The Privilege of Paying $10,000

Being a farmer requires hard work, patience, a sense of humor and an affinity for work boots. A strong back, a loving family and good neighbors also add to the success of any farm.

What doesn't come easily if you're a farmer is health insurance (pdf), which is why I asked nearly everyone I met at the recent Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin about their views and personal situations on health care.

Folks I met seemed surprised that someone working on health care was at an organic farming conference. But once I explained that farmers and rural residents need their voices heard in the upcoming reform, a lot of heads nodded.

The facial expressions that followed my question of "what do you do for health care?" were telling, and ranged from sad laughter to grave concern. Some said they didn't have health insurance because the premiums and deductible weren't worth it for the cost - instead they work their farm carefully and try not to get sick. Another used the health insurance provided by her spouse.

Others relied on various state plans, with one person lamenting that he had to keep his income down or he'd lose his health care. He works hard, but while one can cobble together a reasonable living with several part-time jobs, individual private health insurance is too costly for him unless it is provided by the state. One farming couple joked that they pay $400 a month for the privilege of paying the $10,000 yearly deductible.

It is a struggle felt by many - a new report by Families USA found that 1 in 3 Americans under the age of 65 were uninsured at some point in 2007 and 2008.

One of the keynote speakers, Dr. Alan Greene, was introduced in the midst of one of these health care conversations. An author and pediatrician with a popular website, Dr. Greene's said that what we do in our daily lives is the "main course" of health. In a talk that ranged from sad to funny, panic-inducing to reassuring, he dissected study after medical study in language even the kids in the crowd could take in.

Pesticides disrupt our hormone systems and give us cancer. Healthy eating prevents sicknesses and can be more effective at treating illnesses than drugs. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes are now seen in two-thirds of high school students. Eating, said Dr. Greene, is either an investment in your future health or a debt that must eventually be paid in the form of poor health.

Good advice of course, but Dr. Greene missed the fact that fresh, organic food is not available to everyone. Many of the listeners at the keynote cannot afford to eat organic produce if they do not grow it themselves.

In my own rural community, there are few organic options and the fresh produce is sometimes anything but fresh. Yet having a grocery store in my small town is important to me and to my community, and I will continue to shop there. Perhaps I'll even drum up the courage to chat with the produce buyer about the benefits of organic food.

The idea that will likely stick with me the longest was from co-farmer of the year Tom Franzen. In the award presentation, Tom was quoted as saying that “Change is not made by comfortable people”.

In rural towns, it can be hard to challenge your neighbors' preconceived notions about what kind of health care reform our country needs or what type of food we should see in our local grocery store. But the change we need won't come until we face our discomfort with the fact that our current systems fail for too many of us.

So talk to your family, friends, co-workers and neighbors about health care reform and healthy food. Find out their stories, concerns, and ideas, and share them with the rest of us in the comments. If a river starts with one drop of water, then changing our health starts one conversation and one mind at a time.

(Photo credit: The Consumerist on Flickr.)