We the People

Obamacare affects farmers

by Morgan Pratt

 

It is estimated 7 million people signed up for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act by yesterday’s midnight deadline, according to The New York Times. Before the deadline, Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture, encouraged farmers and ranchers to sign up for Obamacare through the online marketplace at HealthCare.gov.

 

UPR's Kerry Bringhurst spoke with Vilsack on March 25 during a phone interview. He said he had taken on the responsibility to persuade farmers and ranchers to sign up for Obamacare because he is a representative of rural America.

 

“Rural Americans were treated poorly in the old system,” Vilsack said. “People paid much more for out-of-pocket expenses for health care. They had poor access to hospitals and clinics, higher levels of uninsured people and higher levels of poorer outcomes.”

 

He said through the ACA, there are benefits which would fulfill the wants and needs of the farming community. The population of farmers and ranchers is dominated by seniors with poorer health. Also, the community at large is exposed to dangers on a daily basis among their work settings, Vilsack said.

 

“You have an opportunity for senior citizens to receive lower prescription drug costs,” Vilsack said. “You have no lifetime limits, so you do not have to worry if you are seriously hurt if your coverage is taken away from you.”

 

Vilsack said people who do not have insurance affect small towns more than they do the big cities. For example, if a patient without health care gets treatment in a small town, the clinic where they were treated may have to take on the burden of those finances that the patient did not pay for. Then the clinic may not be able to use the money for other important things such as a better medical staff or basic medical instruments. Vilsack said this is not as much of an issue in more populated areas because the clinics often have more funding and are able to better pay for someone without insurance.

 

“It takes one illness to create a tremendous financial burden,” Vilsack said. “Uninsured people get sick at the same rate insured people get sick. Who pays for that health care?”

 

Vilsack said the new system of health care in America is better than the old system because of financial issues farmers regularly face.

 

“In the past, they were required to do was either work on a farm job and have a spouse work at a non-farm job solely for the purpose of coverage,” Vilsack said. “Now they can secure a fairly affordable policy. So they are not forced or compelled to take that off-farm job and they can take more time to devote to farming and ranching operations.”

 

Vilsack said the benefits of the Affordable Care Act make it essential for people in farming communities sign up for coverage. But some local farmers from Utah are experiencing the exact opposite effect and are hesitant to sign up.

 

Russel Kohler, a dairyman from Midway, Utah, has attempted to sign up for Obamacare.“When we got quotes from our insurance provider, our premiums for basically the same type of coverage pretty close to tripled on us,” Kohler said.

 

Kohler said for now, he and his family can stay on their existing plan until Jan. 1, 2015. He will then have to get on a plan offered through the ACA. When that new insurance plan kicks in, he does not know if his wife can continue to work on the farm.

 

“We have looked at the option of having my wife go to work just to try to get insurance. It is really ugly for people who are self-employed like us,” Kohler said.

 

Kohler said he does not fully understand why he cannot stay on his existing insurance plan.  

 

“For a small dairyman like ourselves, that is going to be a significant blow to our business and we are really concerned,” Kohler said.

 

Tiffany McConkie, a wife of a rancher in Altamont, Utah, said she is working as a nurse to get access to health insurance.

 

“If you do what I do, our ranch is in a trust and we just claim what I make, it does not help us at all because we do not make the minimum amount for Obamacare to kick in," McConkie said.

 

While McConkie’s insurance covers her and her husband, it does not cover her kids.

 

“When it came time to get our insurance, the employer said that I needed a Medicaid denial from the state of Utah to be able to put my kids on our insurance,” McConkie said.

 

McConkie said she refused to put her kids on Medicaid when she could work to pay for their insurance. Instead, she had to go out of the state to Wyoming to find coverage for them.

 

For now, McConkie said she is just going to move forward with her life and continue to pay the high price of her premiums.

 

“We just pay for it full price and hopefully the price will not keep going up or I will not know what to do,” McConkie said.