
Americans who operate small family farms and ranches often cannot get adequate health care and insurance. A journalist who spent her summers on her family’s Texas ranch writes about relatives’ struggles and the challenges rural residents face today.
Super glue and animal antibiotics are in the medicine cabinets of many farmers and ranchers in Texas — tools of the trade they sometimes use on themselves to avoid a trip to the doctor.
It’s not that they have anything against physicians. It’s because they either lack health insurance or their coverage is so limited that a doctor visit could saddle them with a hefty bill.
I know this because I’ve seen the glue (used to seal wounds) and animal meds in first-aid kits of some of my family members who are uninsured farmers and ranchers in south Texas. And they’re not alone. Nationwide, 10.7% of farm household members had no health insurance, compared with 9.1% for the U.S. population, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report using 2015 data, the most recent available.
Read the Full Article.
Comments