英语 英语 日语 日语 韩语 韩语 法语 法语 德语 德语 西班牙语 西班牙语 意大利语 意大利语 阿拉伯语 阿拉伯语 葡萄牙语 葡萄牙语 越南语 越南语 俄语 俄语 芬兰语 芬兰语 泰语 泰语 泰语 丹麦语 泰语 对外汉语

Insurance companies In Michigan have slashed catastrophic care coverage

时间:2022-08-19 06:57来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
特别声明:本栏目内容均从网络收集或者网友提供,供仅参考试用,我们无法保证内容完整和正确。如果资料损害了您的权益,请与站长联系,我们将及时删除并致以歉意。
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

Insurance companies In Michigan have slashed2 catastrophic care coverage3

Transcript4

A new law allows insurance companies to pay caregiver agencies about half of what they used to get, and many are going broke. That means thousands are losing the care that they rely on to survive.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

For more than 40 years, the state of Michigan had a unique system of high-quality lifetime care for people with the most serious injuries from car crashes. Now new auto5 insurance changes are dismantling6 that system.

Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton reports this is causing real problems for thousands of accident survivors7.

TRACY SAMILTON, BYLINE8: Here's what happens to most severely9 injured car accident patients in the U.S. At the hospital, survivors with spinal10 cord and traumatic brain injuries get their initial surgeries and treatment.

But Susan Connors, who heads the Brain Injury Association of America, says it's often downhill from there.

SUSAN CONNORS: They're going to send you - you know, my favorite phrase is discharge to the couch, but it could be any kind of facility that will take you where you will not get rehabilitation11. You will not get cognitive12 stimulation13. You'll get three meals a day and a change of sheets. And that happens all over the country.

SAMILTON: For the last four decades, Michigan was different. Its unique no-fault insurance law assessed a surcharge - about $15 to $20 a month - to cover high-quality lifetime care for such survivors. It paid for one-on-one nursing care in your home if you needed it, ongoing14 rehabilitation, transportation to therapies and doctor's visits. But three years ago, Democratic and Republican leaders joined together to scrap15 that law. They replaced it with a hastily drafted one they said would make car insurance in Michigan affordable16 but which also slash1 payments nearly in half for the agencies caring for crash survivors. Now many of those agencies are going broke.

CONNORS: What they have done is essentially17 gone to the bottom of the barrel.

SAMILTON: Providers say, for many of their patients, this can be a tragic18 turn.

UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: Of your emergency?

SHARA CURRY19: Hi, my name is Shara Curry. And I'm calling to report that Kelley Miller20 - she's a vent-dependent quadriplegic. She is without care.

SAMILTON: Kelley Miller is going to the hospital today. She's not sick. Her home care agency just can't afford to take care of her anymore.

CURRY: She cannot take one breath on her own. And there's no...

UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: OK, so she needs an ambulance. Is that your question?

CURRY: She needs an ambulance.

SAMILTON: Miller's accident in 2011 left her paralyzed from the shoulders down, but she could live at home with a nurse and aide 24/7. She lived with her husband. She was part of the community, babysitting her grandkids and going on outings.

KELLEY MILLER: My granddaughter's birthday party is today at Skateland. And it's something I looked forward to. (Crying) But I won't be there.

SAMILTON: Nurse Shara Curry has been with Miller for 10 years. She watches the EMTs hoist21 her onto a stretcher. She's crying. She says Miller's ventilator stops working on a regular basis. So if the hospital forces her to go to a nursing home...

CURRY: We save her life at least twice a month. In a nursing home, she can't move. She can't press a call light. How would she let them know that she was in trouble?

SAMILTON: Miller's husband Bud is also distraught as the ambulance takes his wife away.

BUD MILLER: It's just killing22 us, how the laws can this do what they want to destroy people.

SAMILTON: So far, more than 1,500 auto accident survivors have lost their care, according to an independent study. Several have died.

TOM JUDD: This is just the beginning.

SAMILTON: Tom Judd heads the Michigan Brain Injury Provider Council.

JUDD: You know, over the next few months, we're going to see more and more companies who are just - can't hold on any longer, and more and more patients are going to be displaced.

SAMILTON: Starkly23 put, he says more people will suffer, and more will likely die. Republican leaders in the state legislature have largely ignored media requests for interviews about the law's impact, and they've declined to schedule hearings on bills that were introduced to address what's been happening. For their part, insurance companies often say they're not taking care away from anyone. They're just following the law. Or they blame the care agencies for the situation, claiming they're price-gouging.

Susan Connors says this was largely avoidable.

CONNORS: And honestly, it didn't have to happen. Any one of those policymakers could have taken a look at any of the other states around the nation and understood how fantastic a system you had in Michigan and how awful it is elsewhere.

SAMILTON: As for making car insurance in Michigan more affordable, advocates for survivors say the law failed there, too. At the time the new law was passed, Michigan had the most expensive car insurance in the U.S. It's now number two. And in the past year, insurance premiums24 in the state have gone up again.

For NPR News, I'm Tracy Samilton.

(SOUNDBITE OF FELBM'S "MAKTENE")


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 slash Hrsyq     
vi.大幅度削减;vt.猛砍,尖锐抨击,大幅减少;n.猛砍,斜线,长切口,衣衩
参考例句:
  • The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
  • Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。
2 slashed 8ff3ba5a4258d9c9f9590cbbb804f2db     
v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 );鞭打;割破;削减
参考例句:
  • Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
  • He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 coverage nvwz7v     
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。
4 transcript JgpzUp     
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书
参考例句:
  • A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
  • They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。
5 auto ZOnyW     
n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车
参考例句:
  • Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
  • The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。
6 dismantling 3d7840646b80ddcdce2dd04e396f7138     
(枪支)分解
参考例句:
  • The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
  • The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。
7 survivors 02ddbdca4c6dba0b46d9d823ed2b4b62     
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
  • survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者
8 byline sSXyQ     
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。
9 severely SiCzmk     
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地
参考例句:
  • He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
  • He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。
10 spinal KFczS     
adj.针的,尖刺的,尖刺状突起的;adj.脊骨的,脊髓的
参考例句:
  • After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天,就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
  • Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。
11 rehabilitation 8Vcxv     
n.康复,悔过自新,修复,复兴,复职,复位
参考例句:
  • He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
  • No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。
12 cognitive Uqwz0     
adj.认知的,认识的,有感知的
参考例句:
  • As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大,他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
  • The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。
13 stimulation BuIwL     
n.刺激,激励,鼓舞
参考例句:
  • The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
  • You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。
14 ongoing 6RvzT     
adj.进行中的,前进的
参考例句:
  • The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
  • The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。
15 scrap JDFzf     
n.碎片;废料;v.废弃,报废
参考例句:
  • A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
  • Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。
16 affordable kz6zfq     
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。
17 essentially nntxw     
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
参考例句:
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
18 tragic inaw2     
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的
参考例句:
  • The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
  • Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。
19 curry xnozh     
n.咖哩粉,咖哩饭菜;v.用咖哩粉调味,用马栉梳,制革
参考例句:
  • Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
  • Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。
20 miller ZD6xf     
n.磨坊主
参考例句:
  • Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
  • The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。
21 hoist rdizD     
n.升高,起重机,推动;v.升起,升高,举起
参考例句:
  • By using a hoist the movers were able to sling the piano to the third floor.搬运工人用吊车才把钢琴吊到3楼。
  • Hoist the Chinese flag on the flagpole,please!请在旗杆上升起中国国旗!
22 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
参考例句:
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
23 starkly 4e0b2db3ce8605be1f8d536fac698e3f     
adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直
参考例句:
  • The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
  • The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。
24 premiums efa999cd01994787d84b066d2957eaa7     
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》
本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎点击提交分享给大家。
------分隔线----------------------------
TAG标签:   NPR  英语听力  美国新闻
顶一下
(0)
0%
踩一下
(0)
0%
最新评论 查看所有评论
发表评论 查看所有评论
请自觉遵守互联网相关的政策法规,严禁发布色情、暴力、反动的言论。
评价:
表情:
验证码:
听力搜索
推荐频道
论坛新贴