Health Insurance Issues for Commercial Fishermen
Post date: September 28th, 2009 |
Find the cheapest auto insurance providers online Enter your ZIP Code to start comparing instant quotes. |
The fishing industry in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, and all the coastal fishing states need to have the national health care plan re-established that was in place for more than 180 years. The national funding for health coverage was stopped in 1981 when President Ronald Regan was in office. When one thinks of national funding for health insurance coverage, one might think of socialized medicine, but it’s not the same. President John Adams signed a bill into law to provide medical care to fishermen in 1799. The name adapted for this nationally funded healthcare system is called. ” Maintenance and Cure. To be able to get the health care that these sick and injured seamen needed, a marine hospital system was created.
Maintenance and Cure are maritime words, but the system however, worked something like the way that worker’s compensation works. “Maintenance” means that the seaman was paid a cheque for compensation while he is not able to work. What cure means in this vocabulary is that health care expenses were paid by the national health care plan.
Many owners of smaller shipping vessels hire independent contractors. According to the federal tax code, the crewmembers are independent contractors if they work on fishing vessels that have less than 10 people on board. If they can afford it, independent contractors carry health insurance for the self-employed, personal health coverage. Self-employed commercial fishermen “for hire” work for a percentage of the catch; the income one person could make could range from 10 percent all the way to 20 percent of the catch, depending on their skill as seamen.
The fishing industry is one of the most dangerous jobs there is in the United States. While the fishermen supply the market with seafood, the crew can easily get injured. Due to the high risk involved, it is often difficult for self-employed fishermen to obtain health insurance. It’s just that, the cost of health insurance is often out of reach. In previous years, over 35 fishermen have lost their lives annually. The most common cause of death for people in the fishing industry is drowning.
Besides drowning, the crew has to use very sharp knives to gutt the fish. A slip of the knife can be very serious. With regards to this, fishing vessels are at the mercy of nature; huge waves can wash over the deck and cause crew members to be washed overboard. Health insurance for self-employed people working in the fishing industry comes with very high premiums due to the nature of the job. It is unfortunate that not all people in the fishing industry have any health insurance.
Due to the high cost of health insurance, fishermen are trying to get better health insurance benefits for themselves and their families. Most of them are asking that all fishing organizations should unite to get their senators and congressmen involved in providing all fishermen with national fishermen’s healthcare benefits.