More states are offering cheap health plans to farmers, with a catch

For years, Indiana farmer Corina Brant found herself squeezed on health care. Unable to qualify for Affordable Care Act subsidies, she worked an extra job that took her away from her farm duties.

That all changed in 2021, when she bought a policy for herself and her family under the Indiana Farm Bureau. It’s one of the growing number of states that allow these agencies — which lobby on behalf of farmers — to sell policies underwritten by large insurers such as UnitedHealthcare. The laws are modeled after a decades-old Tennessee statute that allows a state farm bureau to sell health coverage to farmers.