Professional Documents
Culture Documents
We are all farmers in your district, and we ask that you vote NO on the American Health Care
Act.
Farmers like us, of all ages and all backgrounds, come here to live, learn, work, and run
businesses. We are a resilient bunch who value the vibrant agricultural community in CD19 and
we know that our community values us. As a member of the Agricultural Committee, you work
each day to protect and advance our interests when it comes to access to land, capital and
markets. Today we ask that you vote to protect our interest in quality, affordable health care.
Its been said that only three things can kill a farmer -- lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old
age. This may be correct, which is why healthcare is so important to us. We are all optimists. We
all hope to grow old and be healthy, but we are exposed to tremendous risk every day. We know
that health, like weather and profit, can change for the worse in an instant.
Every farmer can tell you of unplanned trips to the hospital after an accident, or of a neighbor
who became suddenly ill, needing surgery or an expensive course of life-saving medication. In
New York, we are exposed to constant threat from Lyme disease.
Farmers purchase insurance in different ways. As a group, we use Medicaid, Medicare, the
individual market, and group plans, and some of us are uninsured. On both new and established
farms the affordable health insurance and protections of the ACA were built into business plans.
Thanks to the ACA, many farmers were able to purchase quality health insurance for the first
time in their agricultural careers.
The American Health Care Act, however, rolls back these gains and hurts us all. Reductions in
Medicaid eligibility mean that some of us who are struggling to run a business will become
ineligible. Those of us who purchase insurance on the individual market, or participate in group
plans will see the actuarial value of insurance go down while our out of pocket costs go up.
Under the AHCA many of us will be unable to afford meaningful coverage. We will be exposed
to needless risk and encouraged to make imprudent decisions about our own health.
This is a bad deal and this is bad legislation. Sure, some of us may benefit in the short term the
youngest and healthiest among us may end up getting a larger subsidy, and some of us may roll
the dice by foregoing insurance without penalty or waiting to get sick before buying a plan but
these benefits are a poor bargain because they come at the expense of the poor, the sick, and the
elderly. As farmers, we know that one day we may be poor and sick and we all hope to one day
be elderly.
President Trump likes to style himself after President Jackson. Donald Trump imagines himself a
populist, fighting for the forgotten men and women of America. It would be wise for him and
for all of those in our legislative chambers to recall what Andrew Jackson knew, that farmers are
the bone and sinew of the country, men [and women] who love liberty and desire nothing but
equal rights and equal laws.
The AHCA does not satisfy those desires. We love liberty, but there is no liberty in a law which
frees us to choose between buying our seeds and visiting the doctor. That is not a choice any
free person should ever have to make. We desire equal rights and equal laws, but are insulted by
the notion that there is equality in a law which lavishes tax breaks on the rich while exposing
farmers to increased costs and decreased value. Farmers are optimistic not foolish, stubborn not
indifferent, sometimes young but always aging. We are the bone, and sinew of this country. We
oppose the AHCA because the AHCA stands in opposition to us.
Before casting your vote, we ask you to consider how many of us gained access to coverage
through the ACA, and how much we stand to lose if the AHCA becomes law. We ask you to
think of us, the farmers in your district, and vote NO on the AHCA.
Sincerely,