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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
By Melinda Smith
Washington
16 September 2009
Part 1 of VOA's 5-part series on Health Care
The American health care system has been called one of the best and worst in the world. Many experts say it is certainly the most expensive, costing $2.5 trillion a year or about $7,000 to $8,000 per person. Most Americans pay for their medical care through private insurance, which is partially1 subsidized by their employers. Elderly Americans receive health care largely paid for by a government trust fund that may eventually run out of money. An estimated 30 million others - a majority of them considered the working poor - have no health insurance at all. Here's our report on some of the causes for a health care system in crisis.
Wanting it all
Some Americans say that health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year
As a nation, America seems to want it all. Patients want the best medical treatment. But some, like Jarene Williams whose young son was sick with a congenital defect, are shocked when the bill comes in.
"We started getting these surprise bills," she said. "I said 'wait a minute. We're insured.'"
Family physician David Ellington says doctors want to provide the latest medical treatment, but reimbursements3 they receive from health insurance companies are not enough to cover their expenses or keep them in practice.
"There is going to have to be some type of arrangement in the way doctors are paid," he said.
Small business owners say they want to provide medical coverage5 for their employees, but are finding it hard to sustain their share of the cost.
Amy Milstead Ellzey is president of family-owned Milstead Automotive Ltd. She says struggles to provide an affordable6 plan for her employees.
"It is terrible," she said. "We cannot afford a 44 percent increase in medical insurance, so that, in turn, makes us have to start looking elsewhere for different plans and it makes us have to cut the plan back some."
Nationwide polls have shown that most Americans want improvements made in their health care system. President Barack Obama signaled to Congress recently that decades of rising costs for a medical system which does not treat everyone fairly must end.
President Obama speaking on health-care reform before a joint7 session of Congress, 09 Sep 2009
"The cost of our health-care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough," said Mr. Obama. "So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year."
Everyone should be included
Jonathan Weiner is a professor of health policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.
He says the biggest challenge in health reform is making sure that everyone is included: that no American be shut out from some kind of medical coverage, whether it be private insurance or government funded, because of a pre-existing medical condition or low income.
"For the many 40-50 millions of Americans who don't have health insurance, of course, that's the number one issue, getting them covered," noted8 Weiner. " Without a health insurance card, it's not as if we don't care for people without insurance cards, the care is sporadic9 and often incomplete. And they get half the health care coverage that everyone else gets."
New program for working poor
Weiner believes the eventual2 legislation will include the working poor who earn too much to qualify for the government assistance program called Medicaid. He says they will be enrolled10 in some kind of other public option program or private insurance plan.
"That's going to be one of the most positive changes in health care that I think every American should be pleased to see, that health insurers must take you without regard to your disease," he said. "
Weiner also says for too long the American health care system has paid medical fees based on the severity of the patient's illness and far less for prevention of chronic11 diseases.
"Right now doctors get paid more and more for ordering tests," he said. "The sicker their patients become, the more they get paid. We need to shift to a system that - that - rewards efficiency, that rewards making people healthy."
Costly proposal
President Obama says his health care proposals would cost about $900 billion over the next decade, funded in part by money already allocated12 in the existing health care system.
Critics say the existing system is wasteful13, inefficient14, full of unnecessary administrative15 costs, and steered16 by poor management.
Patients and their insurers, they say, pay inflated17 prices for medical care that is sometimes not appropriate, as well as for the care of others who are uninsured.
In a joint address to the U.S. Congress on September 9, President Obama said it has been almost a century since another president, Theodore Roosevelt, first called for health care reform.
"I understand how difficult this health care debate has been," the president said. "I know that many in this country are deeply skeptical18 that government is looking out for them. "
1 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
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2 eventual | |
adj.最后的,结局的,最终的 | |
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3 reimbursements | |
n.偿还( reimbursement的名词复数 );退款;补偿;赔偿 | |
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4 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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5 coverage | |
n.报导,保险范围,保险额,范围,覆盖 | |
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6 affordable | |
adj.支付得起的,不太昂贵的 | |
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7 joint | |
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合 | |
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8 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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9 sporadic | |
adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular;分散的 | |
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10 enrolled | |
adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 );登记,招收,使入伍(或入会、入学等),参加,成为成员;记入名册;卷起,包起 | |
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11 chronic | |
adj.(疾病)长期未愈的,慢性的;极坏的 | |
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12 allocated | |
adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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13 wasteful | |
adj.(造成)浪费的,挥霍的 | |
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14 inefficient | |
adj.效率低的,无效的 | |
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15 administrative | |
adj.行政的,管理的 | |
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16 steered | |
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
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17 inflated | |
adj.(价格)飞涨的;(通货)膨胀的;言过其实的;充了气的v.使充气(于轮胎、气球等)( inflate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)膨胀;(使)通货膨胀;物价上涨 | |
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18 skeptical | |
adj.怀疑的,多疑的 | |
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