House Farm Bill Language Would Help Promote Farmer Group Health Plans

KRVN 880 Rural Radio:

The farm bill could be used next year to offer some relief for farmers from high healthcare insurance premiums they face.

Association Health Plans (AHPs) have become an avenue touted by the Trump administration to reduce health insurance costs for small employers. The U.S. Department of Labor has a proposal, which could become final any day, to expand the use of AHPs. The plans could provide a potentially cheaper insurance option for millions of people, including 6 million small-business employees and 3 million sole proprietors.

Under the proposed rule, AHPs would be allowed for businesses with a “commonality of interests,” such a farmers. The Labor Department is dropping requirements that businesses must have at least one employee, which would broaden AHPs to sole proprietors. And the association doesn’t have to exist solely to market health coverage, so farm groups and others can create plans.