2016考研英語時文泛讀：醫療消費

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2016考研進入復習沖刺期，每天閱讀一篇英語時文，保持閱讀的感覺，對考研人來說是不錯的選擇。今天給大家推薦一篇“醫療消費”，話題有深度且涉及社會熱點，希望能對你的2016考研英語復習有所幫助。

The health-care economy is filled with unusual and even unique economic relationships. One of the least understood involves the peculiar roles of producer or "provider" and purchaser or "consumer" in the typical doctor-patient relationship. In most sectors of the economy, it is the seller who attempts to attract a potential buyer with various inducements of price, quality, and utility, and it is the buyer who makes the decision, Such condition, however, does not prevail in most of the health-care industry.

衛生保健行業存在著許多不同尋常的、甚至是獨一無二的經濟關系。其中人們了解最少的，包括在典型的醫患關系中扮演生產者或“供應者”與購買者或“消費者”之間的奇特的角色關系。在大部分經濟領域，是銷售者努力用價格、質量、用途等各種誘惑來吸引潛在的購買者，而做決定的是購買者。然而，在衛生保健行業，多數情況下并不是這樣的。

In the health-care industry, the doctor-patient relationship is the mirror image of the ordinary relationship between producer and consumer. Once an individual has chosen to see a physician-and even then there may be no real choice-it is the physician who usually makes all significant purchasing decisions: whether the patient should return "next Wednesday", whether X-rays are needed, whether drugs should be prescribed, etc. It is a rare and sophisticated patient who will challenge such professional decisions or raise in advance questions about price, especially when the disease is regarded as serious.

衛生保健行業中的醫患關系與一般的生產者-消費者之間的關系剛好相反。一旦某人選擇了請某個醫生看病——即使在那時可能并沒有真正的選擇余地——通常是由醫生做出所有重要的購買決定：病人是否應該“下個星期三”來復診，是否需要拍X光片，是否需要開些藥，等等。很少有精明的病人會質疑這些專業人員的決定，或者提前詢問價錢，尤其是當其病情非常嚴重的時候。

This is particularly significant in relation to hospital care. The physician must certify the need for hospitalization, determine what procedures will be performed, and announce when the patient may be discharged. The patient may be consulted about some of these decisions, but in the main it is the doctor's judgments that are final. Little wonder then that in the eye of the hospital it is the physician who is the real "consumer." As a consequence, the medical staff represents the "power center" in hospital policy and decision-making, not the administration.

當需要住院治療時，這種關系尤為明顯。醫生必須證明住院的必要性，決定需要哪些治療過程，宣布病人何時可以出院。其中某些決定可能會征求病人的意見，但一般情況下，醫生的決定才具有決定性。難怪在醫院看來，醫生才是真正的“消費者”。這樣做的結果是，代表醫院“權力中心”來制定政策及決策的是醫護人員，而不是行政人員。

Although usually there are in this situation four identifiable participants-the physician, the hospital, the patient, and the payer (generally an insurance carrier or government)-the physician makes the essential decisions for all of them. The hospital becomes an extension of the physician; the payer generally meets most of the bills generated by the physician/hospital, and for t/he most part the patient plays a passive role. We estimate that about 75-80 percent of health-care expenditures are determined by physicians, not patients. For this reason, the economy directed at patients or t.he general is relatively ineffective.

雖然在這種情況下通常有四方可識別的參與者——醫生、醫院、病人及付款者(一般為保險公司或政府)——但是醫生替各方做最重要的決定。醫院成了醫生的延伸：付款者通常支付醫生/醫院開出的大部分費用，而在很大程度上病人都是一個被動的角色。據估計，衛生保健費用的75%-80%是由醫生而不是病人決定的。因此，這種針對病人或普通老百姓的經濟體制相對而言是無效的。

希望大家都能把文章讀懂吃透，搞定其中的生詞和長難句，2016考研英語成功通關!