VOA慢速英语-Economics Report - U.S. Health Spending: Looking for

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Health care costs are a major concern of Americans. The percentage of people covered by private health insurance dropped last year. Yet more people had insurance than the year before.
　
A nurse helps a patient in the emergency room at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The number of people on government health programs for the old, the poor and for children is growing.

The Census¹ Bureau says that was because of an increase in government health programs. Government programs covered eighty-three million people last year, about twenty-eight percent of the nation.

Federal and state programs insure older people, the poor and members of the military. But unlike other developed countries, the United States does not offer health insurance to all its citizens.

Forty-seven million people were uninsured in two thousand six. The Census Bureau says that number fell by more than a million last year. But experts predict that the current economic downturn will again raise the number of uninsured.

People buy health insurance to pay some or all the costs of medical care. But plans can be costly², and people with existing conditions may not be able to get coverage³ at all.

Yet even people with insurance may not have enough coverage to pay high medical bills. The Commonwealth⁴ Fund, a research group, says twenty-five million adults are underinsured. It says that is a sixty percent increase in five years.

The United States now spends more than two trillion dollars a year on health care. Health spending could represent one-fifth of the economy in less than ten years.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has proposed tax credits to help pay for insurance. He also has ideas for ways to make health care more competitive and less costly. And he has called for a Guaranteed Access Plan to help get coverage for people who have difficulty getting insurance.

Democrat⁵ Barack Obama has a plan that he says would guarantee health insurance for all Americans. It includes a requirement to insure all children. He also proposes a National Health Insurance Exchange to make it easier to buy private plans or to continue coverage when changing jobs.

Sixty percent of Americans are insured through plans offered by employers. As costs increase, employers often have workers pay more for doctor visits and other services. The Mercer consulting company says employee cost-sharing has risen sharply over the past five years.

Early reports suggest that next year's cost increase for employers will fall below six percent, to the lowest growth in more than ten years.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 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。

3 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。

4 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。