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  3. As President Obama and his critics prepare for the climactic battle over healthcare, they face a seeming paradox: Millions of Am

As President Obama and his critics prepare for the climactic battle over healthcare, they face a seeming paradox: Millions of Am

admin2010-11-02  49
问题      As President Obama and his critics prepare for the climactic battle over healthcare, they face a seeming paradox: Millions of Americans say the system they depend on for everything from routine flu shots to life-saving heart surgery is broken and needs fixing. Yet most Americans also say they’re pretty satisfied with their healthcare. The explanation for the apparent contradiction- and a big reason healthcare has turned into such an incendiary fight—is that it’s not one crisis, it’s a bundle of crises. And, since most people are fairly healthy most of the time, problems can go largely unnoticed until calamity strikes.
      Medical costs are spiraling up much faster than inflation or personal income, for instance, but the impact is cushioned for a majority of Americans because they still have job-related insurance. While employers are shifting more and more of the premiums’ cost onto workers, the increases are gradual and lumped in with other payroll deductions. For many, it’s only after a medical problem occurs that they discover the coverage gaps and other limitations in their insurance can turn sickness into financial calamity. There are problems with quality as well. Americans like to think they have the best healthcare in the world, and at its best, American medicine may still be a world leader. But overall, the evidence suggests that almost every other developed nation delivers better healthcare at substantially less cost. It is against this background that Ohama addresses Congress tonight on healthcare overhaul.
      Costs are expected to rise 71% in the next decade, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Insurance premiums are rising with them. Even with higher premiums, large companies are narrowing the scope of what’s covered. And, among smaller companies in some states, one major cancer case can push premiums so high that the employer is forced to drop health benefits altogether. What’s driving up costs? Partly it’s the abundance of new technologies, which are both effective and expensive. Inefficiencies "defensive medicine" designed to protect against lawsuits, failure to use best practices, and a rise in for-profit healthcare entities— also contribute. Some experts, such as Harvard University economist David Cutler, argue that modernizing the healthcare system could save hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Even a 1% drop in costs would make it possible to cover the uninsured, he calculates.
     Costs for employer-based insurance premiums have risen 119% over the last decade, more than three times faster than wage increases. At that pace, the average family premium could reach $ 23,842 by 2020, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan healthcare policy think tank. Rising costs have drained resources employers might otherwise have devoted to wage increases; some companies have cut benefits and shifted premium costs to employees.
One direct consequence of the rising costs for premiums is the impossibility of ______.
选项
答案wage increase
解析 根据题干关键词rising costs，premium定位到原文第四段最后一句：Rising costs have drained resources employers might otherwise have devoted to wage increases．即雇主将本来可以给员工增加工资的钱用来交了保费，也就是说员工的工资不可能再涨。drain是动词，意思是“耗尽”。
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