國會砍掉預算 美國無醫保者將需自費檢測和治療新冠 Uninsured face surprise medical bills for Covid testing, hospital treatment
由於美國政府不再繼續為無醫保者新冠檢測和治療項目提供資金，美國的無醫保者今後將必須自費進行核酸檢測並自行負擔新冠治療費用，免費疫苗也不再是想打就能打。
People who don’t have health insurance are now being charged $100 or more for Covid testing by some labs and may face bills for hospital treatment, and free vaccines may not be as easy for everyone to get since emergency federal aid for some pandemic programs has run out and hasn’t been renewed by Congress.
由於贊助疫情期間一些項目的聯邦政府緊急撥款已枯竭且國會沒有注入新資金，如今沒有醫保的美國人在接受部分實驗室的核酸檢測時將需要繳納至少100美元（約合人民幣637元）的費用，並可能需要自費住院治療，打免費疫苗也沒那麼容易了。
Funding for the uninsured was dropped by Senate and House negotiators after Republicans opposed the money needed to extend the program, a senior Democratic aide in the US House told CNBC.
美國眾議院的一名資深民主黨助手告訴美國消費者新聞與商業頻道稱，由於共和黨人反對繼續向這一項目投錢，參眾兩院的談判代表已經放棄為無醫保者提供資金。
Meanwhile, the Health Resources and Services Administration, which runs the uninsured program for HHS, stopped accepting claims to test and treat uninsured Covid patients on March 22 due to insufficient funds. While the US is providing Covid shots for free, the agency stopped covering the costs to administer the vaccines for uninsured people as of April 5.
與此同時，由於資金不足，為美國衞生與公眾服務部運營這一無醫保項目的衞生資源和服務管理局也從3月22日起停止接收要求做核酸檢測和治療的無醫保新冠患者。美國目前仍免費提供新冠疫苗，但是該機構從4月5日起不再負擔無醫保者注射疫苗的費用。
Several major testing companies are now charging the uninsured. Quest Diagnostics told CNBC uninsured people now have to pay at least $100 for a PCR test, which is the most accurate one. Labcorp told CNBC the company is charging $119 for its PCR testing for people who aren’t covered by insurance. Curative, which runs thousands of testing sites across 34 states, said it can no longer provide free Covid testing to the uninsured in areas of the country where state or local governments aren"t picking up the tab.
幾家大型檢測公司現在也開始對無醫保者收費。奎斯特診斷公司告訴美國消費者新聞與商業頻道，人們現在至少要支付100美元才能做準確度最高的核酸檢測。美國實驗室控股公司對美國消費者新聞與商業頻道説，該公司向做核酸檢測的無醫保者收費119美元。在全美34個州運營數千個檢測點的美國凱迪泰醫療科技有限公司表示，在那些州政府或當地政府不承擔費用的地方，該公司將不能再為無醫保者免費提供核酸檢測。
Without additional federal money, people in the US will face a dramatic reduction in access to testing, particularly the uninsured, that will likely result in Covid outbreaks that were preventable, according to Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
美國公共衞生協會執行董事喬治·本傑明博士指出，沒有了額外的聯邦政府資金支持，美國民眾核酸檢測機會將會劇減，尤其是無醫保者，這將可能導致本可避免的疫情暴發。
Uninsured people who become hospitalized with Covid could also face bills for their treatment now that the federal government is no longer reimbursing hospitals, according to Molly Smith with the American Hospital Association. Smith said treating someone with Covid can cost anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars if the patient ends up on a mechanical ventilator.
美國醫院協會的莫莉·史密斯稱，如今聯邦政府不再報銷醫院賬單，住院治療新冠肺炎的無醫保者將必須自費治療。史密斯説，一個人治療新冠肺炎的費用至少需數萬美元，如果患者上了呼吸機，治療費用將高達數十萬美元。
Some hospitals have financial assistance plans for the uninsured, Smith said. However, there is growing concern that some patients simply won’t go to the hospital when they need treatment for Covid because they’re worried about how much it will now cost.
史密斯説，一些醫院有針對無醫保者的財政援助計劃。但是，一些患者害怕治療費用高昂，根本不會去醫院，這也越來越令人擔憂。
There were 28 million uninsured people in the US in 2020, according to the most current data available from the Census Bureau. The current number of uninsured is likely lower due to a record 14.2 million people signing up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act as of January this year, about 2 million more people than the previous record of 12.6 million set in 2016.
根據從人口普查局得到的最新數據，2020年美國共有2800萬無醫保者。目前的無醫保者數量可能比那時低，因為截止今年1月，共有1420萬人通過平價醫療法案加入了醫保，這一數字刷新了記錄，比上一次新加入醫保人數記錄（2016年的1260萬人）多了約200萬人。
The uninsured are often people of color and lower-income workers who have jobs that put them at higher risk of infection because they are work in industries such as retail, restaurant and grocery stores where they interact with the public and can’t stay at home, according to Jennifer Tolbert, an expert on the uninsured at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
凱澤家庭基金會關於無醫保者的專家詹尼弗·托爾伯特説，無醫保者往往是有色人種和低收入勞動者，這部分勞動者在零售、餐廳和食品雜貨店等行業工作，他們需要和公眾互動，不能居家工作，因此感染風險也更高。
While Covid cases are low right now in the US compared to the peak of the winter omicron wave, barriers to testing will leave these communities more vulnerable again if another wave hits the US, Tolbert said. Curative said its real-time data points to another potential surge on the horizon.
托爾伯特説，儘管美國目前的新冠病例數量相比去年冬天奧密克戎感染高峯期大為減少，但是如果新一波疫情來襲，這些檢測屏障將會讓美國社區再次變得不堪一擊。凱迪泰公司表示，實時數據顯示，另一波疫情可能即將來臨。
The uninsured program, established at the start of the pandemic under the Trump administration, has paid out about $20 billion in claims since 2020, according to HRSA. Tolbert said about 60% of that money went toward testing, 31% for Covid treatments, and 9% for the administrative costs of vaccinations.
據衞生資源和服務管理局稱，疫情之初在特朗普執政時期成立的無醫保項目自2020年以來已經支付了約200億美元。托爾伯特表示，約60%的錢用於檢測，31%的錢用於治療新冠肺炎，9%的錢用於疫苗接種的行政開支。
"The truth is that unfortunately the uninsured are the last to be thought about and the first to get the negative outcomes when we decide to pull back,” Benjamin said.
本傑明稱：“事實上，不幸的是，當政府決定撤資時，無醫保者總是最後被考慮到但卻是最先承受惡果的那一羣人。”
英文來源：美國消費者新聞與商業頻道網站
翻譯&編輯：丹妮