For years, Indiana farmer Corina Brant faced significant pressure regarding healthcare. Due to being ineligible for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, she took on a second job that pulled her away from her farm duties.
That all changed in 2021 when she purchased an insurance policy for herself and her family from the Indiana Farm Bureau. She is one of a growing number of states allowing these agencies, which advocate for farmers, to sell guaranteed-issue policies from major insurance companies like "UnitedHealthcare." The laws are based on a decades-old Tennessee law that allows a state's Farm Bureau to sell health coverage to farmers.
However, there is a problem. Although these policies are inexpensive, they come with significant restrictions. These medical insurance plans cover check-ups and most medical procedures, but they are not required to cover applicants with pre-existing conditions or to maintain coverage for someone who becomes seriously ill.
In this sense, they resemble the short-term, cheap plans promoted by the Trump administration as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. Many criticize them, calling them "junk plans," while their proponents say they expand affordable options for an underserved group.
For Brant, who farms corn and soybeans near Frankfurt, Indiana, it is still worth it. "Since we don't have to worry about coverage, I've been able to work full-time on the farm," Brant said.
Group Insurance n Another state to adopt these plans is Ohio, which passed legislation last summer with broad bipartisan support to allow its Farm Bureau to participate. It joins 11 other states, including Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas, which have implemented similar measures. Wisconsin may also join this group, although the outlook there is less certain.
The Farm Bureaus in those states now provide group health insurance to thousands of people, though obtaining accurate data is difficult. Some Farm Bureaus have refused to comment or provide numbers.
The Tennessee Farm Bureau covers about 200,000 individuals. Stephen Allen, health programs director for the bureau, said Indiana's Farm Bureau plans have enrolled about 11,000 farmers and their family members, up from 5,000 in 2021.
Still, Allen says enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans in states like Tennessee, Arkansas, and Indiana has all increased in recent years. For example, Indiana had 359,240 Affordable Care Act plan enrollments in 2025, double the number in 2023.
Fluctuating Income n Farmers have always struggled to find affordable health insurance due to the volatility of their income. In this broader political battle over extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, which Congress will try to address by the end of the year, may not make a big difference for many farmers, regardless of the outcome.
While insurance premiums are fixed, farmers' incomes are fluctuating because they depend on the size of the year's crop compared to costs for materials like fertilizer. Not all of these expenses can be deducted, meaning that calculating income to find a health plan can be a moving target.
Risks n "If you don't know whether your monthly income will be $3,000 or $3,500, you don't know what percentage of your income the premiums will consume," said Amit Batabyal, an economics professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Under this accounting system, many farmers are classified as self-employed or small business owners. They are too wealthy on paper to qualify for subsidies but are actually financially strained. If someone paid too little in premiums the prior year, the calculations for farmers can be risky.
From The Washington Post n Ambiguous Role n U.S. Farm Bureaus are not subject to any disclosure requirements, leaving potential applicants in the dark, according to a 2023 Government Accountability Office report. The report warned that policymakers "lack a clear understanding of how these plans and their memberships work, their role in the insurance market, and the potential scope of their impact on individual consumers and the workforce".
• Insurance premiums can sometimes be high relative to income, as they are fixed, while farmers' incomes are volatile due to their reliance on crop size.
