经济学人下载:瞧瞧山姆大叔 医疗改革

Health-care reform
医疗改革

Looking to Uncle Sam
瞧瞧山姆大叔

As lawmakers squabble, spending on health care continues to grow
由于立法议员争执不下，医疗保健支出继续增加

Jul 30th 2011 | NEW YORK | from the print edition

POLITICIANS want to lower spending, or at least they say they do. But in all the to-and-fro over raising the debt ceiling, little sensible has been said about lowering spending in the long term. Nothing illuminates this more clearly than health care.

政客们想要减少支出，或者至少他们嘴上是这么说的。然而在总体上，债务限额一次又一次的争论增加了债务限额，而没有意识到减少支出这一长期要求。没有比医疗保健更能清楚地解释这。

A new report, published in Health Affairs on July 28th, paints a daunting picture. Health spending will rise by 5.8% each year from 2010 to the end of 2020, according to actuaries at the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In 2020 health care will account for one-fifth of America’s economy. The federal government will pay for a greater share than ever before.

发表在7月28日《卫生事务》上的一个最新报告，描绘了一个令人望而生畏的画面。根据医疗保险和医疗补助服务（CMS）中心的精算师的预测，从2010年到2020年，医疗支出每年都将增加5.8%。到2020年，医疗保健将会占到美国经济的五分之一。联邦政府将会支付比以往更多的份额。

Hawks have long warned that it would be impossible to curb government spending without curtailing spending on health. Democrats claimed that their health law would lower costs. Barack Obama assembled grey-haired sages to recommend changes to entitlement programmes. Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, offered his own reforms. And yet spending on health care continues to climb.

赤字鹰派早已警告说，不缩减医疗支出而抑制住政府支出将是不可能的。民主党声称他们的卫生法会减少花费。奥巴马综合了灰白头发的专家们的意见，建议改变福利计划。众议院预算委员会主席共和党人保罗．瑞安提出了他自己的改革。可是医疗保健支出继续攀升。