Passage Five
Although you’ll probably live longer than you imagine, don’t
count on being healthier. The need for and the cost of health care typically
increase dramatically as you age. On average, for example, a 40-year-old man
consumes about $ 2 000 a year in health care services, whereas a typical
75-year-old consumes five times that much. That’s why, as the population ages,
huge inflationary pressures are put on the health care system.
How big will those pressures be in the next century Over the past 40
years, health care costs have risen an average of 70 percent faster than the
general rise in prices -- and that was before the boomers started m grow old.
The federal government predicts that by 2030, as boomers enter their 70s and
80s, health care spending will top $16 trillion, representing nearly 1 out of
every 3 dollars in the economy. Who will pay the bill No one
knows for sure, but it’s a good guess that the next century’s elderly will
become responsible for paying a much larger share of their own costs than their
counterparts do now. Qualification requirements for Medicaid nursing-home
benefits, for example, are likely to be tightened. Since the cost of a
nursing-home bed is projected to be $ 97 000 a year by 2030, those who don’t
make provision for this potential liability could easily become
impoverished. Medicare, which covers medical costs for the
elderly, is also likely to become less generous -- limiting the conditions and
treatments it covers, for example. Reform is virtually certain, even after
assuming huge increases in the efficiency of the health care system, the
actuaries(保险计算员) at Medicare project the system will lose money and be unable to
continue within 10 years.
What does the passage mainly talk
about
【参考答案】
"The passage mainly talks about pressures put on the health ......