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How many of you have had your doctor ask you about sex?
你们当中多少人被医生问过性生活问题？
Your mental health? Alcohol use? These questions are almost universal.
心理健康问题呢？饮酒问题呢？这些问题大都很常见。
But how many of you have had your doctor ask you about money? Most of us haven't.
但有多少人被医生问过关于金钱的问题？大多数人是没有的。
But that is strange, because compared to most high-income countries, child poverty is an epidemic in the United States.
这挺奇怪的，因为和大多数高收入国家比起来，美国儿童贫困现象却很常见。
It creates conditions that may elevate stress hormone levels and impair brain development.
这导致儿童应激激素水平升高，从而阻碍大脑发育。
Poor children in the US are one and a half times more likely to die
和美国中等收入家庭的孩子比起来，美国贫困儿童死亡的可能性要高出1.5倍，
and twice as likely to be hospitalized as their middle-class counterparts.
生病住院的可能性也高出两倍。
So my colleague Dr. Michael Hole and I started asking moms about money.
因此，我和我的同事迈克尔·霍尔医生开始询问起母亲们的经济状况。
We knew we needed to reimagine what a doctor's visit looks like,
我们知道，我们需要重塑就医体验，
to get kids out of poverty and to give them a fair shot at a healthy life.
帮助儿童摆脱贫困，给他们一个平等的机会，过上健康的生活。
Our questions led to a surprising solution: tax credits.
我们的询问最终得出了一个令人吃惊的解决方案：税收抵免。
It turns out, the earned income tax credit, or EITC, is the best poverty prescription we have in the US.
结果发现，所得税抵免，即EITC，是美国当下最好的缓解贫困的药方。
The average mom gets two to three thousand dollars a year from it.
每年每位母亲可从中获得两到三千美元。
When families get it, moms and babies are healthier: fewer depressed moms, babies weighing more at birth.
有了这笔钱后，母亲和她们的孩子就会变得更健康：更少的母亲会患上抑郁症，更多的婴儿在出生时体重更高。
But one out of five families who could get it doesn't,
但有1/5本可以得到这笔钱的家庭却并没有得到，
and most who do lose of hundreds of dollars to the for-profit tax-preparation industry.
还有大多数家庭会多花费几百美元给那些收费的报税公司。
One day, a mom asked us why we couldn't do her taxes while she waited for the doctor.
有一天，一位母亲问我们为什么不能在她候诊时帮她报税。
We all know that purgatory. Why not make good use of that time?
我们都知道那段时间很难熬。那么为什么不利用一下那段时间呢？
So we started StreetCred, an organization prescribing tax preparation in clinics serving kids.
于是我们成立了StreetCred，一个在儿童诊所提供报税服务的组织。
This is a brand-new approach and one that left some questioning our sanity.
这是一种全新的方式，有很多人怀疑我们是不是疯了。
After all, we're doctors, not accountants.
毕竟，我们是医生，不是会计。
But we have something accountants don't: access to families.
但是我们有会计没有的东西：与家庭的沟通。
Over 90 percent of kids in the US see a doctor at least once a year.
在美国，有超过90%的儿童每年至少看一次医生。
Their parents trust us and will do anything to give them a better life.
他们的父母相信我们，为了获得更好的生活，他们愿意付出所有。
Doctors in every clinic around the country could be doing this work, too -- it's simple, really.
全国各地诊所的医生们也可以这样做，这真的很简单。
The hospital registers as a tax-preparation site, and everyone, from medical students to retirees,
医院先注册成为提供税务服务的地点，并且每个人，不管是医学专业的学生，还是已经退休的人，
can volunteer as a tax preparer after passing an IRS exam.
都可以在通过国税局考试后，作为志愿者从事报税活动。
It's not as hard as it sounds, I promise. I certainly never thought I would be doing other people's taxes, but here I am.
实际上没有听起来那么难，我保证。我之前从来没想过我会帮别人报税，但我现在在做了。
We're nearing the end of our third year.
我们做这件事马上就满三年了。
In the first two, we returned 1.6 million dollars to 750 families in Boston alone.
在前两年里，我们光在波士顿就帮助750个家庭获得了160万美元退税。
This year -- This year, we've expanded to nine sites in four states.
今年...今年，我们的服务将扩展至4个州的9个网点。
Sixty-three percent of our families have never heard of the EITC.
我们接触的家庭中有63%都没有听说过所得税抵免。
How can you claim something you haven't heard of? And half have never used free tax preparation.
如果听都没听过，你怎么可能去行使权利呢？一半的家庭从没享受过免费报税服务。
That two to three thousand dollars a year goes a long way. Take hunger.
每年2000到3000美元的数目能提供很大的帮助。拿饥饿举个例子。
An adequately nutritious, low-cost diet for a mom and two young kids costs 477 dollars a month.
一份够一位母亲、两个孩子吃的，营养丰富价格便宜的饭菜，一个月要花费477美元。
With EITC money, that family can eat for five to six months. Or think about medical care.
而通过所得税抵免获得的钱，能支撑每个家庭5到6个月的食品开销。再拿医疗服务举个例子。
Twenty million children in the US lack access to care meeting modern pediatric standards.
美国有2000万儿童没有接受过现代儿科标准医疗服务。
And yet, the average cost of that care is only 400 dollars per kid per year.
然而，这样的服务每年每个孩子平均只要花费400美元。
EITC money can help fix this access problem. Perhaps most powerfully of all, this money gives moms hope.
所得税抵免能帮助解决这些问题。可能最重要的是，这笔钱能给母亲们带来希望。
One mom used her refund for her son to study abroad in Spain.
一位母亲用这笔钱来让她的儿子去西班牙留学。
She was struggling to pay her rent, but she saw EITC money as his shot at a better future.
她付房租都有困难，但她将所得税抵免看作是能给儿子带来光明未来的机会。
We have an opportunity, as doctors and as citizens, to get to the root of this problem.
作为医生，作为公民，我们有机会去找到问题的根源。
We can reimagine health care as a place addressing the causes of poor health, be it infections or finances. Thank you.
我们可以将医疗服务重塑为一个根治健康问题的地方，不管其背后的原因是感染还是经济问题。谢谢。
