Our legislative efforts

Push to give individuals paying for their own health insurance 100 percent tax deductions on their premiums. This includes the self-employed, as well as small business employees who pay for their own health insurance.

Allow H2A workers to work in additional areas of agriculture and for a period longer than the 10-month limit. The H2B visa cap should also be increased to allow more workers due to a rise in demand.

Expand high-risk health insurance pools to guarantee access for the medically uninsurable in every state. Partial federal funding would help existing state pools and help encourage new states to develop programs.

Continue with efforts to improve consumer-driven health policies and health saving accounts, making them more affordable and accessible for individuals and small businesses.

Enforce the disclosure of hospital and provider prices and quality information to empower health consumers to make more informed decisions concerning their health care.

Change the rules of the Alternative Minimum Tax to free small businesses and individuals from this unintended tax increase affecting more people each year.

Appropriate funds authorized in 2007 Farm Bill to fund grants that could be used for agriculture apprentice programs.

2010 - CA worked with the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition to increase the exemption level and reduce the rate of the estate tax in order to lessen the burden of the estate tax on family businesses and farms.

2010 - CA pushed to include the provision in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 that would allow the self-employed to deduct the cost of health insurance for themselves and their family members in calculating their self-employment tax.

2007 - CA presented at the IRS small-business roundtable in Washington, D.C., talking about the importance of tax policy for small businesses.

2003 - CA achieved its tax reform goal of increasing Section 179 expensing to $100,000.

1997 - CA was successful in helping to pass legislation that restored the home office deduction and phased in 100 percent deductions for health premiums paid by the self-employed.

2010 - CA President Wayne Nelson served on a panel along with the Director of Insurance Programs for the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services, briefing House and Senate staff members on the importance of both existing and newly established high risk pools for individuals who are otherwise unable to obtain health insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

2009 - CA was a key member of a coalition that succeeded in including language to increase the funding of state high risk pools in legislation considered by Congress.

2007 - CA helped get legislation passed in North Carolina authorizing a high-risk pool to help address the problems of the medically uninsurable population in that state.

2005 - CA led the effort that got partial federal funding for high-risk pools signed into law.

1976 - CA began working on state risk pool programs for those unable to purchase insurance coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions.

2010 - CA worked with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and Health and Human Services Office of Rural Health Policy to ensure that the implementation of the new health care reform legislation includes association group insurance that benefits rural and self-employed Americans.

2009 - CA worked throughout the year in Washington, D.C. and at the grassroots level with our members across the country to ensure that health care cooperatives were included in the Senate Finance health care bill.

2009 - CA worked with rural hospitals to address the disparities in Medicare reimbursement rates that threaten rural Americans access to quality healthcare.

2009 - CA presented its white paper to every member of Congress in an effort to increase awareness of the issues that rural Americans, small businesses, and the self employed face in accessing quality, affordable health care.

2007 - CA was a leader in getting HSA contribution limits raised.

2003 - CA was a leader in securing passage of health savings accounts (HSAs) that expand medical savings accounts (MSAs).

1999 - CA launched and led the Health Tax Deduction Alliance, a coalition of 33 national organizations working for a 100 percent tax deduction for health insurance premiums for self-employed people.

1974 - CA testified before the House Ways and Means Committee about problems with health insurance companies canceling the coverage of rural people after they have been seriously ill.

2006 - CA established a new agreement with John Handcock Insurance to offer a 10 percent discount on long-term care insurance for CA members.

1987 - CA aided rural seniors by filing a class-action lawsuit against two of the nation’s largest Medicare HMOs after they discontinued coverage for 11,500 senior citizen subscribers.

2010 - The CA Foundation established and awarded the first scholarship for the Justin Woldahl Memorial Scholarship, Education and Community Development Program.

2010 - The CA Foundation received a development grant from the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program to collaborate with our local community college on a program to provide individuals aspiring to farm on a scale-appropriate, sustainable basis with the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to build commercially viable farming operations.

2009 - CA began working with businesses in the area of its national headquarters to raise scholarship money to allow young people to participate in the local community college and CAEP equine program.

2002 - CA awarded close to $50,000 in scholarship dollars to students studying agriculture and/or small business.

1973 - CA presented its first scholarship to a rural youth entering college.

2010 - CA Board member David Ramey addressed a National Immigration Reform Summit on the benefits of the J-1 Trainee and Intern Visa Program.

2010 - CA Education Programs (CAEP) opened offices in Mexico, Columbia, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Hungary, Moldova, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and China.

2009 - The CA Exchange Program hosted an international conference with participants from more than 20 countries attending.

2009 - The CA Exchange Program received a new designation from the US State Department to allow foreign professionals to have placements in Management, Business, Commerce and Finance.

2007 - CA received the first agriculture apprenticeship designation granted by the U.S. Department of Labor.

2000 - The CA International Exchange Program had almost 1,000 participants from more than 40 countries.

1985 - CA formed its own international agriculture exchange program. Within 10 years, the program grew to become the largest of its kind in the United States.

2009 - CA worked with key congressional offices to change language in the tax code that would allow more beginning farmers to participate in beginning farmer loan programs.

2008 - CA helped to add two long-needed changes in the Aggie Bond program section of the 2008 Farm Bill enacted into law.

2001 - CA testified before Congress for tax incentives that would allow value-added agriculture enterprises to expand rural jobs and farm income.

1996 - CA fought successfully to save funding for the Farm Mediation Programs, serving 19 states, that were slated to be abolished in the 1997 federal budget.

1980 - CA was instrumental in getting the first beginning farmer loan program passed in Iowa.