奥巴马演讲 俄亥俄州民宅谈经济3(2)
文章来源:未知 文章作者:meng 发布时间:2010-08-23 07:17 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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And I am very proud that we’ve got somebody like a Sherrod Brown or a Mary Jo, who worked really tirelessly with us in Congress to make sure that we don’t have a situation where we’ve got to bail1 out banks that have taken reckless risks; that we are monitoring what’s happening in the financial system a lot more carefully, making sure people aren’t cheated when it comes to their mortgages, or that there are a bunch of hidden fees in their credit cards that helped to create some of the problems that we’ve seen in the financial systems.

We can’t go back to doing things the way we were doing them before.  We’ve got to go forward.  That’s what we’re trying to do.  And hopefully as we continue over the next several months and the next several years, we’re going to see a Columbus and an Ohio and a United States of America that is going to be stronger than it was before this crisis struck.  I am absolutely confident of that.  But we’ve got more work to do.

All right.  So, with that, what I want to do is I just want to open it up and you guys can ask me questions about anything -- and just ignore all these cameras who are here.  (Laughter.)   Pretend they’re not there.  The only thing I would ask is introduce yourselves so that I get a chance to know you.  Or if you haven’t met one of your neighbors, this is a good chance for you to do so.

Why don't we start with this gentleman right here.  And we’ve got some mics -- the only reason -- the main reason we’re using mics is so that these folks behind us can hear you.  This gentleman right here.

Q    Hi, President Obama.  I hope I don't pass out(昏倒,分发) while I’m asking this question, so -- my question is actually about health care.  My brother is disabled.  And he’s definitely what I would consider one of the working poor.  He will not mature any more as far as mindset(心态,倾向) of a 12-year-old.  Right now he works washing dishes at a local restaurant and, unfortunately, because the employer does not offer health care insurance, one whole check, which is two weeks’ worth of work, has to actually go towards him just paying for COBRA, which is obviously well out of his budget. But he has to, simply because of various illnesses that he suffers from.

My question is, unfortunately, I’m not able to sit down and read a 2,000-page bill or law that -- with all the reform that happened with health care.  With the present reforms that went into place, how will that help him?  And if it doesn’t, then how will -- I know that you’re not done with health care -- how will your -- the latest changes that you want to happen with health care, how will that help him?

And thank you for doing such a wonderful job.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you.  Here’s how specifically health reform should help your brother.  Number one, it gives an incentive2(动机,刺激) to his employer to provide health insurance -- because one of the key components3 of health care reform was providing employers a 35 percent tax break(所得税宽减额) on the premiums4 they pay for their employees, all right?  So basically it’s cutting his potential costs -- the employer’s potential costs for providing your brother with health insurance, it’s cutting it by a third.  That's step number one.

And there are going to be companies out there that say, you know what, we want to provide health insurance, but we just couldn’t afford to do it, but now that it’s costing us up to a third less, saving us thousands of dollars, maybe we should go ahead and provide coverage5 for that.  Okay, so that is step number one.

Step number two is if the employer still doesn’t provide coverage, over the next couple of years your brother is going to be able to join a pool -- what we’re calling an exchange -- where he can basically buy the same kind of insurance that these members of Congress are buying.  And the advantage that he’s going to have is that now he’s part of a pool of millions of people who are buying it all at the same time, which means they’ve got leverage6.  The same way big companies are able to lower their costs per employee because the insurance company really wants their business, well, now your brother could be part of the same pool that these guys are and that’s going to give leverage, which will lower his rates.

And the final part of it is, if even with these lower rates, this better deal, he still can’t afford it, then we’re going to provide some subsidies7(补贴,津贴) to help him.  So all those things combined should help make sure that your brother is getting health insurance.#p#分页标题#e#

Now, one of the things that I think people may not be aware of is that although this exchange isn’t going to be set up until 2014 -- because it takes a while, we’ve got to set it up right -- there’s some immediate8 things that are helping9 right now.  If your child has a preexisting(先前存在的) condition, insurance companies, starting this year, will not be able to deny those children coverage.  And that’s a big deal for a lot of folks whose children may have diabetes10(糖尿病) or some other illness and right now can’t get insurance.  Insurance companies are going to have to provide them insurance.  That’s number one.

Number two, how many people here have kids who are college-age, about to go to college?  All right.  Well, one of the things you’re going to be able to do is when those kids get out of college, if they don’t get insurance right away, they’re going to be able to stay on your insurance until they’re 26 years old.  That's a big deal because a lot of times that first job or those first couple of jobs out of college are the ones that don’t provide health insurance.

So there are a number of changes that are being made right now that will make those of you who have health insurance more secure with the insurance they have.  We’re eliminating lifetime limits.  There’s a bunch of fine print on the insurance forms that sometimes have ended up creating real problems for people.  Your insurance company decides to drop you right when you get sick, just when you need it most.  Those kinds of practices are over now.

And the final aspect of health reform that's important is, is that by changing the incentives11 for how doctors get paid under Medicare and under Medicaid, we’re actually encouraging doctors to become more efficient so that over time health care costs actually start leveling out a little bit instead of skyrocketing each and every year.  Because everybody here who’s got health insurance, what’s been happening?  Your premiums have been going up; co-payments, deductibles(免税额) , all that stuff has been going up.  So we’ve got to actually try to control the costs of it, and part of it is just a matter of making sure that we get a better bang for our health care dollar.

So, for example, when you go to a doctor, we’re still filling out forms in triplicate(一式三份) on paper.  It’s the only business there is where you still have a whole bunch of paperwork.  And what we’re trying to do is to encourage information technologies so that when you go into a doctor, they can already pull down your medical records electronically.  If you take a test, then it’s sent to all the specialists who are involved so you don't end up having to take four or five tests, and pay for four or five tests, when all you needed was just one.

Those are the kinds of things that will take a little bit longer to actually take into effect, but hopefully over time they’re actually going to lower cost.

All right.  I'm going to go boy, girl here to make sure it’s fair.  (Laughter.)  Right here.  Absolutely.



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 bail Aupz4     
v.舀(水),保释;n.保证金,保释,保释人
参考例句:
  • One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
  • She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。
2 incentive j4zy9     
n.刺激;动力;鼓励;诱因;动机
参考例句:
  • Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中,钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
  • He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。
3 components 4725dcf446a342f1473a8228e42dfa48     
(机器、设备等的)构成要素,零件,成分; 成分( component的名词复数 ); [物理化学]组分; [数学]分量; (混合物的)组成部分
参考例句:
  • the components of a machine 机器部件
  • Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。
4 premiums efa999cd01994787d84b066d2957eaa7     
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》
5 coverage nvwz7v     
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。
6 leverage 03gyC     
n.力量,影响;杠杆作用,杠杆的力量
参考例句:
  • We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
  • He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力,他的计划失败了。
7 subsidies 84c7dc8329c19e43d3437248757e572c     
n.补贴,津贴,补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
  • Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 immediate aapxh     
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。
9 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
10 diabetes uPnzu     
n.糖尿病
参考例句:
  • In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者,医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
  • Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。
11 incentives 884481806a10ef3017726acf079e8fa7     
激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 ); 刺激; 诱因; 动机
参考例句:
  • tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
  • Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者,提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
TAG标签: care health reform Obama
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