversation with Buttigieg and other presidential candidates at npr.org/offscript.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE NATIONAL'S "THE GEESE OF BEVERLY ROAD")

1 pegs   

n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平

参考例句：

• She hung up the shirt with two (clothes) pegs. 她用两只衣夹挂上衬衫。 来自辞典例句
• The vice-presidents were all square pegs in round holes. 各位副总裁也都安排得不得其所。 来自辞典例句

2 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

3 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

4 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

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 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

7 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

8 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

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。

10 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。

11 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

12 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

13 misgivings   

n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧

参考例句：

• I had grave misgivings about making the trip. 对于这次旅行我有过极大的顾虑。
• Don't be overtaken by misgivings and fear. Just go full stream ahead! 不要瞻前顾后， 畏首畏尾。甩开膀子干吧！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？