Many farmers forced to drop health-insurance coverage
By Lulady B. Tadesse and Jennifer Goldblatt
The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
John Filasky Sr. and his wife, Cindi, made a tough decision 10 years ago: sacrifice health insurance to save their farm.
Gannett News Service
Like many farmers, the Middletown, Del., couple struggled to make their health-insurance payments. Cindi even considered looking for a job off the farm to get health benefits. But the couple decided John couldn't run the vegetable farm and produce market alone.
Cindi and John Filasky, farmers in Middletown, Del., dropped their health insurance 10 years ago because of rising premiums. Health-insurance costs small businesses rose 16.6 percent last year.
"If we left to get a job for insurance, we might as well close the farm," said John Filasky, 52. So the couple have been living without insurance for nearly a decade. "We go to the doctors and have our checkups, we do exercise, watch what we do, and hope that nothing happens," he said.
The Filaskys are among the 32 percent of farmers nationwide who do not have health insurance.
"They just can't afford the premiums anymore," said Robert Baker of Delaware Farm Bureau, which provides insurance to farmers. "It's a very big concern. I don't know if you can classify it as a crisis, but it's close to it."
For farmers, the risks of going without the safety net of health-care coverage are higher:
• The likelihood of farmers suffering work-related injuries or death is higher than for many occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Farmers tend to own a lot of land and equipment that can be claimed by creditors. Because their workplace and home are so closely linked, they are at risk for losing both if they don't pay their bills.
"If something happened and we had a $200,000 bill, they would come and take (our) farm eventually," said Maria Balboa, co-owner of Balboa poultry farms and florists in Dover, Del., whose health plan covers only emergencies.
While the cost of healthcare for all businesses rose 13.9 percent in 2003, the increase was higher for small-business owners, including farmers. For businesses with three to nine workers, healthcare costs rose by 16.6 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
One of the most common ways farmers obtain affordable health insurance is to get a job off the farm. The typical farmer works full time in the fields, while his wife works off the farm at a job that offers health benefits.
Middletown, Del., farmer George Lovett's wife, JoAnn, began working as a nurse five years ago at Christiana Hospital.
"It was a good business decision," said George Lovett, 52, owner of Lovett Farms. "It was too expensive to carry insurance through the farm bureau, and it was just better to send her back to work and have health insurance through her."
Though state and federal leaders have floated bills for universal healthcare coverage and other ways of helping the situation, little has been achieved. For now, more farmers are likely to join the Filaskys in the ranks of the uninsured.
