2007年VOA标准英语-President Bush Offers Health Insurance Proposal

By Carol Pearson
Washington, DC
25 January 2007

watch Bush Health Care report

Health spending is rising faster than incomes in most developed countries, and that trend is particularly acute in the United States where 46 million Americans lack health insurance and affordable¹ health care.   President Bush proposed a health care reform initiative in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that is getting a mixed reaction from health insurance experts.

Rita Azar owns a flower shop and cafe in Los Angeles, California.  Azar says she cannot afford health insurance for her employees. "Do I wish I could give them insurance?  Absolutely."

Azar's situation is like that of other small business owners. Harold Goldmeier runs a paint and decorating store in Chicago. He says he has a hard time keeping up with the cost of health insurance. "It rises faster than any fixed² costs that we have, whether it's property taxes, electricity, rent, anything else."

Employers are bracing³ for a possible increase in the minimum wage. Add that to steeply health insurance premiums⁴ and the result is a serious health care situation that doctors say leads to unnecessarily higher death rates.

Ron Pollack with Families USA, a consumer group devoted⁵ to health care issues, says, "Companies, individuals, government agencies are all finding these costs unaffordable."

Most Americans get health insurance from their employers, although many employers are now reducing the benefits they offer or opting⁶ out of offering health insurance altogether.

Herrick Industrial Supply in Utah had to reduce its health insurance benefits package. 

Joe Call does the company's books. "We're not in the same situation that the health care industries are in,” he says. “They're able to raise their prices whenever they want to, it seems."

In his State of the Union speech, President Bush proposed making health insurance policies tax deductible.

"With this reform, more than 100 million men, women and children who are now covered by employer provided insurance will benefit from lower tax bills."

Some analysts⁷ say the tax break could be an incentive⁸ for some people to buy health insurance.

Others say those who need the help the most -- those with moderate incomes or those earning minimum wage, would not benefit from this proposal because insurance premiums would still be too costly⁹.

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 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

3 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

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 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

7 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

8 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。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。