用英語聊聊醫療保險（一）

對于上班族來說，生大病的時候醫療保險很重要，保什么，不保什么可得弄清楚。今天我們來通過英語對話了解一下美國公司員工享受的醫療保險福利。

Andy向同事Jane咨詢公司醫療保險的事。

Andy: Hey, Jane...are you familiar with our company's insurance policies?

Jane: Umm...I think so. What's up?

A: I've never really paid attention to the fine print of our insurance policies...but it looks like I'm going to need to make a claim.

J: Really? Are you OK?

A: I have a slipped disc in my lower back and the doctor says surgery is probably the best option. Does our worker insurance cover this kind of thing?

Andy問Jane熟不熟悉公司的醫療保險條款，insurance是保險，policies是條款，醫生說他腰椎肩盤突出，可能要做手術，需要向保險公司make a claim，提出醫療賠償。Andy說，自己從沒仔細研究過公司醫療保險的fine print（規定細則），不知道做腰椎肩盤手術，保險公司是不是出錢，這里動詞用cover, to cover this kind of thing 意思是保險涵蓋這類治療。

J: If the injury is workplace related I'm sure it's completely covered.

A: Hummm...I think I'll have to talk to the doctor again about that. Anyway...now that I'm going to have to make some claims, I think I'd better try and understand how the system works. Would you mind breaking it down for me?

J: Sure. Basically we have two insurance policies for employees...workman's compensation and medical insurance. The company pays the premiums for workman's compensation, and for a significant part of the medical coverage, but you pay part of that premium, too.

Jane說，如果病情起因跟工作有關，那保險肯定是管的，她還給Andy做了進一步解釋，這里用的break something down意思是把一件事情分成幾部分，詳細說明。Jane說，公司有兩種保險，一種是workman's compensation（工人撫恤金保險），保費由公司出；另一種是medical coverage（醫療保險），公司出一大部分保費，其余由員工出，在醫療保險中，保費是premium。

A: That's the charge for insurance I see on my pay slip each month, right?

J: Yep. Every country in the world has a different system, but here we buy insurance from a private provider.

A: So workman's compensation is if I slip and break my arm while working in the office or on the job, right?

J: That's right. The company pays for all your medical bills and there is also some financial compensation if you have to take days off to see doctors or spend time recuperating.

Andy說，自己每月工資單上都會有一欄扣的就是醫療保險的保費，工資單在英語里叫pay slip. Andy又問，workman's compensation是不是只管在工作場所或是工作期間受的傷，Jane回答說，沒錯，在這種情況下，不僅一切醫療費用都由公司出，而且如果員工需要take days off請假去看醫生，或是休養（recuperate），還能得到某些經濟補貼。

相關閱讀

秋日微“恙”

醫院就診常用口語

“生病了”英文怎么說（上）

“生病了”英文怎么說（下）

（來源：VOA英語教學? 編輯：旭燕）

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