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A bill introduced to Congress earlier this year aims to help fishermen tackle the increasingly pricey problem of getting health insurance.

Along with other Alaskans, fishermen saw Blue Cross Blue Shield rates rise sharply this year.

Kathy Hansen said she and her husband, fit people in their 50s, are looking at about $1,500 a month for coverage through Blue Cross.

For about 180 years, the federal government took care of fishermen's health care in some form, through a system of marine hospitals and contract physicians to fishing communities. That program ended in 1981.

Since then, various fishermen's associations have tried to put together group plans. But lacking large numbers or people with steady jobs, the plans never worked out.

"There's never been anything to fill the void," Hansen said.

"They're just the most difficult people in the country to cover," said J.J. Bartlett, CEO of a group fund that covers Massachusetts fishermen. "They have every insurance risk imaginable."

In a mid-1990s study, he said, fishing families were three to four times more likely to be unemployed than the average citizen.

That's because fishing is dangerous. The income is seasonal and unpredictable. Crew members float from boat to boat. On top of that, rising fuel and other expenses tend to squeeze health care out of people's budgets, Bartlett said.

Thus was born the Fishing Partnership Health Plan, which now insures more than 2,000 Massachusetts fishermen on a sliding scale, with preventive care and full drug benefits.

In the 10 years since it started, the proportion of uninsured fishermen in Massachusetts went from 43 percent to 13 percent, Bartlett said.

Fishermen's groups, including the United Fishermen of Alaska, are trying to get Congress to fund $50 million in research on starting FPHP-like programs nationwide.

House and Senate committees each have a version of the bill, called the Commercial Fishing Industry Health Care Coverage Act of 2008. The bill's primary sponsors are Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Edward Kennedy, both of Massachusetts. Alaska's senators, Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens, are two of the co-sponsors.