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| Serving Callaway County communities since 1875. | www.fultonsun.com | Wednesday, November 19, 2008 |
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Healthcare coverage ails rural Callaway By ROGER MEISSEN The Fulton Sun
That's because farmers, other self-employed workers and small businesses are faced with significantly higher insurance costs than those who partake in group plans through their employer. “You can clearly see that right now the individual insurance marketplace is not working for family farmers,” said Rhonda Perry, director of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center. “That is in part because the individual marketplace in Missouri is completely unregulated and unfettered. “Basically, insurance companies can do anything they want like turn you down for any reason, not cover you for any reason, raise your rates at an exorbitant rate and don't offer affordable plans with good deductibles for farmers and small business owners. That's a big problem.” The Missouri Rural Crisis Center highlighted these problems on the farm in its recent study focuing on this problem for farmers. It worked with Missouri Jobs with Justice, St. Louis University Center for Health Law Studies and the Boston-based Access Project in this study that used the United States Department of Agriculture to question farmers about healthcare. It found one in five Missouri farmers and ranchers were hit with financial problems because of healthcare costs that averaged $2,117 more than individuals insured through a company or pool plan. That forces many farmers to choose plans with high deductibles and less coverage. “Farmers who buy insurance on the individual market are relying on the most cost-effective plans out there, which are ones with high premiums and high deductibles,” Perry said. “Ninety percent of farmers have some kind of health insurance and they care because they don't want to lose their property, their farm, their land, and don't want to lose that to a medical crisis. Those costs hit home for local farmers who have felt that impact. Jim Zerr - a Williamsburg farmer - said that although he now receives Medicare and only needs supplemental insurance, it can saddle farmers with additional cost. “(Medicare) cuts down a little bit on the burden from what it was several years ago when I wasn't on Medicare,” Zerr said. “But it's still got to come out of the bottom line for your farming operation when you supply it yourself.” This difficulty has led many farmers to maintain jobs outside of the farm solely for insurance coverage. The report shows that many farmers and their families take these outside jobs for healthcare plans and wouldn't need them otherwise if individual plans were not so overpriced. “Clearly, it's driving farmers into jobs that offer health insurance,” Perry said. “That's not the goal of the farmer to have an off-farm job where they work eight hours and then come home and work another eight hours. “That's not a plus for those farmers.” Farm organizations like the Missouri Farm Bureau hear from members across the state that are concerned about health insurance and other healthcare issues in rural communities. “Healthcare is an issue across the board in agriculture communities and those who live and work across rural Missouri,” said Garrett Hawkins, Missouri Farm Bureau's director of national affairs. “Many of our members have shared concerns about the cost of healthcare and access to it. “In times of these high fuel prices it's not easy for someone to drive to a major metropolitan area for quality care.” The American Farm Bureau has formed a Rural Development team to assess those problems and propose solutions, such as pool plans directed at farmers. At the same time, it's worked to defend against legislation that would negatively affect health in rural communities. “Last year we fought against measures in Missouri that would have restricted access by restricting the use of physician assistants in the state,” Hawkins said. “That's a real issue in rural areas where a lot of times the nearest doctor can be 30 minutes away,” “We worked to pass legislation that would prevent that because our members made it clear that that was an important part of their healthcare network,” he continued. “These are important pieces of the healthcare puzzle and all affect whether folks have real access to healthcare.” With the fall election only a month away, Perry urged voters to pay close attention candidates healthcare plans and what they would do to help or hurt healthcare for farmers. “We should be looking at what their positions on healthcare are and should be telling them that key things - like pooling insurance coverage - would help farmers,” Perry said. “Any candidate who proposes plans that move people away from the pool and employer sponsored insurance to the individual market, we need to tell them that's not the way to go unless there's further regulation of the insurance industry.” |
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