Farmers and ranchers are spending more on health insurance than most Americans and some are struggling to bear the burden, according to a report released Tuesday by a Boston-based health advocacy group.

The report, by the Access Project, found that farm and ranch families spent an average of $7,247 on health insurance in 2006.

"It is generally considered that spending 10 percent of one's income on health costs is an indicator of excessive health burden," said lead researcher Jeffrey Prottas, a professor at Brandeis University. "For many in our sample, this was certainly the case."

The researchers' sample included farm and ranch families in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Families who farm and ranch in these states are at a disadvantage to other families because they often have to purchase health insurance in the individual market - instead of getting it as part of a group plan provided by an employer.

While only 8 percent of American households buy health insurance through this market, the study found that 36 percent of farm and ranch families do. Those 36 percent of families are paying an average of $4,359 more than their counterparts who get insurance through an employer, the survey found.

"It's getting to be such a burden that some of them are just going underinsured or uninsured," said Wade Moser, executive director of the North Dakota Stockmen's Association. "And who knows what effect that's going to have on them down the line."

Moser said it used to be that loan interest payments made up the single largest expense in ranching. Now it's health insurance, he said.

Moser said he'd like to see rules allowing farmers and ranchers to deduct their personal health care costs from their taxes in the same manner that business owners can deduct the cost for their employees.

"That is their business, and they are the employees," he said.