[本期导读] 美国医改终于艰难地通过了参议院审议. 本期节目选自"CNN American Morning", 是主持人T.J.Holmes和Kiran Chetry对CNN医学通讯员Sanjay Gupta的采访,来解答公众对医改的疑问以及探讨医改都会带来哪些变化, 时间约3分半.
HOLMES: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
As the Senate health care bill moves closer to a full vote (ph) by Christmas Eve, a lot of people out there -- a lot of you wondering how it might change your life, your budgets, the quality of your care you receive (ph) if this thing happens to get passed.
CHETRY: Which it's looking more and more likely that that will happen. So we're paging our Dr. Gupta this morning, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent. He's answering your questions from Atlanta. Hey, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
CHETRY: All right. So let's get right to it. The first one comes from Tom in Mountain View, Arkansas, and he writes, "My wife and I operate a restaurant (small) and earn about 50--60K annually. Is there a ball park figure of our projected costs should this bill, as presented, pass Congress?"
GUPTA: It's a great question. We're getting questions from small business owners quite a bit.
Let me point out a couple of things. Right now, there's another procedural vote happening even as we're -- we're talking, and after the Senate vote happens, this has to still go through what's called reconciliation and then go to the president's desk. So, I point that out because some of the details obviously are still being worked out.
The key number for the small business owner, Tom, to remember is the number 25. If you have fewer than 25 employees, in the Senate bill there's nothing that mandates that you buy health care insurance for your employees. If -- also, if you make less than -- if you make $50,000 or less a year, you can qualify for federal subsidies to help your employees get health care insurance, about $1,000 to $2,000 per employee. So, specifically, that number, 25, is sort of key there, Kiran, for -- for Tom and other small business owners.
CHETRY: Got you.
HOLMES: All right, Dr. we've got another one here from Daniel. He sent us this e-mail. His question is, "If someone can't be denied for preexisting conditions, what is the motivation for a lower income individual to pay for health care insurance? Doesn't this make paying into an insurance plan unnecessary?" Essentially asking, well, why -- why would I pay? Shouldn't I just wait until I get sick, essentially?
GUPTA: That's exactly right. That's exactly what he's asking, and this has been a criticism of this particular bill. Could you, quote-unquote, "game the system?"
Well, there's a couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, when we talk about mandates for health care insurance, that means people have to have health care insurance if they can afford it. That's what they're talking about here with regard to the mandate. And, again, that's been a controversial issue.
But what that means, more specifically, is if you don't buy health care insurance, there is a penalty involved. It's either $750 or 2 percent of your income, whichever of those numbers is greatest. Now, the second part of that is if you can't find health care insurance at all. It's just too expensive or it's more than 8 percent of your income, you can get subsidies. You can get what's called a hardship exception and subsidies to help pay for health care insurance.
But the -- but the interesting thing here is -- well, and Kiran, I talked about this a few days ago, is let's say you -- you buy health care insurance because you just got sick, you get better and then you cancel it. That -- that sort of gaming of the system is also going to be deterred, they say, by another penalty which prevents that sort of thing, buying it and then canceling it immediately. So, a couple of penalties built in there and an exemption as well for people who simply can't afford this.
HOLMES: All right, just a couple of the many questions I know a lot of folks have about it. We appreciate you breaking it down, simplifying as you always so. Dr. Gupta, thank you so much. We'll see you again soon, buddy.
GUPTA: All right. You got it.
CHETRY: Thanks, Sanjay.