CNN 2009-12-27

Of course, it's the heart of this bill. Both bills, the House and Senate bills will create these new insurance exchanges, sort of like farmer's markets if you will where private insurance companies would compete to offer coverage¹. There would be subsidies² offered by the federal government for families that earn up to 400 percent poverty. That's 88,000 dollars for a family afore. So even, you know, healthy middle-class incomes would be eligible³ for help afford in these policies. The hope, of course, is that there would be enough competition that premiums⁴ would be affordable⁵. That's the idea, of course, behind this public option that's in the House bill, but the hope is that there will be enough competition that people will be able to afford these policies and there will be help for them to purchase these policies, no preexisting condition is out there.

OK, and Maggie has a question that resonates in some of the different ways. People wanting to know, "How does this affect a senior on Medicare?"

Yes, of course, during the Senate debate, you would… you might have felt that this bill was all about Medicare. There was so much talk about this, you know, 400 billion dollars in Medicare cuts. There is actually some new benefits for seniors on Medicare. There is new preventive benefits or at least no-cost preventive benefits for seniors on Medicare and a closing, a gradual closing of that donut hole in the Medicare prescription⁶ drug benefit. Right now if you get up to a certain amount, you keep paying your premiums but you don't get any more coverage. And of course, there are some reductions in payments to health care providers under Medicare. But we've seen those before and it seems unlikely that there will be any benefit reductions unless you are in a private Medicare advantage plan. Those are the private HMOs and some people who are now getting extra benefits might see some of those scaled back. But in general probably not much change for the worse or a little bit change for the better if 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 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》

3 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

4 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》

5 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。

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。