Recently, the  National Farmers Union participated in a White House roundtable discussion on rural health care.

According to Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, the discussion highlighted the challenges farmers, ranchers and rural communities face in affording health care coverage and accessing quality care.

“Rural communities are on the front lines of today’s health care crisis,” Johnson said. “President Obama’s commitment to address this challenge is welcome news to our members. Today’s economic conditions do not provide the leisure of waiting any longer.”

A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) entitled, “Hard Times in the Heartland: Health Care in Rural America,” was shared with participants. The report highlights reasons why rural communities especially must address health care this year:

— One in five uninsured people live in rural areas.

— Rural residents pay on average 40 percent of health care costs out of pocket.

— One in five insured farmers have medical debt.

Elisha Greeley Smith of the Center for Rural Affairs, said recent estimates show that about 47 million Americans lack health insurance, millions more are underinsured and health care costs continue to spiral. But for rural Americans the situation is even more critical.

According to a Center for Rural Affairs’ report “Causes and Consequences of the Rural Uninsured and Underinsured”, Smith said rural Americans are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured than urban Americans.

“With an economic foundation of small businesses, and self-employment, rural communities are not well served by a health insurance system that relies on employer-based coverage,” she said.  “Many more rural families are forced to purchase from the individual insurance market where they often wind up underinsured, with coverage that costs too much and provides too little. Those who cannot afford the significantly more expensive individual insurance packages must go without or rely on public insurance.”

Smith said the report found that rural residents are twice as likely to be underinsured as urban residents, and about twice as likely to be uninsured because their employer is a small business.

“Farmers and ranchers are four times as likely to be covered by insurance with reduced benefits and high deductibles,” she said.  “It’s not surprising that a quarter of family farmers and ranchers carry medical debt and expenses that often contribute to their financial difficulties.”

Smith said all society pays for the skyrocketing costs of health insurance.

“It is crucial for reform legislation to create a public health insurance option that provides small business and the self-employed the ability to choose more affordable, quality health care coverage,” she said.