VOA标准英语2013--Health Insurance Exchanges Due to Open in US

 

Health Insurance Exchanges Due to Open in US

WASHINGTON — A major part of the Affordable¹ Care Act, passed in 2010, comes into effect October 1, giving Americans increased access to affordable health insurance plans.

Most Americans have private insurance to cover their medical care. That insurance is often partially² subsidized by their employers. Elderly Americans receive health care largely paid for by a government trust fund. An estimated 40 to 50 million others — a majority of them considered the working poor — have no health insurance at all.

Many who are insured find rising health care costs a burden and coverage³ of medical conditions unpredictable. Many doctors say the reimbursements⁴ they receive from health insurance companies are not enough to keep them in practice.

Under the Affordable Care Act insurance companies will no longer be able to deny medical coverage to Americans due to pre-existing medical conditions.

According to Jonathan Weiner, professor of health policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, the biggest challenge is making sure no American is excluded because of a pre-existing condition or low income.

"That's the number one issue, getting them covered," he said. "Without a health insurance card — it's not as if we don't care for people without insurance cards — the care is sporadic⁵ and often incomplete."

Small business owners want to provide their employees with health insurance but say they cannot sustain the rising costs.

"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," said Amy Millstead Ellzey, who manages an auto⁶ repair shop.

The new health care marketplaces opening on October 1 are intended to address these problems by providing access to private insurance with certain guarantees of coverage. Those who already have medical conditions cannot be turned away. 

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 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

3 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。

4 reimbursements   

n.偿还( reimbursement的名词复数 )；退款；补偿；赔偿

参考例句：

• We had to put in for the food reimbursements again. 我们不得不再次申请食物赔偿。 来自互联网
• Have you figured up the total of the reimbursements I gave you? 你有没有把我给你的报销账目全部加总了呢？ 来自互联网

5 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

6 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。