经济学人:美国医保支出或更加透明

英语自学网

201202051215411791216.jpg

Summary:Companies try to make health-care spending transparent.
总结：美国公司努力使医疗支出更加透明。
HINTS:
GDP
Aramaic
David Knott
Rodney Zemmel
McKinsey&Company
本文采用英式拼写方式。
经济学人新闻听写节目：

sub_616.gif

点击订阅更方便。
如有任何疑问欢迎大家在评论区讨论，
也可以随时碎碎给我们@songlin1983,@lsy34，@iamkaren有问必答。

btn_listen1974116.gif

Americans spent $2.6 trillion on health care in 2010, a staggering 18% of GDP. Yet few of them have the faintest idea what any treatment costs or how it compares with any other treatment. Prices vary wildly and seemingly without reason. Insurance terms require a dictionary. For most Americans, buying a procedure is akin to choosing a house blindfolded, signing a mortgage in Aramaic, then discovering the price later. Slowly, however, this is changing.
The past decade has seen a shift in how people pay for medicine. Americans' health spending is growing at a slower pace. This is partly because of the downturn, but not entirely. The rate of growth fell every year between 2002 and 2009, note David Knott and Rodney Zemmel of McKinsey&Company, a consultancy. There are many reasons for this. For example, many costly drugs have lost their patents. But spending habits also seem to be changing.
Most American workers receive health insurance through their employers. They typically shoulder the costs without realising it. The more a company spends on health insurance, the less is left over to pay wages. Now employers are trying to give staff an incentive to think hard about costs.2010年，美国人在医疗上花了2万6千亿美元，占GDP总额的18%，数目庞大。但是几乎没有人知道哪项治疗花费多少钱，也不知道和其他治疗比较。价格差非常多，而且似乎毫无缘由。保险术语需要查字典。对大多数美国人来说，购买保险就和蒙上眼睛挑房子、签署一份用阿拉姆语写成的抵押合同，然后再知晓价格一样。不过，现在正在发生变化。
过去十年人们购买药物的方式有所改变。美国人医疗费用支出的增长速度放缓。一方面是因为金融危机，但不是全部原因。咨询公司麦肯锡公司的David Knott和Rodney Zemmel指出2002年和2009年之间医疗费用增速逐年下降。这有很多原因，譬如很多价格昂贵的药物专利时间到期。不过人们的消费习惯似乎也在改变。
很多美国工薪阶层的医疗保险是老板给上的。通常他们会承担这部分费用，甚至连自己都没意识到。一家公司在医疗上的投入比重大，剩下用来支付员工薪水的比重就小。现在雇主正努力采取措施，激励员工好好思考费用的问题。