Health Plan Set for Mexican Workers in U.S. : Insurance: Dependents back home would be covered by policies in agreement negotiated by Mexican government, U.S. unions and agricultural employers group.

Mexican citizens working legally in United States will be able to obtain health insurance for their dependents at home under an agreement negotiated with the Mexican government by three U.S.-based labor unions and an agricultural employers association.

Previously, Mexican families whose wage earners worked in the United States were not able to receive benefits through the Mexican social security system. About 40 million people in Mexico are without health insurance for that reason, Israel Sumano of the Fresno office of the Mexican Social Security Institute said Thursday.

The program is open to Mexicans in this country on work permits or U.S. citizens with families living in Mexico. The health plan would not cover the workers themselves unless they were able to travel back to Mexico to receive care, and the estimated 5.5 million undocumented workers in the United States are not eligible.

Nevertheless, a Mexican government official said he believes that as many as 10 million people of Mexican descent working on U.S. farms and in hotels, restaurants and other industries here would be eligible for the program.

The plan would cost $320 to $380 a year--or about a sixth of the cost of premiums for dependent care in the United States--and covers office visits, prescriptions and hospital stays. Although the cost is relatively low by U.S. standards, some observers still questioned whether many workers could afford it without help from their employers in paying the cost.

About 100,000 of the 450,000 Latino agricultural workers in California have families in Mexico they may want to insure, said William Goodrich, president of the United Agribusiness League in Irvine, which is the first employer association to agree to offer the program to its members. The League represents 10,000 employers and grower associations in California, Arizona, Oregon and Florida.

The Agribusiness League and two labor associations--Campesinos Unidos of Brawley and Confederacion de Familias Latinos-Americanas of Los Angeles--recently agreed to offer the insurance to their members. The United Farm Workers union, which was the first to begin offering the insurance in April, 1990, said it has not been very popular because many of its members can’t afford it.

The Mexican government has recently set up offices in Los Angeles, Fresno and Chicago to offer the program to employer and worker associations.

“This is an indication that the Mexican government wants to increase contacts with the U.S.,” said Don Dressler of the Irvine-based Western Growers Assn., which is negotiating to offer the insurance program to its 2,700 members. “And it’s a chance to earn U.S. currency--that shouldn’t be overlooked.”

Goodrich said he is hoping to sign as many as 10,000 of the 45,000 workers his members employ by the end of 1992. The league is negotiating with some prominent Latino spokesmen to promote the program, he said.

Because of its relatively low cost, the program could prove especially attractive to small employers and farm labor contractors, many of whom offer no health insurance, Goodrich said. They employ about 30,000 agricultural workers in California.

Cecelia Ruiz, director of benefits programs for the United Farm Workers union, said the program is patterned after one negotiated by UFW President Cesar Chavez and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

She declined to release the number of people who have purchased the insurance.

“The potential of it is large, but many are not buying it because they can’t afford it,” Ruiz said. “I don’t think the employer is going to pay for it out of his own pocket.”

One employer said his company may pay part of the premium if there is enough worker interest.

“An employee with sick children or sick parents is not a good employee because his mind is somewhere else,” said Maurice McMillan, chairman of the Agribusiness League and secretary-treasurer of Pro-Ag Inc., a Visalia-based grower and farm management company.

Pro-Ag pays more than 80% of the $2,484 annual cost to insure workers and their families living in the United States against illness. McMillan said he is waiting to see how many of his company’s 100 Latino workers seem interested in the additional insurance.

The plan would cover spouses, dependent parents and children up to age 16 (or to age 25 if they are students) living in Mexico. For an additional $120 a year, the worker and his spouse’s blood relatives--such as sisters, cousins, uncles, nieces and grandchildren--would also be covered.

McMillan said the program may have limited appeal because Pro-Ag’s workers are located far from the Mexican border, between Ventura and Fresno, and most have brought their families to the United States.

Dressler of Western Growers said he expects the program to be more popular with workers in San Diego County and the Imperial Valley, because it is easier for many of them to return to Mexico if they need to see a doctor.