财富杂志 新加坡如何做到超低价优质医疗服务?(2)

Sean Masaki Flynn's extraordinarily¹ important—and, so far, largely ignored—

肖恩·马萨基·弗林尤为重要的——而且，到目前为止，很大程度上被忽视了的——

book The Cure That Works (Regnery, $28.99) gives the answers in straightforward² prose.

书籍《The Cure That Works 》（莱格尼里出版公司出版，售价28.99美元）以简单直白的散文形式给出了答案。

You'll be rubbing your eyes in disbelief: Health care can indeed be inexpensive, first-rate and easily accessible to everyone.

你将会难以置信地揉眼睛：医疗确实可以便宜又优质，且人人都能轻易享有。

The bottom line: Capitalism³ with safety nets works! Singapore has the most free-market-oriented medical system anywhere.

最主要的是：拥有安全保障的资本主义起了作用！新加坡拥有世界上最具自由市场导向性的医疗体系。

The U.S., in contrast, has a third-party system—providers, patients and insurers/government.

相比之下，美国是一个三方体系——医疗提供方、病人以及保险公司/政府。

And it's the third parties that are the drivers here. Hospitals, for instance,

且第三方是这里的驱动者。例如，医院

know their revenues depend more on how well they negotiate with insurers than on how well they satisfy patients.

知道他们的收入更多的取决于他们与保险公司谈判的好坏，而不是病人的满意程度。

This leads to the utterly⁴ strange situation of prices almost never being posted!?

这导致了一个非常奇怪的局面——价格几乎从未被公开过！

In Singapore the dynamic is a two-party system. The patient is in charge, just as the consumer is in almost every other market.

在新加坡，医疗动力是一个两方体系。病人说了算，就像几乎所有其他市场的消费者一样。

Essentially⁵, all workers pay a chunk⁶ of their salary into the equivalent of a health savings⁷ account.

从本质上说，所有员工都将他们工资的一部分存入相当于健康储蓄账户的账户里。

But they—not the government—own the assets. From that account an employee pays premiums⁸ for insurance

但他们——不是政府——拥有这些资产。员工从这个账户拿钱

to cover catastrophically expensive medical conditions as well as routine medical expenses.

支付高额的医疗保险费，以及常规医疗支出。

What isn't spent remains⁹ in the account and grows. Because most people don't suffer from chronic¹⁰ conditions,

没花完的钱还在这个账户里，且继续增长。因为大部分人都没有慢性疾病，

the overall value of these accounts increases, and they now equal nearly four and a half years' worth of the country's total yearly medical outlays¹¹.

这些账户的总体价值增长，并且现在其价值几乎相当于该国近四年半的年度医疗支出总额。

Another crucial factor in Singapore's system: All health care providers, including pharmacies¹², must post the prices of everything.

新加坡这一体系的另一个关键因素：所有卫生保健提供者，包括药房，都必须公开所有价目。

No hidden $25 charge for a Tylenol pill! Bills are simple so that the customer understands exactly what he or she is being charged for.

泰诺药片中没有隐藏的25美元费用！账单很简单，所以顾客们能够清楚了解他或她的钱花在了哪些地方。

Hospitals and clinics compete for a patient's business; thus, they provide good service at low cost.

医院和诊所为了病人的生意竞争；因此，他们以低价提供优质服务。

If you want a fancy hospital room, you'll pay extra; if you want a bare-bones one,

如果你想住豪华病房，你得付额外的钱；如果你要住普通病房，

where you're in a space resembling an army barracks with plenty of other patients, you'll save money.

一个类似军队营房一样的空间，和其他病人同住，你就能省钱。

But what's amazing is that regardless of your choice, the care is the same! There's no distinction in the quality of care because of income.

但令人惊讶的是，不管你选择住哪一种，对你的护理都是一样的！因为收入的关系，护理质量没有区别。

Contrast this pricing transparency with what we have in the U.S.

将这种价格透明度与美国的进行对比。

Flynn rightly compares our situation with a Third World bazaar¹³, where you haggle¹⁴ with a merchant for an item.

弗林直接将我们的情况比作一个第三世界的集市，在那里你为了一件商品而和商人讨价还价。

It's hard to make price comparisons with other merchants without spending an inordinate¹⁵ amount of time.

如果不浪费大量的时间，就很难与其他商家进行价格比较。

1 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

2 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

3 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

4 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

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 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 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。

11 outlays   

v.支出，费用( outlay的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They report substantial slashes in this year's defense outlays. 他们报道今年度国防经费的大量削减。 来自辞典例句
• For MU, there were no upfront risks or cash outlays. 对摩托罗拉大学而言，没有风险或现金费用。 来自互联网

12 pharmacies   

药店

参考例句：

• Still, 32 percent of the pharmacies filled the prescriptions. 但仍然有32%的药剂师配发了这两张药方。 来自互联网
• Chinese herbal pharmacies, and traditional massage therapists in the Vancouver telephone book. 中药店，和传统的按摩师在温哥华的电话簿里。 来自互联网

13 bazaar   

n.集市，商店集中区

参考例句：

• Chickens,goats and rabbits were offered for barter at the bazaar.在集市上，鸡、山羊和兔子被摆出来作物物交换之用。
• We bargained for a beautiful rug in the bazaar.我们在集市通过讨价还价买到了一条很漂亮的地毯。

14 haggle   

vi.讨价还价，争论不休

参考例句：

• In many countries you have to haggle before you buy anything.在许多国家里买东西之前都得讨价还价。
• If you haggle over the price,they might give you discount.你讲讲价，他们可能会把价钱降低。

15 inordinate   

adj.无节制的；过度的

参考例句：

• The idea of this gave me inordinate pleasure.我想到这一点感到非常高兴。
• James hints that his heroine's demands on life are inordinate.詹姆斯暗示他的女主人公对于人生过于苛求。