Blog for Rural America-Farm Bill Issues Resurfacing?

Blog for Rural America

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Farm Bill Issues Resurfacing? Posted: 15 Oct 2009 02:47 PM PDT I've been on the road organizing in Wisconsin and Minnesota for the past 10 days, and I come back to find that the health insurance industry has released several of self-serving reports "proving" that if health reform passes, individual premiums will skyrocket. As if they're not already out of control. This immediately makes me think of a similar situation we faced in the Farm Bill in 2008. There are some who argue that commodity subsidies paid to farmers by the government should be based on the cost a farmer pays to produce the crop plus a reasonable rate of payment for their work. In theory, I am behind this 100%. However, one of the major production costs these days is seed. Monsanto sells 90% of the genetically engineered seeds that farmers plant, so there is little to stop them from raising the price of their seeds as much as they want, whenever they like. Which they've done. If government subsidies are based the cost of production, which is based in part on the cost of seed and the chemicals that must be used with that seed, any increase in government subsidies due to the increased cost of production goes directly into the pockets of Monsanto and will not really help farmers. The health insurance market is even more harmful to consumers because since 1945, health insurance providers have enjoyed an exemption from anti-trust laws. Meaning that unlike Monsanto, the law doesn't require a competitive marketplace. The only other entity that shares this exemption is Major League Baseball. Without competition and strict cost controls, health insurance providers would be able to raise their premium prices at will. Government subsidies are meant to help low and moderate income people pay their premiums, but it stands to reason that much of this subsidy will go towards raising the profits of health insurance providers. Many of the proposals currently being considered include cost control measures. Some are better than others, and the ones that control costs best are being heavily fought by insurance companies. But the best cost control is a healthy, competitive marketplace. The Department of Justice has not done a good job at breaking up the near-monopoly that Monsanto holds on seeds, so I don't trust them to break up the well-established and currently legal monopolies that the health insurance industry enjoys. But clearly the exemption from anti-trust laws needs to be repealed. All this serves to convince me even more that without a public health insurance option to provide immediate and fierce competition to private health insurance, this reform will not be as successful as it could be in providing affordable access to health insurance for rural communities.