High Quality, Affordable Health Care Coverage For Commercial Fishing Families

Mission

The mission of the Fishing Partnership Health Plan (FPHP) is to provide access to high quality, affordable health care coverage for fishermen and their families. Our past outreach efforts have been successful: we currently serve over 2,000 members of the fishing community, and studies show that the rate of uninsured fishing families has dropped from 43% to 13% since the Plan’s inception.

Prior to the launch of the FPHP, fishermen suffered without access to health care coverage. 43% of fishermen were uninsured and, according to a state study, fishermen and their families were not accessing medical care. People with diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and even HIV/AIDS were not able to afford even basic treatment.

Now, our members receive comprehensive coverage with access to the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care network of physicians and hospitals. And, FPHP members receive full pharmaceutical coverage. The FPHP is able to offer the Plan at an affordable rate because the federal and state governments provide annual funding for the program. Still, the fishermen, who pay on a sliding scale so that they pay more as their incomes rise, contribute 60% of the costs of the plan.

Because the FPHP prevents illnesses before they begin, and treats illnesses before they progress, and because the fishermen pay most of the costs, the Fishing Partnership Health Plan saved $4.15 for every $1 of Federal funding received.