美国国家公共电台 NPR Montana Insurers Say Medicaid Cuts Would Drive Up Cost Of Private Health Plans

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Many of those who support the deep cuts to Medicaid called for in the Republican health care bills say it's simply too expensive. But some health insurers say if Medicaid shrinks, that could lead to higher costs for everyone. Eric Whitney reports from Montana, one of the last states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable¹ Care Act.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

The Republicans who make up two-thirds of Montana's congressional delegation² say a big reason they want to repeal³ the current health care law is because it's causing health insurance markets to, quote, "collapse⁴." But the insurance companies that sell policies here say that's not true in Montana. And they're concerned about GOP repeal and replace plans.

JERRY DWORAK: I don't think that their plan is going to improve health care in the state of Montana.

ERIC WHITNEY, BYLINE⁵: Jerry Dworak is the CEO of Montana Health Co-Op.

DWORAK: I think that just the opposite is going to happen. I really do think a lot of people are going to get hurt.

WHITNEY: The co-op is one of the three insurance companies that's been selling Montanans coverage⁶ on healthcare.gov since it started in 2013 with no plans to leave. They say collapse is a real possibility, though, if the deep Medicaid cuts Republican health bills call for actually happen. Todd Lovshin is a vice⁷ president at PacificSource insurance. He says Medicaid expansion means Montana hospitals are now getting paid for taking care of more than 70,000 Montanans who got Medicaid in the expansion.

TODD LOVSHIN: All of our hospitals have to take any patient that comes in and serve them. That has to be paid somewhere, right? And if we're not paying that through a Medicaid expansion, those costs have to be borne by someone. And so that will increase the overall cost of medical expenses.

WHITNEY: When hospitals see their unpaid⁸ bills stack up, Lovshin says, they'll have to charge patients who have insurance more to stay afloat. John Doran agrees with that analysis. Doran a vice president with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana the state's biggest insurer. Doran says that problems would likely get worse if the individual mandate⁹ goes away. That's the requirement to have health insurance the Republican health care bills do away with.

DWORAK: If there's no mandate and there's no incentive¹⁰ for them to buy a health insurance plan, then maybe they won't. And, again, the people who need health care the most and typically have the highest health care costs are the only ones who are in the marketplace. And that results in higher health care costs and consequently higher premiums¹¹.

WHITNEY: Montanans have been seeing insurance premiums go up, sometimes by more than 50 percent a year, since healthcare.gov launched in 2013. But the co-op's Jerry Dworak says he thinks prices are now starting to stabilize¹². And if the health law isn't changed, his company's premiums would only go up 5 percent in 2018. For NPR News, I'm Eric Whitney in Missoula, Mont.

SIEGEL: And that story is part of a reporting partnership¹³ of NPR, Montana Public Radio and Kaiser Health News.

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 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

3 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 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。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

9 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。

10 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。

11 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》

12 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

13 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。