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| CRBJ Home > April 2007 | |||||
Farm federation hopeful about health cooperativeBy Tom Thieding
The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation has supported the creation of the Farmers' Health Cooperative of Wisconsin because it offers a market-based option for farmers to obtain health insurance, mainly through an expanded purchasing pool, with a consistent base of customers. The Farm Bureau applauds the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives, Gov. Jim Doyle, Rep. Dave Obey and Sen. Herb Kohl for their hard work to pull this health insurance cooperative together. To understand the potential benefit of the health insurance cooperative for farmers, it's necessary to understand the health insurance situation for farmers. As self-employed individuals, they do not get group rates as other businesses get. As a segment of Wisconsin's workforce and economy, farmers pay more for health insurance and have less coverage than other segments of businesses and employees in the state. According to a survey of farmers that the Farm Bureau conducted in 2006, 31 percent of Wisconsin farmers were either uninsured or only had catastrophic health insurance coverage. Here is the health insurance situation that farmers face: • Individual insurance plans are costly. Farmers who purchase their own insurance either are hit with high premiums, high deductibles, or high co-payments to get coverage. • Preventative coverage is jeopardized. To make health more affordable, farmers have to give up on basic coverage such as preventative care or prescription drug coverage. • Pre-existing conditions, new health conditions and farm work is excluded. Because many farmers purchase their own insurance, many times their coverage is dropped or their premiums and deductibles sky-rocket when they have a medical incident. Compared with other areas of the workforce, farmers have higher rates of being underinsured. About 28 percent of farmers with health insurance do not have insurance that covers preventative care, compared with 9.3 percent of self-employed and 4 percent of wage and salary workers. A growing concern for farmers is that farmers themselves or their spouses are forced to get additional off-farm employment to get coverage. Even if they do get insurance from an off-farm job, more and more farmers report insurance policies excluding coverage for any farm-related medical incident, defeating the whole purpose of having health insurance. The Farmers' Health Cooperative of Wisconsin that was announced Feb. 19 is designed to address the three main problems farmers face. The new health cooperative is an option to provide farmers with purchasing and coverage options that many don't have. Just by having a purchasing pool, individual farmers will now get some of the advantages that businesses have by obtaining health insurance through a larger group. Farmers are required to remain with the health cooperative for three years. This provides a more stable pool for the cooperative to bargain for rates and coverage with the insurance underwriter. The health cooperative also has eligibility components that accept farmers with pre-existing conditions. While we have never suggested to farmers that a cooperative can lower the cost of health care, we believe this health pool can help manage price increases, while maintaining a quality base of coverage. We are eager to see how the heath insurance offerings through the Farmers' Health Cooperative of Wisconsin address the major concerns of cost and coverage for farm families. Tom Thieding is the Executive Director of Public Relations for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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