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Farmer says health insurance costs are “ridiculous”

A Wisconsin farmer says something needs to be done about the cost of health insurance for farmers and small businesses.  Dan Meyer of Kiel, Wisconsin tells Brownfield, “My wife works on the farm as well so our farm supplies our health insurance, and the costs are ridiculous.”

Meyer operates a 1250 acre dairy and grain farm with his wife, and he’s the President of the Manitowoc County Farm Bureau chapter.  Meyer tells Brownfield insurance was expensive under his old policy and has only gotten worse.  “With that policy, the worst-case scenario was $36,000 a year if we’d have ever reached our deductibles because we had to have deductibles that high in order to afford the monthly premiums.”

Meyer says he would like to see insurance changes since the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, has made it more costly for his family.  “Find a way to have a more competitive marketplace.  All of the health care providers in our state left other than one under the Affordable Care Act and private insurance is really hard to get.  It almost doesn’t exist anymore.  It’s really hard for an independent business to get insurance other than through the Affordable Care Act right now.”

Meyer says he doesn’t believe most workers understand what it means to pay for all of their own health insurance.

Meyer talked to Brownfield Thursday in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where four of the state’s ag groups endorsed Governor Scott Walker’s re-election bid.  Wisconsin Farm Bureau, Wisconsin Corn Growers, Wisconsin Pork Producers Association, and the Dairy Business Association