Study shows Upper Midwest farmers struggling under health costs even when they have insurance

A new study from the Center for Rural Affairs shows more rural people are sinking under the weight of medical costs even when they have health insurance. The Nebraska-based center joined with the Boston-based Access Project to study health insurance among more than 2,000 non-corporate farms and ranches in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana and North and South Dakota, Art Hover of the Lincoln Journal Star reports.

Jon Bailey, the center's director of rural research, told Hover the study should be cause for alarm as Congress considers health care reform because of its "additional evidence that the current health insurance system does not work for large parts of rural America." The study showed that while 90 percent of respondents said everyone in their household had health insurance, 20 percent were carrying medical debt, and 31 percent of those in medical debt say they had delayed medical care. In a state-by-state breakdown of out-of-pocket health care spending, Nebraska was highest at a median amount of $8,3000, and Missouri was lowest at $5,378.

"Accrual of medical debt is a good indicator that health care is not affordable," Carol Pryor, policy director for the Access Project, told Hover. "These kinds of things not only undermine family finances, but also one of the things people say is they can't make investments in the farm or they have to invest in employment, which takes away from the time they can invest in the farm." Nebraska Office of Rural Health director Dennis Berens says the state may lead in spending on premiums and out-of-pocket costs because rural customers are "buying catastrophic insurance and hoping they're not going to get sick." (Read more)