Are fishermen underinsured?
Anecdotally, fishermen talk about each other as risk-takers who don’t plan much for the long term. But data is hard to find. About 16 percent of the nation was uninsured in 2006. The number was 14 percent among respondents to a United Fishermen of Alaska survey last year. UFA spokesman Mark Vinsel says that number is probably low. People who pay their annual UFA dues are, he considers, less likely to be scrimping on health care. Many live in areas with little if any medical care, even if insured. Even without accounting for the cost of travel, health care costs in Alaska are some of the highest in the country, according to a University of Alaska 2006 report. Fishermen who insure themselves have experienced rising prices, both with the national trend and as they age. Vinsel, while looking at online insurance quotes, found that fishermen have “very few choices, while other U.S. locations generate scores or hundreds of providers and plans,” he wrote in a fall 2007 report. That suggests li
