One in four Great Plains farm families say health-care costs cause them financial problems

The high cost of health insurance is contributing to farm families' money woes and failing to protect them from additional financial risk, says The Access Project, a Boston-based research group that tries to improve health and access to health care, especially in underserved areas. Its latest study looked at seven states lying partly or completely in the Great Plains: Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and the Dakotas.

The survey of farm and ranch families in those states found that "While the vast majority of farm and ranch operators had insurance coverage, one in four said that health-care costs contributed to financial problems for their families," said a news release. The Access Project conducted the study with the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota.

Farmers generally depend on the individual insurance market and often "pay high premiums for policies that also include significant deductibles, thus resulting in high overall costs for those who experience illness," the release says. "Controlling for age and health status, families purchasing insurance from an agent in the individual market spent $4,359 more than those able to secure insurance coverage through off-farm employment. . . . Four in five families overall had insurance plans with high deductibles, suggesting that more comprehensive coverage with low deductibles is not readily available."

“Many people are being forced to make the choice between getting jobs off the farm or ranch to get more affordable insurance, or else they need to use money to pay for medical bills that could otherwise be invested in farm or ranch operations,” said Dr. Alana Knudson, associate director for research at the Center for Rural Health and a co-author of the study.