time's a wastin' -- we're burning daylight!Small Businesses and Farmers
risk it all, everyday. Right here in the Shenandoah Valley, many family farms, just like ours, are
just one illness away from financial disaster. Some of us are fortunate enough to work off-the-farm and have decent group medical plans. But many good folks don't have this option or opportunity.
Unfortunately the battle lines are now harshly drawn in Congress, progress on affordable solutions for every American, a national health care safety net -
a public option - still seems out of reach. Congress critters are back-pedaling, big money is talking, and we little people suck hind teat, again.
Out here in rural America many of us are just looking for a fair and reasonable solution, and maybe just a damn bit of consideration for people over profits. Predictably, Big Pharma and Big Med Insurance don't support a public option. BRD will be looking into where all the lobbying money goes, to find some of the root causes of this impasse, Dems and Repubs. We'll
just follow the money, easy as pie.It seems that major medical insurers aren't offering affordable solutions in rural America, there are bigger profits and less risk elsewhere. Too bad for us, huh? Big money talks!
This time around -- we also have noisy R-wingy ideologues -- fear-mongers -- for many reasons, more obtuse than protecting their fat wallets, that are dead set against any national process improvement in health care. The politics of fear and hate. Go figure.
Some folks are dumber than a box of rocks.-------------------------------------------
If you agree with BRD, that we need a strong
public option for affordable healthcare, then call our Congress critters, be nice, but be firm. You'll know what say. I trust you.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte 202-225-5431
Sen. Jim Webb 202-224-4024
Sen. Mark Warner 202-224-2023We're looking for a few heroes out here in the country.
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For a in-depth story on rural health care, check out this recent NPR program.
NPR, 6/14/09: Affordable Health Insurance Elusive In Rural U.S."If anything were to happen to my wife and I, the business is sunk," Harbour said, standing in the shop he built from scratch. "It's like playing Russian roulette. Every day, we wonder when it's going to happen — if something's going to happen, are we able to afford it?"
Harbour has a son and daughter who are covered by a state health insurance plan for children. He and his wife searched for their own coverage, but found premiums would cost from $24,000 to $40,000 a year, plus a $2,000 deductible. Both are healthy and young, and both work supplemental jobs as school bus drivers, but the jobs don't come with insurance.
He said the insurance he and his wife investigated was basic, to the point where the couple would have to pay more for the insurance than they would for the health care they'd receive.
"It's unaffordable for me, especially being a small business owner, because I don't have a certain amount of employees to be able to get a better rate," Harbour said.
The Harbours are not alone. Half of all jobs in rural places are tied to small businesses, a rate 13 percent higher than in cities and suburbs. And people who work for small businesses are twice as likely to be uninsured, according to Jon Bailey of the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons, Neb.
"The two biggest determinants of un-insurance in this country are the owner of a small business or employee of a small business," reported Bailey, who co-authored an April 2009 study describing the rates of uninsured and underinsured rural Americans. "And that's more common in rural areas."
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Fast Facts On Rural Health Insurance
- Percentage of noncorporate farmers and ranchers with health insurance: 95
- Percentage of all Americans with health insurance: 84.7
- The likely rate of underinsurance in rural areas compared with cities and suburbs: double
- Percentage of the rural poor covered by Medicaid: 45
- Percentage of the urban poor covered by Medicaid: 49
- Percentage of all Americans dependent on individual health insurance policies with reduced benefits and high deductibles: 8
- Percentage of farmers and ranchers dependent on individual health insurance policies: 33
- Percentage of farmers and ranchers carrying medical debt: 20
- Percentage of all Americans carrying medical debt: 28
- Percentage of rural workers who have jobs with small businesses: 50
- Percentage of urban workers who have jobs with small business: 37
- The likely rate of having no insurance for small-business workers compared with all workers: double
- Percentage of non-elderly urban workers insured at work: 72
- Percentage of non-elderly rural workers insured at work: 61
- Percentage of U.S. physicians working in rural America: 10
- Percentage of U.S. population defined as rural: 25
- Number of dentists practicing in urban areas per 100,000 people: 60
- Number of dentists practicing in rural areas per 100,000 people: 40
Sources: National Rural Health Association, The Access Project, Office of Rural Health Policy, U.S. Census Bureau, The Commonwealth Fund and Center for Rural Affairs
