奥巴马每周电视讲话：医疗保险制度50周年 总统发表讲话

Hi, everybody. This week, there was a big birthday you might have missed. Medicare and Medicaid turned 50 years old. And that's something worth celebrating.
大家好!本周，大家可能错过了一个重大的节日。医疗保险和医疗补助制度已经50岁了。这是一件值得纪念的事情。
If one of the best measures of a country is how it treats its more vulnerable citizens-seniors, the poor, the sick-then America has a lot to be proud of. Think about it. Before Social Security, too many seniors lived in poverty. Before Medicare, only half had some form of health insurance. Before Medicaid, parents often had no help covering the cost of care for a child with a disability.
如果说衡量一个国家优秀与否的最好标准就是他如何对待老人、穷人、病人等弱势公民的话，美国在这一点上可以相当自豪。大家回想一下。社会保险实施之前，有太多的老人生活在贫困之中。医疗保险实施之前，全国仅有一半的人有某种形式的医疗保险。医疗补助实施以前，残疾儿童的父母需要自己承担照顾孩子的花费。
But as Americans, we declared that our citizens deserve a basic measure of security and dignity. And today, the poverty rate for seniors is less than half of what it was fifty years ago. Every American over 65 has access to affordable¹ health care. And today, we're finally finishing the job-since I signed the Affordable Care Act into law, the uninsured rate for all Americans has fallen by about one-third.
但作为美国人，我们宣布我们的公民应该享有基本的安宁与尊严。今天，生活在贫困之中的老人比例已经下降到50年前的一半以下。每个65岁以上的美国人都可以享受平价医疗保险。今天，我们最终完成了这一任务，自从我签署《平价医保法》以后，未参保人数比例已经下降了约三分之一。
These promises we made as a nation have saved millions of our own people from poverty and hardship, allowing us new freedom, new independence, and the chance to live longer, better lives. That's something to be proud of. It's heroic. These endeavors-these American endeavors-they didn't just make us a better country. They reaffirmed that we are a great country.
在国家层面我们做出这样的承诺，让数百万人民脱离了贫困，让我们享有新的自由和自主，有机会享受更长久、更优质的生活。这是值得我们骄傲的。这是我们的英雄们，开拓者们，筚路蓝缕开创出来的局面，他们不仅仅让我们生活在一个优秀的国家，更定义了一个伟大国家的标准。
And a great country keeps the promises it makes. Today, we're often told that Medicare and Medicaid are in crisis. But that's usually a political excuse to cut their funding, privatize them, or phase them out entirely-all of which would undermine their core guarantee. The truth is, these programs aren't in crisis. Nor have they kept us from cutting our deficits² by two-thirds since I took office. What is true is that every month, another 250,000 Americans turn 65 years old, and become eligible³ for Medicare. And we all deserve a health care system that delivers efficient, high-quality care. So to keep these programs strong, we'll have to make smart changes over time, just like we always have.
一个伟大的国家总是坚守她的承诺。今天，我们经常听到医疗保险和医疗补助制度危机重重。但这通常都是某些人想要减少对其的资金投入、对其私有化、甚至是完全推翻这一体系的政治借口而已，所有这些企图都是要削弱这些政策的核心保障能力。事实上，这些制度并非处在危机之中。更别提自我主政以来，在这些政策推动下，我们将财政赤字削减了三分之二。事实是，每个月都有25万美国人步入65岁，成为医疗保险的受益者。我们都应该享有医疗保险，享受高效、优质的服务。因此，让这些政策更稳固，我们需要经受时间的考验，像以往一样，做出明智的选择。
Today, we're actually proving that's possible. The Affordable Care Act has already helped secure Medicare's funding for another 13 years. The Affordable Care Act has saved more than nine million folks on Medicare 15 billion dollars on their prescription⁴ medicine. It has expanded Medicaid to help cover 12.8 million more Americans, and to help more seniors live independently. And we're moving our health care system toward models that reward the quality of the care you receive, not the quantity of care you receive. That means healthier Americans and a healthier federal budget.
今天，我们正在证明这么做是可行的。《平价医保法》已经为今后13年的医疗保险资金来源提供了保障。《平价医保法》让900多万人利用医疗保险在处方药支出上节约了150亿美元。同时，该法还新增1280万人享受医疗补助，让更多的老人可以享有独立的生活。我们正在改革医疗保险体系，从你享受到的医疗服务的数量评价体系向你享受到的医疗服务的质量的评价体系转变。这意味着未来美国人会更健康，我们的联邦预算也会更稳健。
Today, these programs are so fundamental to our way of life that it's easy to forget how hard people fought against them at the time. When FDR created Social Security, critics called it socialism. When JFK and LBJ worked to create Medicare, the cynics said it would take away our freedom. But ultimately, we came to see these programs for what they truly are-a promise that if we work hard, and play by the rules, we'll be rewarded with a basic measure of dignity, security, and the freedom to live our lives as we want.
今天，这些制度已经成为我们生活方式的基本组成部分，我们很容易忘记，曾今的人们是如何强烈反对的这些制度的。富兰克林·德兰诺·罗斯福总统创立社会保险制度时，批评人士称他是社会主义者。当约翰·菲茨杰拉德·肯尼迪总统和林登·贝恩斯·约翰逊总统致力建立医疗保险制度时，攻击者称其会破坏我们的自由价值。但最终，我们都看到了，这些制度的真正力量。这是国家的承诺，只要你努力工作，遵纪守法，我们就可以享受到我们想要的体面、安全、自由的生活。
It's a promise that previous generations made to us, and a promise that our generation has to keep.
这是先辈为我们许下的承诺，而我们应该把这项承诺传承下去。
Thanks, and have a great weekend.
谢谢大家，祝周末愉快！

1 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。

2 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

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 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。