Weekly Address: President Obama Calls on Senate Republicans to Allow a Vote to Protect Medicare Reimbursements
每周电视讲话：奥巴马总统号召参议院共和党人同意就保护医疗保险补偿举行投票
WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Barack Obama called on Senate Republicans to stop blocking a vote to prevent a 21 percent pay cut for doctors who see Medicare patients – a pay cut that will hurt America’s seniors and their doctors. Since 2003, Congress, under Republican and Democratic leadership, has deferred these cuts in Medicare reimbursements from going into effect. The President is committed to finding a responsible, long term solution to this problem, but it is not acceptable to punish America’s seniors or the physicians who treat them. If Congress does not act, then doctors will start receiving lower Medicare reimbursements next week, which could lead to seniors losing their doctors.
华盛顿消息：在本周的讲话中，巴拉克·奥巴马总统号召参议院共和党人停止阻挠一项旨在阻止为医保病人看病的医生减薪21%的投票——减薪将伤害到美国的老人以及他们的医生。自2003年以来，国会在共和党和民主党领导层的共同推动下，一直将此项医保补偿削减计划推迟实施。总统承诺将寻求一个负责的，长远的解决方案，但这种惩罚老人以及为他们提供医疗服务的医生的方案肯定是不行的。如果国会不开始行动，那么下周开始医生们的医保补偿将降低，这将导致老人们失去他们的医生。
More than a decade ago, Congress set up a formula that governs how doctors get paid by the Medicare program. The intent was to slow the growth of Medicare costs, but the result was a formula that has proposed cutting payments for America’s doctors year after year after year. These are cuts that would not only jeopardize our physicians’ pay, but our seniors’ health care.
十多年前，国会设立了一套方案来管理医生如何获取医保计划的补偿。其本意是想放缓医保支出的增长速度，但结果却使其成为一年一年又一年地降低医生薪资的方案。这项薪资的削减不仅危及到医生的收入，也危及到了老人们的身体健康保健。
Since 2003, Congress has acted to prevent these pay cuts from going into effect. These votes were largely bipartisan, and they succeeded when Democrats ran Congress and when Republicans ran Congress – which was most of the time.
自2003年来，国会一直在采取措施以避免这项薪资削减方案付诸实施。这些投票表决大多是两党联合进行的，大多时候，当民主党或共和党主导国会时这都取得了成功。
This year, a majority of Congress is willing to prevent a pay cut of 21% -- a pay cut that would undoubtedly force some doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients altogether. But this time, some Senate Republicans may even block a vote on this issue. After years of voting to defer these cuts, the other party is now willing to walk away from the needs of our doctors and our seniors.
今年，大多数国会议员都希望能阻延这项21%的薪资削减计划——这项削减将毫无疑问的迫使部分医生完全放弃为医保病人提供医疗服务。但这一次，部分共和党参议员可能会阻扰对这项议题的投票。在连续多年的投票推迟这些薪资削减计划后，另一党派（即共和党）正准备撂挑子置我们的医生和老人们的需求于不顾。
Now, I realize that simply kicking these cuts down the road another year is not a long-term solution to this problem. For years, I have said that a system where doctors are left to wonder if they’ll get fairly reimbursed makes absolutely no sense. And I am committed to permanently reforming this Medicare formula in a way that balances fiscal responsibility with the responsibility we have to doctors and seniors. In addition, we’re already taking significant steps to slow the growth of Medicare costs through health insurance reform – not by targeting doctors and seniors, but by eliminating 50% of the waste, fraud, and abuse in the system by 2012. This not only strengthens Medicare, it saves taxpayer dollars.
现在，我意识到一年一年的简单地推迟这些削减计划不是解决问题的长远之计。几年来，我一直在说一个医生们一直考虑其能否获得适当补偿的系统是毫无意义的。我也承诺要彻底改革这项医保方案，在我们的财政负担与为医生和老人们负责的责任心之间寻求平衡。另外，我们也已经采取有效措施——医疗保险改革来减缓医保支出的增长，改革并不是针对医生和老人的，而是要在2012年之前消除医保系统中50%的浪费，欺诈和滥用。这不仅能巩固医保，也能节约纳税人的资金。
I’m absolutely willing to take the difficult steps necessary to lower the cost of Medicare and put our budget on a more fiscally sustainable path. But I’m not willing to do that by punishing hard-working physicians or the millions of Americans who count on Medicare. That’s just wrong. And that’s why in the short-term, Congress must act to prevent this pay cut to doctors.
我当然希望通过采取必要的、甚至困难的措施来降低医保支出，将我们的预算控制在财政承受得起的范围之内。但我并不希望通过惩罚辛劳的医生或是无数依赖医保的人们来实现这一目标。这绝对是错误的。这也是为什么短时期内，国会必须阻止这项针对医生的薪资削减计划的原因。
If they don’t act, doctors will see a 21% cut in their Medicare payments this week. This week, doctors will start receiving these lower reimbursements from the Medicare program. That could lead them to stop participating in the Medicare program. And that could lead seniors to lose their doctors.
如果他们不行动，本周医生们的医保补偿收入将削减21%。本周，医生们从医保计划中获得的补偿将降低。这将有可能导致他们放弃参与医保计划。最终将导致老人们失去他们的医生。
We cannot allow this to happen. We have to fix this problem so that our doctors can get paid for the life-saving services they provide and keep their doors open. We have to fix this problem to keep the promise of Medicare for our seniors so that they get the health care they deserve. So I urge Republicans in the Senate to at least allow a majority of Senators and Congressmen to stop this pay cut. I urge them to stand with America’s seniors and America’s doctors.
我们决不能允许此事发生。我们必须解决这个问题，只有这样我们的医生才能获得他们救死扶伤应得的收入，他们才能敞开大门为人们服务。我们必须解决这个问题来践行医保为我们的老人们提供他们应得的医疗保健的承诺。因此，我强烈要求共和党参议员们至少应给参议员和众议员们延阻这项削减计划一个投票的机会。我强烈要求他们与我们的老人和医生们站在一起。
Thanks.
谢谢！
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