Though many Californians find the details of Lindsay Lohan's latest stint in rehab more intriguing than the health-care crisis confronting our country, a new organization based in Los Angeles is encouraging artists to speak out before two crucial health-care bills reach Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk.
Artists United for Healthcare is an advocacy group recently founded by the Actors' Fund, Leveraging Investments in Creativity, and the Center for Cultural Innovation. Its goal is to unite California's artists to demand the quality and affordable health care that usually eludes their demographic.
Unlike New York, California doesn't have a law that guarantees access to health-care coverage to all residents. According to the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the California Department of Health Services, and the Public Health Institute), more than 6.5 million Californians under age 65 were uninsured that year. That number was expected to grow 20 percent from 2005 through 2010, according to a 2005 report from U.C. Berkeley.
Jim Brown, director of health services for the Actors' Fund, said many artists fall through the cracks when it comes to health care because many are members of the lower middle class, who earn, he said, between $25,000 and $40,000 annually. They make too much to qualify for government-subsidized insurance but not enough to afford expensive individual plans, which often raise premiums based on age and may deny coverage based on a wide range of pre-existing conditions. Many artists go without coverage or are underinsured because they are self-employed or work jobs that don't provide health benefits. Screen Actors Guild actors may lose coverage when they don't meet the $13,790 annual income requirement to retain health benefits.
SAG member John Harnagel, who is self-employed, has a $4,000 deductible with the only health-insurance plan that would cover him after he lost his guild coverage. This year he has paid $19,000 on his premiums and deductibles alone because he was hit by a car and needed surgeries as a result. "I try to be a good guy and get insurance, and I'm still paying through the nose. Now, how does that work?" he asked.
Change Coming
But California lawmakers are sponsoring a pair of universal health-care bills, each with a provision for the self-employed. If either passes, situations like Harnagel's could change. Under California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and California Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata's bill, A.B. 8, employees and self-employed individuals would receive coverage through the California Cooperative Health Insurance Purchasing Program, employers, and reformed private insurance policies. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl's bill, S.B. 840, would create a single-payer plan that would eliminate premiums and privatized health care altogether and provide statewide coverage for all Californians regardless of income or employer. It would be funded through a 3 percent to 4 percent income tax on individuals and an 8 percent payroll tax on employers.
Joan Pirkle Smith, a board member of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group, said, "The big problem is that there's no guaranteed affordability with these bills. Unless there is language included in the bills that allows the state to regulate health-insurance costs and total out-of-pocket costs to consumers, there will be a potential that [these plans] won't be truly affordable. Only the Kuehl bill, S.B. 840, provides coverage to everybody in an affordable way, but unfortunately that is the one bill Schwarzenegger says he absolutely won't sign." According to Brown, the average American currently spends 10 percent to 20 percent of his or her annual income on health care.
The California Nurses Association and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore -- who debuted his documentary Sicko, about the health-care industry, at the Cannes Film Festival in May -- support Kuehl's plan, which Schwarzenegger vetoed in September 2006. Liz Jacobs, a registered nurse and spokesperson for the CNA, said her organization strongly supports the abolition of privatized health insurance because the system trumps patient safety and care. "The insurance companies are in the business now of denying care," said Jacobs, who noted that the average health-insurance premium for American families is $7,000 annually. "We've got to take the profit out of health care, and that's the insurance companies."
Taking a Stand
Gary Boyle, an actor for 37 years who lost his SAG health insurance this year, has been unable to afford the $450 monthly premium to retain coverage until he qualifies again. As a result, he has no health insurance and often finds himself in audition rooms with other actors between the ages of 45 and 65 who also have lost their medical insurance and can't afford costly coverage. "I would like to be able to fall back on some kind of universal care. That would be great," said Boyle, who added that most actors have no idea what's going on with state or national health-care issues.
Artists United for Healthcare hopes to change that by encouraging artists to write letters to state senators demanding that artists' health-care needs be addressed in the current bills. Brown said the organization is fighting for guaranteed coverage for all Californians regardless of age; a cap of $2,500 out-of-pocket costs per individual per year; and access to state-subsidized insurance for those whose earnings fall below the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' poverty guidelines (the figure set for a single-person household is $10,210), as well as for those considered to be in the lower middle class. Artists United for Healthcare also plans to collect testimonials from artists who can't get health insurance or who have gone into debt because of its cost.
"This is a critical time right now," said Pirkle Smith. "Now is the time to act on the bills that are going through Sacramento -- not in six months when you feel like you've got the time, but right now."
For more information or to get involved, visit Artists United for Healthcare at artistsunitedforhealthcare.org, www.itsourhealthcare.org, and www.health-access.org/, or call the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists at (323) 634-8100, and press "0" to leave your contact information to volunteer.