Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report,
from
http://voaspecialenglish.com
The United States has a new health care reform law.
The main goal is to insure about thirty-two million
additional people. That is about ninety-five percent
of Americans who are not already covered by
Medicare, the government insurance program for older
people. About sixteen million people will be added
to Medicaid, the government health plan for
the poor. The law will require Americans to have
health insurance, with a few exceptions, or pay a
fine starting in four years. Also, in four years,
employers with more
than fifty workers will have to offer their
employees a health insurance plan. Employers will
pay a fine for each uninsured worker. Smaller
businesses will receive
tax credits to help pay for
health plans. People not covered by employer plans,
Medicaid or Medicare could buy health insurance in
marketplaces called exchanges.
The idea is that competition among plans will drive
down costs.
States will provide these exchanges by twenty
fourteen. The law is the biggest change in American
health care since nineteen sixty-five.
But it is not a government operated health care
system like the ones in other countries. President
Obama said it provides limited reform.
He said: So this is not radical reform. But it is
major reform. This legislation will not fix
everything that ails our health care system. But it
moves us decisively in the right direction.
Barry Arbuckle is chief executive
of the non-profit MemorialCare Health System in
Fountain Valley, California.
He says the new law gets the
issue of health reform moving.
But he notes it is mainly health insurance reform.
He says lawmakers will have to reform the way health
care is provided. That means finding ways for
hospitals, doctors and other providers to work
together more effectively. Mister Arbuckle also
would like to see more attention on prevention so
fewer people need costly
medical treatment. The law
is expected to cost about
nine hundred forty billion dollars over ten years.
However, the Obama administration says the plan will
cut the nations budget deficit by more than one
hundred billion dollars during that period.
Last year, the United States spent two and a half
trillion dollars
on health care. This was an
increase of almost six percent
from the year before.
And thats the VOA Special English Economics Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
