美国国家公共电台 NPR Employees Start To Feel The Squeeze Of High-Deductible Health Plans

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

One of the ways that companies keep their workers happy and healthy is to offer health insurance. Not everyone who gets coverage¹ through their job, though, is so happy or healthy for that matter. Deductibles have skyrocketed over the last decade. Reporter Noam Levey covers health care for the Los Angeles Times, and through his reporting he found that people with jobs - people with health insurance through those jobs - are struggling to pay their medical bills. I asked him to explain what's going on.

NOAM LEVEY: I mean, we've spent so much time fighting about Obamacare over the last 10 years and talking about the uninsured that I think we lost sight of this quiet revolution that's happened with health coverage for the tens of millions of Americans who have coverage through an employer. These are the people who've seen deductibles rise astronomically² - rising four times in the last dozen years - from about $350 on average to $1,350 on average.

In some cases, people are seeing 4,000, 5,000, even $6,000 deductibles that they have to pay out of their own pocket before their health insurance kicks in. Needless³ to say, many, many Americans can't afford those kinds of bills.

MARTIN: You talked with a lot of people who are living this right now. What did you hear?

LEVEY: Well, we heard some really heartbreaking stories. So we did a nationwide poll⁴ as part of this project. One of the things that we found was that half of Americans who get job-based coverage say they, or an immediate⁵ family member, in the last year have put off going to the doctor, not filled the prescription⁶ or delayed some other kind of medical care because of concern about cost.

We found 1 in 5 had depleted⁷ their savings⁸ to pay a medical bill in the last year. And 1 in 6 reported that they have had to make some kind of difficult sacrifice in order to pay a medical bill.

And I think those sacrifices are really - some of them were really, really gut⁹ wrenching¹⁰. We talked to a 27-year-old chef in Western Virginia trying to start a family with his young wife. Wife had a miscarriage¹¹. They got such huge medical bills, he had to take two extra jobs and was working from 5:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. some days.

MARTIN: And these are people with health insurance.

LEVEY: These are people with health insurance. And this used to be something we heard about all the time for people who didn't have health insurance. But in many cases, these are middle-class people making 75, a hundred thousand dollars a year. But if they get a five or $6,000 medical bill, a family of four, kids in school - it's hard for a lot of people to come up with that kind of money.

MARTIN: You're not done, right? You're going to keep reporting on this subject. What questions do you still want to answer?

LEVEY: We're going to be looking at how these high deductible plans are exacerbating¹² inequality at a time when this is a major issue for Americans about who's getting the gains in our economy. These health insurance plans, they're a fine deal if you're making enough money to put away several thousand dollars a year and you can cover your medical bills. But if you're living paycheck to paycheck and you get sick, it's really tough on those group of people.

MARTIN: Noam Levey. He is a national health care reporter with the Los Angeles Times. Thanks so much for talking with us about your reporting.

LEVEY: Thank you.

1 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。

2 astronomically   

天文学上

参考例句：

• The bill was astronomically high. 账单上的金额高得没谱儿。
• They have only been read as the multitude read the stars, at most astrologically, not astronomically. 它们之被群众阅读，有如群众之阅览繁星，至多是从星象学而不是从天文学的角度阅览的。

3 needless   

adj.不必，无须，不必要的，无用的

参考例句：

• Needless to say,I agree.无须说，我是同意的。
• It is needless to add that you are in want of a second.你需要一个助手，那是不必说的。

4 poll   

n.民意测验，民意调查，选举投票

参考例句：

• The result of the poll won't be known until midnight.选举结果要到午夜才能揭晓。
• They expected a heavy poll.他们期望会有很高的投票数。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

7 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

8 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。

9 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

10 wrenching   

n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• China has been through a wrenching series of changes and experiments. 中国经历了一系列艰苦的变革和试验。 来自辞典例句
• A cold gust swept across her exposed breast, wrenching her back to reality. 一股寒气打击她的敞开的胸膛，把她从梦幻的境地中带了回来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

11 miscarriage   

n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产

参考例句：

• The miscarriage of our plans was a great blow.计划的失败给我们以巨大的打击。
• Women who smoke are more to have a miscarriage.女性吸烟者更容易流产。

12 exacerbating   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This pedagogical understretch is exacerbating social inequalities. 这种教学张力不足加重了社会不平等。 来自互联网
• High fertilizer prices are exacerbating the problem. 高涨的肥料价格更加加剧了问题的恶化。 来自互联网