Kaiser Permanente Bridge Program: Reasonably priced Heathcare for Farmers 

By Ain Chiké  

Ain is a Farmer Companies Coordinator at Georgia Organics. She at the moment leads progress with connecting farmers to Kaiser Bridge Well being Insurance coverage and is the creator and supervisor of the Georgia Organics Apprenticeship Program.

Farming is inherently laborious work and managing danger turns into a day by day observe. Farm homeowners who’re a part of the farm’s labor power can not afford to take days off because of sudden sickness or harm. The time away equates to lack of earnings and elevated medical payments. The identical is true of farm staff. In 2017, Georgia Organics partnered with Kaiser Permanente to deliver metro Atlanta space farmers inexpensive healthcare underneath the Kaiser Permanente Bridge Healthcare Program.

The Kaiser Bridge Program provides uninsured, low-income people and households with sponsored high-level medical insurance. This program helps to “bridge” the hole for agricultural staff who don’t qualify for Medicaid and discover the month-to-month premiums of the Reasonably priced Care Act burdensome.   

For the reason that program’s inception, Georgia Organics has helped over 50 farm homeowners, farm staff, and their certified dependents obtain healthcare. Our farmers have saved hundreds of {dollars} on surprising medical charges, follow-up care, and annual physicals. In some instances, individuals who would usually ignore a lingering ache, progressive cough, or twisted joint, had been in a position to schedule a go to at a Kaiser Permanente workplace to obtain high tier medical care. This helped them get again on the farm in good bodily situation and prevented their illnesses from exaggerating.

Certainly one of our Farmer Members, Hanna Brown, a fifth-year farm employee and present a part of the Love is Love farm crew, spoke about an typically ignored advantage of being in this system and insured when she acknowledged that

“…being part of the Kaiser Bridge Program has enormously improved my peace of thoughts. With as many healthcare considerations that would come as a direct results of farm work, understanding that I might simply and affordably obtain healthcare has been an unlimited reduction.” 

WHO CAN PARTICIAPTE IN THE PROGRAM? 

Eligible people: 

• Farm homeowners, farmer workers (this contains undocumented staff), agricultural contractors, those that work in forestry, these in a farm mentorship program, and so forth.   

• Stay or work in Bartow, Butts, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Lamar, Newton, Paulding, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, or Walton counties of Georgia. 

• Meet annual or month-to-month earnings necessities of this system. 

• Preserve membership with a Georgia Organics or SAAFON in the course of enrollment.

PROGRAM UPDATES

Previous individuals and people aware of this system ought to be conscious that the protection restrict has been expanded past the earlier two-year protection rule.  

WHEN AND HOW TO APPLY

The upcoming open enrollment interval will start in Nov. 2023 and shut in Jan. 2024. Former two-year beneficiaries are inspired to re-apply by way of Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.

In case you learn this text after the deadline, re-apply between Nov. 2023 and Jan. 2024 in the course of the open enrollment interval.

New to Kaiser Bridge? Electronic mail gofarmerservices@gmail.com to sign-up for open enrollment updates and be taught extra about this system for you and your farm workers.

Click on to be taught extra concerning the Kaiser Bridge Program 

READY TO JOIN OR RENEW YOUR GEORGIA ORGANICS MEMBERSHIP TODAY? Discover the appropriate membership stage for you at www.georgiaorganics.org/membership.

To be taught extra about Georgia Organics go to georgiaorganics.org or comply with us on Fb, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube by looking out (Georgia Organics).