2005年NPR美国国家公共电台五月-Debating Medicaid and Morality in Missour

This is Morning Edition from NPR news. I’m Steven Inskeep, as we reported on this program medicaid has become the single biggest budget item for most states. Nearly all of them are trying to limit the growth of the health program for the poor and no state is going after medicaid more aggressively than Missouri. Politicians there have cut 90,000 people from the program and have laid plans to end it entirely¹. The cuts have opened a moral divide with some preachers expressing outrage². The governor, a devout³ Christian⁴, defends the cuts as morally correct. Frank Morris of member station KCUR in Kansas City reports:

As Missouri’s governor, Matt Blunt and the Republican legislator of leadership found out this year , slashing⁵ medicaid can provoke a noisy fight.

Governor Blunt, this is pure unadulterated sin. Sin, it’s just sin. Sin, that’s what it is. Let’s call sin what sin is! Wrong! Sin!

Sixty or so activists⁶ held their prayer vigil outside Truman Medical Center, one of Kansas City’s big indigent⁷ care hospitals. Earlier, protestors chained their wheelchairs to a door of the State House. But Governor Blunt hasn’t wavered from his position that failing to cut medicaid would force him to raise taxes, and that raising taxes is wrong.

I don't know what's moral about a tax increase on hard-working Missouri families. And if you oppose to reducing spending in state government, that’s the only option.

Missouri’s medicaid program has more than doubled in size in the past decade, expanding to cover almost one in five citizens. Governor Blunt says continually raising taxes to cover the mushrooming costs of insuring all those people would poison the state’s economy; He says he's made hard choices to detain the program and the governor believes that under some circumstances cutting some people off medicaid will actually do them good. Jessica Robinson is the governor's press secretary.

Concern or fear of losing health coverage⁸ could become motivation enough to learn a new trade or to seek out a position that would otherwise provide that coverage.

Ok… I mean… alright…

Angel Bridgewater is helping⁹ her 7-year-old niece with homework on the front porch in a tough inner city neighborhood as a police helicopter hovers¹⁰ nearby. As of this year, Bridgewater's six-dollar-seventy-cent an hour part-time job at McDonalds is much too rich to qualify for state medical assistance, though she supports three kids, she will now have to make less than eighty-six dollars a week, to qualify for medicaid. Before the cuts she qualified¹¹ while earning about 300 dollars a week. The new eligibility¹² standard is the lowest allowed by federal law and reflects priorities Bridgewater calls sickening.

We're human beings and we need help. When we need help, and that should be the last thing they should try to cut .

If Bridgewater got a better job and made more money, she could lose her rent and child-care subsidies¹³, and perhaps have to pay for her children's state health insurance. As it is, she says a serious illness or injury could land her and her kids on the street. Medical bills would be the least of her worries.

If I get really sick, or I have to really go to emergency room. Am I gonna Truman Medical Center and just let them bill me, and just let them bill me.

Hospitals won't be the only financial losers. Federal grants cover most of the cost of medicaid. The 630 million dollar cut here means almost 380 million dollar annual loss to the state economy. Strong federal match has been an incentive¹⁴ against cutting medicaid. Though Tennessee passed a plan this year to take some 300,000 people off the rolls, Amy Bluin with the Missouri Budget Project says Tennessee started with a much larger, more generous program. She says Missouri is pushing into new territory.

You have to question if we are really the kind of like the crash-test dummy¹⁵ for the nation? Are we going to be standing¹⁶ out as the show-me state for other states, or showing them what not to do?

Bluin predicts the cuts will cost Missouri thousands of jobs. Possibly among them, the home health aids that sustained 44-year old Irene Schivers.

They want us to die. We are a burden on society, so they don't care.

Schivers spends all day in an ancient mobile home she shares with two dogs, a yellowed computer and a collection of dolls. Cerebral¹⁷ palsy has destroyed her coordination¹⁸ and slurred¹⁹ her speech. Under the new guidelines, she'll have to spend her income down to less than 500 dollars a month before medicaid kicks in. And then she'll have to pay more for doctor visits and drugs. She says she'll have to ration²⁰ food and get rid of the dogs, even the one trained to alert her before she has a seizure²¹.

Some days, I get so depressed²², I'm waiting to go, I'm just waiting to go.

As both sides seek the moral high ground in this debate, some leaders are formulating²³ plans to make further cuts. A commission will soon be formed with the mandate²⁴ to dismantle²⁵ medicaid here by June 30th, 2008.

For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Kansas City.

Details about Missouri's Medicaid problems are in NPR.org.

1 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

3 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 indigent   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的

参考例句：

• The town government is responsible for assistance to indigent people.镇政府负责给穷人提供帮助。
• A judge normally appoints the attorney for an indigent defendant at the defendant's first court appearence.法官通常会在贫穷被告人第一次出庭时，为其指派一名辩护律师。

8 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。

9 helping   

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 hovers   

鸟( hover的第三人称单数 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovers in the sky. 一只老鹰在天空盘旋。
• A hen hovers her chicks. 一只母鸡在孵小鸡。

11 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

12 eligibility   

n.合格，资格

参考例句：

• What are the eligibility requirements? 病人被选参加试验的要求是什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望
• Eligibility for HINARI access is based on gross national income (GNI). 进入HINARI获取计划是依据国民总收入来评定的。

13 subsidies   

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》

14 incentive   

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。

15 dummy   

n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头

参考例句：

• The police suspect that the device is not a real bomb but a dummy.警方怀疑那个装置不是真炸弹，只是一个假货。
• The boys played soldier with dummy swords made of wood.男孩们用木头做的假木剑玩打仗游戏。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

18 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

19 slurred   

含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱

参考例句：

• She had drunk too much and her speech was slurred. 她喝得太多了，话都说不利索了。
• You could tell from his slurred speech that he was drunk. 从他那含糊不清的话语中你就知道他喝醉了。

20 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

21 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

22 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

23 formulating   

v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示

参考例句：

• At present, the Chinese government is formulating nationwide regulations on the control of such chemicals. 目前，中国政府正在制定全国性的易制毒化学品管理条例。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• Because of this, the U.S. has taken further steps in formulating the \"Magellan\" programme. 为此，美国又进一步制定了“麦哲伦”计划。 来自百科语句

24 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

25 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。