I recently gave a copy of “Staying Alive,” the Arts Hub article I wrote on artists and health care to a friend seeking health insurance. After reading it, he looked at me with angry confusion. “Howard,” he said, “I don’t even understand the difference between an HMO, a PPO, and a La La La.”
A few weeks later, I attended a lecture where several prominent playwrights discussed issues facing artists in America. When the subject turned to healthcare, a collective groan emanated from the panel. After a pause, one Tony Award-nominated writer all but screamed in frustration. “Who the hell can afford health insurance?” he asked.
“And if you can afford it,” another panelist chimed in, “who the hell knows how to go about getting it?”
This got me wondering: does the difficulty artists have in acquiring health care stem as much from a lack of information as from a lack of financial means? If the realm of HMOs, PPOs, deductibles, and co-pays was easily understood, might not more artists get themselves covered?
For most Americans, acquiring and maintaining health insurance is a difficult venture. For artists, however, the challenge can be even more daunting, given the lack of regular work (which I covered in my previous article). For the sake of argument, let’s assume an artist has somehow become able to finance health care coverage. How does he or she go about getting it?
In the search for healthcare coverage, many a determined artist undoubtedly gets bogged down in the morass of confusing and often contradictory insurance information available to them. There is, after all, no Human Resources department to which an actor, writer, singer, dancer, or painter can go to be led through the labyrinth of HMO and PPO systems. And this lack of guidance can be disheartening as well maddening, as evidenced by my wearied friend who in the face of the topic was reduced to nonsensical blather. (“La la la,” indeed.)
In my research for this article, I did not find a single policy specifically designed for artists that is open to all wishing to enroll. This being said, there are several policies of which artists may partake, either “as members of the general public or through membership or service organizations.”
For individuals and their dependents, there are two basic types of health care providers: Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs).
“HMOs assign a primary care physician who manages the patient’s health care and makes referrals to specialists,” the web site of the California Arts Council succinctly explains. “With PPOs the patient can select from a provided list which doctor and specialists they wish to see. On average, premiums for PPOs are double that of HMOs. HMOs and PPOs vary greatly in size and can offer coverage regionally, statewide, or nationally.”
www.eHealthInsurance.com provides simple cost estimates, based upon what kind of coverage you require. But be forewarned: it ain’t cheap. After entering the required gender, birth date, and location statistics, I received quotes from a variety of providers whose monthly premiums ranged from $251.82 (for a full-coverage HMO with no prescription drug allowance) to $620.13 (for a full-coverage HMO with a prescription plan).
It is also possible to acquire healthcare coverage through membership or service organizations. These art service organizations tend to provide for the community of a specific artistic discipline. However, as the California Arts Council site points out, “it is important to note that many arts service organizations do not require you to be an artist or an arts professional to become a member.” By joining one of these organizations, artists can access the benefits of lower cost group medical coverage like the kind often available through more traditional occupations.
The best source of information on health care coverage through arts service organizations is The Actors’ Fund, “a nonprofit, national human services organization that helps entertainment and performing arts professionals.” But you needn’t be an actor to benefit from the information. Through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Commonwealth Fund, The Actors’ Fund has created the Artists’ Health Insurance Resource Center, an exhaustive study of state-by-state arts service organizations offering health insurance. When you simply click on your home state, a plethora of resource information is made available on issues including mental illness, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, disabilities, and, of course, basic healthcare coverage.
It seems, in fact, that there are a never-ending number of resources for artists looking for health insurance. The National Dance Education Organization offers health, major medication, “mini-medical,” dental, vision and liability insurance for active or retired dance educators, while the National Association for the Self-Employed offers “membership…at two different levels: $96/year or $420/year, which provides for a variety of health care benefits including dental, vision, prescription and hospital coverage.” The American Music Center, which can be joined for only $55/year, offers a group health insurance plan through CIGNA and is open to the general public. And, of course, membership in Fractured Atlas, which I discussed at greater length in my previous article, costs $75/year and is “available to artists and arts professionals of all disciplines.” (As several people have pointed out to me, however, the health plan offered by Fractured Atlas is far from extensive.)
Still, the underlying difficulty for most artists continues to be paying for healthcare coverage, whether it is acquired individually or through a group plan. Sadly, it is likely that many will remain uninsured until healthcare coverage is mandated on the national level, a proposition that remains controversial in the halls of Congress. Thus, until the controversy fades and the current system is radically altered, artists will have to forge ahead, either collectively or on their own, to create and maintain the highest level of personal health and well being, even as they continue to create the art our nation deserves.
