奥巴马宣布9500亿美元新医改提案

Obama in $950bn push to revive health bill

奥巴马宣布9500亿美元新医改提案

President Barack Obama threw his full weight behind healthcare reform yesterday attempting to inject new momentum into the legislative process that has stalled on Capitol Hill.

美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)昨日全力投入推动医疗改革，试图为在国会陷入停滞的立法过程注入新动力。

Unveiling a fresh $950bn proposal, Mr Obama made an “opening bid” ahead of a cross-party summit he will host on Thursday, where he will aim to convince Republicans – and wavering Democrats – to work together to overhaul the US's $2,500bn healthcare system.

奥巴马宣布了一项9500亿美元的新提案，在周四主持两党峰会前“开价”。他将借峰会劝说共和党人——以及摇摆不定的民主党人——共同努力，对每年耗资2.5万亿美元的美国医疗体系进行改革。

However, Republicans continued to attack the president's “back-room bill” yesterday.

然而，共和党人昨日还在继续攻击总统的“密室议案”。

“It's disappointing that Democrats in Washington either aren't listening, or are completely ignoring what Americans across the country have been saying,” said Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader.

“华盛顿的民主党人不听或全然无视美国各地人民在说些什么，令人失望，”参议院少数党领袖明奇•麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)表示。

Mr Obama's proposal largely mirrors the Senate's $829bn healthcare reform bill, which many House Democrats say is not expansive enough and Republicans consider tantamount to a government take-over of healthcare.

奥巴马提案与参议院的8290亿美元医疗改革方案大体相同。对于参议院的医改方案，众议院许多民主党人认为范围不够广泛，共和党人则认为该方案相当于政府接管医疗体系。

Among the new provisions, Mr Obama said he wanted to create a Health Insurance Rate Authority aimed at stopping insurers from arbitrarily raising insurance premiums.

在新提出的措施中，奥巴马表示，他希望成立一个医疗保险费率管理局，以防止保险商任意提高保费。

The president has also advocated imposing tax for Medicare, the government health system for over 65s, on unearned income, including capital gains. The 2.9 per cent tax would apply to income including interest and rents for people earning more than $200,000, or families making more than $250,000 a year.

奥巴马还主张对Medicare参保人员的非劳动所得（包括资本增值）征税，提议对单人年收入超过20万美元、或家庭年收入超过25万美元者的利息和租金收入征收2.9%的税。Medicare是美国政府面向65岁以上人群的医保制度。

The White House said that the bill would be deficit neutral, with increased costs to be offset by savings and the new taxes.

白宫表示，这项议案对赤字的影响中性，增加的成本将被节省的款项和新税收所抵销。

译者/杨远