Why rural American needs a Public Health Insurance Plan

LYONS, NE - Today the Center for Rural Affairs released a report entitled, Why Rural America Needs a Public Health Insurance Plan Option. The report examines some of the arguments for a public health insurance plan, how the public health insurance plan would address the health care challenges that exist for rural areas, and, ultimately, why the choice of a public health insurance plan option is needed for rural America.

In much of the mainstream media the health care debate has largely been reported primarily as an urban issue. But this Center for Rural Affairs analysis demonstrates that rural people need health care reform, and the option to obtain health insurance through a public health insurance plan, as much or more than their urban counterparts.

"The current health insurance system does not work well for many rural people and rural businesses," said Jon Bailey, Director of Research and Analysis at the Center for Rural Affairs and author of the report. "They pay too much for too little coverage and too little peace of mind. Health care reform that is based on the current system does little to address the unique issues faced by many rural people -- why should rural people be satisfied with maintaining a system that does not work for millions of them without significant reforms? A public health insurance plan option is simply that - a choice that addresses many of the health insurance issues and barriers faced by rural people, families and businesses."

A full copy of the report can be viewed and downloaded at http://files.cfra.org/pdf/Public_Plan.pdf .

"Rural people have much to gain from inclusion of a public health insurance plan option in health care reform legislation, possibly more than any other group in the nation," said Bailey.

According to Bailey, rural people are subject to myriad risk factors that lead to higher rates of being without insurance and to insurance instability. Rural workplace characteristics such as greater dependence on small business employment, more self-employment, more low-wage work, and rural health disparities and less choice in the health insurance market all lead to increased risk of being uninsured, underinsured or having less stable health insurance coverage. Rural America has higher rates of uninsured adults under 65, with 24 percent of such rural adults uninsured compared to 22 percent in urban areas. The gaps grow wider in rural areas that are not adjacent to urban areas and in more remote and smaller rural areas.

These are all issues a public health insurance plan option would address, all to the benefit of rural individuals, families and businesses.

Key Points:
· The cost of health insurance is crushing the self-employed and microbusinesses that form the bulk of the rural economy.

· The availability of affordable and quality health insurance is the primary barrier to entrepreneurship-the most effective rural development strategy-reaching its potential for rural people and rural communities.

· Individual and business mandates with the current system as the only health insurance option are unlikely to address unique rural challenges.

· Workplace characteristics more common in rural areas are risk factors for higher rates of uninsurance, underinsurance and greater dependence on the individual insurance market, conditions all subject to issues of cost, choice and level of coverage that a public health insurance plan could address.

· A public health insurance plan available as an option helps address the rural risk factors leading to rural insurance instability and would act as a backup for all of the rural factors leading to greater insurance instability.

· A public health insurance plan could lead to significantly lower costs for businesses and households. Models show public health insurance plan premiums would be 16 to 30 percent lower than private plans, and premium
savings would be up to 41 percent greater with a public health insurance plan.

"It seems folly to depend solely on the current system that does not work for large numbers of rural people," added Bailey. "The cost of health insurance also affects the dreams of potential rural entrepreneurs, delaying or killing an idea by making it too risky for one to leave employer-provided insurance at a current job, the so-called 'job lock' phenomena."

This is the fifth in a series of Center for Rural Affairs reports examining crucial health care issues in rural America.  Previous reports can be found on the front page of the Center's website (www.cfra.org).


The Source: Review Messenger