美国国家公共电台 NPR Fact-Checking Republicans' Defense Of The GOP Health Bill

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Many House Republicans are back in their districts this week after voting for a replacement¹ for the Affordable² Care Act, or Obamacare. A few are holding town hall meetings. And in some cases, those town halls are loud.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TOM REED: I'll tell you...

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: If you get health care (unintelligible).

REED: ...I will tell you where I stand on the issues.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Do you think health care is a right?

REED: I do not support...

MCEVERS: Other House Republicans are making their case on television that the plan they voted for is better than the status quo. NPR Health Policy Correspondent Alison Kodjak is with us now to fact-check some of the things that they are saying. Hi there, Alison.

ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE³: Hi, Kelly.

MCEVERS: So we just heard Congressman⁴ Tom Reed's town hall in Ashville, N.Y. Sounds like the audience was pretty riled up.

KODJAK: Yeah, they sure were. Reed held a series of town halls, which pretty brave. And there were definitely some voters who liked the bill because they thought it might cut their premium⁵ costs. But over and over again, people were asking how it would deal with people who have expensive medical conditions. Here's one exchange from a town hall in Busti, where a constituent⁶ was worried about a child with severe allergies⁷.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: Copays and deductibles that are going to be through the roof because he's going to be in a risk pool because he has a pre-existing condition.

REED: No, because we're not - the pre-existing condition reform is not repealed⁸ by this legislation.

MCEVERS: Alison, is that true or false?

KODJAK: Well, it's not exactly true. That language is in the bill. So on its face, there is this protection. But there's also a huge loophole. The bill allows states to get waivers to get out of a lot of the regulations under the Affordable Care Act. One of those waivers allows insurance companies to do what's called medical underwriting. That means that they can charge people more if they have pre-existing conditions. And they can also exclude coverage⁹ for certain conditions and medications.

MCEVERS: The question of pre-existing conditions seems to be an ongoing¹⁰ theme among House Republicans. Steve Scalise, the Louisiana congressman, said this on Fox News over the weekend.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STEVE SCALISE: No matter what kind of plan you have today, if you have a pre-existing condition, under our bill, you cannot be denied coverage and you cannot be charged more than anybody else.

KODJAK: Yes. And he's right that people can't be completely denied coverage. But they can, in fact, be charged more, just as I said before. And again, that's going to depend on where you live, whether you're in a state that gets a waiver. And I have in front of me a whole list of medications and conditions that insurance companies used to use to exclude people or to charge them more. And those medications, especially, include anti-arthritis medications, anti-cancer medications, drugs for AIDS. So there's a lot of ways that they could not give people the coverage they need.

MCEVERS: There also seems to be confusion about exactly who this new law would affect. Congressman Rod Blum in Iowa was telling his constituents¹¹ the impact won't be all that widespread. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROD BLUM: If you're getting your insurance through the group health care marketplace, your employer, nothing changes.

(CROSSTALK)

BLUM: If you're getting your health insurance through Medicare, nothing is going to change.

(CROSSTALK)

BLUM: If you're currently getting your health insurance through Medicaid, nothing's going to change. You're still going to get your insurance.

(CROSSTALK)

MCEVERS: OK, so is that right, nothing's going to change?

KODJAK: Well, not exactly. If you work for an employer that's in a waiver state, that employer's not going to be subject to the Obamacare regulations either, so your insurance could end up having annual spending limits, lifetime caps. Before Obamacare, 60 percent of employer policies had lifetime caps. And if you're on Medicaid, a lot could change. The Medicaid expansion states will rollback benefits. So people who have benefits that aren't required under the program - and that's a lot of the benefits for people who have home health care and care for people with disabilities - those are going to probably be rolled back over time, too.

MCEVERS: That's NPR Health Policy Correspondent Alison Kodjak. Thanks a lot for the fact check.

KODJAK: Thank you, Kelly.

(SOUNDBITE OF VINCE GUARALDI TRIO'S "CHARLIE BROWN THEME")

1 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

2 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。

3 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。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

6 constituent   

n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的

参考例句：

• Sugar is the main constituent of candy.食糖是糖果的主要成分。
• Fibre is a natural constituent of a healthy diet.纤维是健康饮食的天然组成部分。

7 allergies   

n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性

参考例句：

• Food allergies can result in an enormous variety of different symptoms. 食物过敏会引发很多不同的症状。 来自辞典例句
• Let us, however, examine one of the most common allergies; hayfever. 现在让我们来看看最常见的变态反应的一种--枯草热。 来自辞典例句

8 repealed   

撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Labour Party repealed the Act. 工党废除了那项法令。
• The legislature repealed the unpopular Rent Act. 立法机关废除了不得人心的租借法案。

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 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

11 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》