INFB Trying to Find ‘Affordable’ Healthcare Options for Members
Affordable healthcare insurance remains a top issue for Indiana and U.S. farmers, and that’s why Indiana Farm Bureau recently launched a survey to solicit feedback on what members need. They want to hear from you to help assess the feasibility of INFB to offer any sort of healthcare program that could help reduce costs.
INFB President Randy Kron told Hoosier Ag Today, “Probably every meeting I go to, at some point in the meeting, somebody brings up the cost of healthcare. It’s not as much about what’s available, it’s all about the cost. If you’re a sole proprietor like our farmers out here…I had a gentleman the other day tell me he was spending $36,000 a year on healthcare and he said, ‘My farm can’t stand that.’”
Healthcare insurance is in a state of flux due to changes in the Affordable Care Act, Department of Labor rules, legal challenges and other factors. Kron has been meeting with other state Farm Bureaus and several different insurance providers in search of a solution. Kron says there is not a “one size fits all” product currently available.
“Our goal is to try to find something that is, I’m not going to say affordable, but a lower cost than what’s out there on the market right now. I’ve been in over a dozen meetings about this and I’ve learned more about healthcare than I probably wanted to, and I’ll just say it is really complicated…but we’re trying to see if there’s a place for us to be able to help our members and the farmers around Indiana.”
The survey closes on Friday, September 27. A link to the survey has been emailed to all members who are registered with VoterVoice and a print copy will be made available in this month’s issue of INFB’s member-only publication, The Hoosier Farmer.