Around half of farmers and fisherman in Maine say they struggle to access health care due to costs and availability in rural areas. That’s according to a recent survey from the University of Maine Extension.
Agriculture workers, health professionals, and policymakers met in Hallowell Tuesday for the first-ever “Land and Sea Farmer Wellness Forum.” They listened to a wide variety of service providers share stories about what they see out in the fields and docks.
In a panel discussion, Emily Horton the policy director at the state department of agriculture, conservation and forestry talked about her brother — a dairy farmer and fisherman who died by suicide last year.
Horton said he loved "tending his herd and the land."
"The stressors weren't farming or fishing," she said. "It was everything else. It was a health care cost. My brother was on a two-year wait list for outpatient behavioral care. That was when we needed help.”
Policymakers like democratic state senator Henry Ingwersen were also in attendance. Ingwersen sits on the legislature’s Health and Human Services committee.
He said many farmers and fisherman have no employer-provided health insurance and recent cuts to Medicaid will increase the uninsured population.
“Our uninsured will grow as a part of these cuts, and it's already not well. In 2023, half of uninsured adults and one-quarter of uninsured kids did not see a provider in the previous year,” he said.
Ingwersen also said federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could trickle down to rural communities' home to many farmers and fisherman.
Earlier this month, the Maine SNAP-Ed program, which has provided nutrition education for more than 30 years announced it would discontinue at the end of September due to cuts in the "Big Beautiful Bill."
Among potential solutions participants discussed were providing funding for free health care clinics in rural areas and telehealth services to address mental health needs.
