Musicians are also struggling. Officials at Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, the largest New York site in the country, estimate that when the changes to their plan go into effect this month, about one in three musicians will have lost coverage: they will have lost more of 570 of the approximately 1,500 people enrolled a year earlier.
“Nothing kept me more awake at night and weighed more on me than the health issue,” said Adam Krauthamer, president of Local 802 and co-curator of the union’s health fund.
Perhaps the most public and fierce battle for coverage has broken out in the Health Act of the Screen Actors Guild – American Television and Radio Federation, which guarantees 33,000 actors, singers, journalists and other media professionals. This plan increased the eligibility floor for those earning $ 25,950 per year, from $ 18,040, as of January 1, and also increased the premiums in response to projected deficits by $ 141 million last year and $ 83 million this year. .
Plan officials estimate that the changes they are making will remove 10% of their participants from coverage. But a class action lawsuit brought by Ed Asner, a former president of the screen actors’ union, and other older actors and members of the union charges at least 8,000 retirees will also lose some of their coverage. (Many companies have decreased health coverage for retirees in the past few decades.)
The new rules of the plan effectively remove many older members than what is usually their secondary insurance. An online defense campaign features Mark Hamill, Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Freeman and other stars who say they feel betrayed by the union.
“So many people, along with me, feel deprived of our health benefits,” said Dyan Cannon, 84, in a statement provided by the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the class action.