Using alcohol to deal with the stress of farming is revealed by Jeff Ditzenberger, a corn and soybean farmer. At one point, Jeff attempted suicide. He has since started a peer support group. This 7- minute HBO video, The Farmers Fighting Rural America’s Mental Health Crisis, features Jeff and other farmers talking about the challenge of handling stressors in the farming business.
VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwKaae4ilqE
H E A L T H I N S U R A N C E C H A L L E N G E S
Data from a USDA-funded study (Inwood et al., 2018) provided the following information:
Health insurance was identified by 73% of those farmers as an important or very important risk management strategy for their farm or ranch. Young farmers said that access to health insurance was one of the most significant issues impacting their future on the farm or ranch - a finding consistent with a survey of young farmers (Ackoff et al., 2017). Health insurance was named as one of the top two reasons for off-farm employment. Among young farm and ranch families, 41% enrolled in public insurance to keep costs down and to be able to invest more of their human capital on farming operations and/or family. Among farmers in the study who had health insurance, only 51% reported their plans covered mental health; 33% didn’t know if mental health coverage was part of their plans.
Concerns about the financial cost of health insurance and health care were noted by many farmers:
• 52% are not confident they could pay the costs of a major illness and injury without going into debt
• 45% are concerned they may need to sell some or all of their farm to pay for health care costs
Impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic on off-farm income and on the ability of farmers to retain health insurance through their off- farm jobs aren’t available. However, with find ings from a study that 66% (Inwood et al., 2018) have pre-existing conditions, many in the farming population are vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus. Studies have shown that farmworkers are often without health insurance (University of California, 2020). Having health insurance to help pay for treatment is important for farming families and farmworkers, as is having access to care. However, in early 2021, many rural health care providers and hospitals were overwhelmed in their ability to provide COVID-19 related and other care. The fact that many hospitals in rural areas have closed in recent years contributed to this situation.
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