MONTGOMERY — State lawmakers will consider legislation to allow the Alabama Farmers Federation (ALFA) to begin offering health plans to its members in the 2025 legislative session, which begins on Tuesday.
State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) introduced similar legislation in 2024, but it died in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee before last year's session concluded.
Preston Roberts, ALFA's Director of Agricultural Legislation, told 1819 News on Monday that similar legislation had already been passed in 10 other states.
Roberts said, "It's proven. It's been successful and, on average, has saved the farm bureau members in those states 30% to 60% as compared to a commercial health insurance product."
"A big thing that we're hearing from our members is the cost of health care. We have been hearing from our members that, in some circumstances, they're paying upwards of $2,800 per month. In some circumstances, that could be double the mortgage payment for a family farm. This is driving families to make difficult decisions, either going without insurance or sending a spouse off the farm to essentially work two jobs. It's a real issue, and we think that we're in a unique position to help provide affordable health coverage to our members," Roberts said.
If the bill is passed into law, ALFA estimates an enrollment of about 10,000 people covered by year five of the program.
"The group that we're able to serve best are those that don't have an employer-provided plan and can not qualify for federal subsidies that are paying these premiums upwards to $1,500 to $2,500 a month in some cases," Roberts said.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and the American Heart Association oppose the legislation.
"Essentially, because the health care coverage they're proposing will be exempted from the state's insurance code and also therefore then will be exempt from the federal standards and codes. They're going to be essentially unregulated," Jada Shaffer, governmental affairs regional lead with the American Heart Association told 1819 News. "We just want to make sure that we ensure patients are able to access the treatments they need in a timely manner without any undue financial burden. Evidence shows that a lot of these farm bureau plans exclude a lot of the essential benefits such as maternity and newborn care, substance abuse, tobacco cessation, and preventative services, and so we want to make sure that consumers have adequate health care coverage and making sure that pre-existing conditions are covered. Because it will be unregulated, the farm bureau can decide whether or not a patient's service could be covered or not."
Roberts said, "The argument that these plans are in any way different as far as coverage is just not true."
"These are equivalent to what is offered on the commercial insurance marketplace. In fact, what we have seen is that in other states, members are able to increase their coverage because of the amount of savings that they've experienced. The coverages are good and cover what people would expect insurance products to cover," Roberts said.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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