I haven't dedicated a great deal of coverage to health care, but the House could vote on a bill potentially as early as Thursday.

The American Farm Bureau Federation released a statement Tuesday from AFBF President Bob Stallman that urged all members of the House “to stand with our nation’s farmers and ranchers and oppose H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.”

In a letter to the House, Stallman stated health insurance costs are an ongoing and significant expense for agricultural employers, and health care reform must not unduly burden farm and ranch businesses with costs they can’t afford.

“While tax incentives in the bill are designed to help small employers cover health care expenses, there are no allowances for seasonal workers common to our industry,” Stallman wrote.

“We are opposed to an employer mandate and view an 8 percent payroll tax imposed for non-coverage as excessive and as burdensome as mandated coverage.

“Farm Bureau believes that health care is primarily the responsibility of individuals, and we are opposed to provisions in the bill that mandate individual coverage. Most farmers and ranchers are self-employed and would already cover themselves if they could afford it. Passing a mandate accompanied by the threat of a tax for noncompliance only makes the situation worse for people unable to afford coverage in the first place,” Stallman wrote.

Farm Bureau supports private, market-based reforms and is opposed to the creation of a government-operated health insurance program.

“We believe that the creation of an exchange where individuals and businesses can easily compare and purchase privately offered insurance will encourage the competition necessary to bring about cost savings,” Stallman wrote.

Searching coverage of the House bill on Tuesday led to a New York Times piece in which major urban hospitals were concerned about a study in the bill that would compare the cost of their care against "hospitals in more rural states like Iowa and Minnesota, where spending tends to be lower ..."

http://www.nytimes.com/…

Associated Press also reported that the House bill could cost about $1.2 trillion over 10 years, compared to the $900 billion that President Barack Obama advocated. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has pegged the costs at $894 billion over 10 years while other cost estimates put it at almost exactly $1 trillion.

House Democrats listed some of the benefits claimed in the bill, which includes barring insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. One of the difficult gauges on the bill, however, is that most of the provisions in the bill would not take effect until 2013.

I can be found on Twitter at chrisclaytonDTN.