時(shí)差N小時(shí):醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)

By the early 1950s, it was becoming apparent thata growing number of elderly Americans had no economic protection from the increasing cost ofhealth care.

一直到19世紀(jì)60年代早期的時(shí)候，很明顯的是，隨著醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)費(fèi)用的增加，越來越多的美國老年人沒有經(jīng)濟(jì)保障。

Most people over 65 had very low incomes and few owned private health insurance of any kind.Congress began a years–long debate on this issue of national health insurance for the elderly.

大部分超過65歲的人有極低的收入來源，而且很少會(huì)有人有任何一種私人醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)。國會(huì)關(guān)于老年人醫(yī)療補(bǔ)助的事兒展開了為期多年的討論。

Critics in Congress feared Medicare would lead to substandard and overpriced care, and felt thatit should serve only the indigent.

國會(huì)上引發(fā)的那些爭(zhēng)論可能會(huì)引發(fā)低標(biāo)準(zhǔn)卻費(fèi)用過高的醫(yī)保，而且還有一點(diǎn)讓人擔(dān)憂的是它可能只受益于窮人。

They also predicted that, with growing numbers participating, it would eventually bankruptthe federal Treasury.

他們也在預(yù)測(cè)，隨著越來越多的參與度，聯(lián)邦財(cái)政部最終可能會(huì)破產(chǎn)。

The legislative compromise that became the final Medicare Act – officially known as the"Social Security Amendments of 1965” – was part of President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society"program.

立法認(rèn)為,最終的醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)法案將正式被稱為“1965年的社會(huì)安全修正案——林登·約翰遜總統(tǒng)的“偉大社會(huì)”項(xiàng)目的一部分。

Today it protects more than 40 million Americans from the high cost of hospital care.

現(xiàn)今它使得超過4千萬的美國人都享受到了醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)，免除了就醫(yī)的高昂費(fèi)用。

Much of the program's costs are covered by payroll taxes paid by workers.

項(xiàng)目的大部分費(fèi)用都是工人的工資稅。

Yet costs quickly started to exceed expectations, and as Americans' life expectancy increasedover the years, the Medicare program became even more expensive.

然后這些費(fèi)用很快就都超出了人們的預(yù)期，正如這些年來，美國人的預(yù)期壽命在上漲一樣，醫(yī)保也變得越來越昂貴。

It has become a matter of national debate and a financial issue for every Congress andPresident since.

自此這已經(jīng)變成了一個(gè)國內(nèi)爭(zhēng)論的焦點(diǎn)問題，每個(gè)國會(huì)和總理的財(cái)政問題。

Today it is still one of the fastest growing items in the federal budget. Nonetheless, Medicareremains a popular program, and a well–established part of the federal government's role inour society.

如今在政府預(yù)算中醫(yī)保還是一個(gè)快速增長的款項(xiàng)。除此之外，醫(yī)保還是一個(gè)很受歡迎的項(xiàng)目，還是聯(lián)邦政府中相對(duì)完善的一部分。