Just got another email from a musician who is looking for donations to cover medical expenses...
I'm not here to pass judgment on people, but I am here to give advice. That advice today is for you to make sure you have health insurance.
A basic policy shouldn't cost you more than $150/month. Yes, you can afford it.
Health insurance is a cost of doing business. Don't burden your fans and other musicians with your medical expenses.
Don't have any medical expenses? That's what everybody thinks...until something happens. I get from uninsured musicians trying to pay down their medical bills almost weekly.
Even a short hospital stay can cost you $15,000 or more. Don't let something like that stop your music career. Get a quote for health insurance, get coverage, and stay in the game.
If you have suggestions on where musicians can get inexpensive medical coverage, please post a comment below.
This has been a hot topic in the comedy industry over the last year. Particularly because comics don't have any unions or societies like AFTRA, AFM, or ASCAP.
ASCAP offers a health plan for their members. BMI may also, but I'm not sure.
Another resource is the Freelancers Union (www.freelancersunion.org) It's free to join the union, no dues. And they offer insurance programs as well as a lot of other really good resources.
There's no reason to not have insurance. I pay $160 a month for a plan through Blue Cross. If you're under 35, it's called the Tonik plan.
The bigger problem I see is those who do have insurance and either can't afford their premiums and such. Or the insurance company jerks them around costing them more money.
Two cases in point. I recently donated a few bucks to a musician who is completely out of work due to his illness and we were donating just so he could make his COBRA payments.
Another case was a 13 year old girl with cervical cancer that I produced a benefit show for two years ago. The insurance company decided to only cover part of her treatment and so her mother was still left with a mountain of medical bills.
Good news on that one. She's totally in remission and was recently accepted to Julliard. :)
Posted by: Phil Johnson | January 04, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Thank you so much for posting this. I don't know about BMI, but for members of ASCAP, you can get great rate quotes through ehealthinsurance.com (I don't even think you have to be affiliated with either to take advantage of it).
My husband/partner and I found out what a big difference it makes this past fall, when he was stricken with both a kidney stone and diverticulitis at the same time (we don't do things small around here!). Even with a fairly big deductible (which keeps our rates low), we got huge savings on the bills because of the inclusions our policy covered.
And most importantly, we never once had to worry about whether he'd be able to get better! No denials, no sketchy clinics, and no benefit shows to pay the bills!
Posted by: Dana from Serious Vanity Music | January 04, 2009 at 02:47 PM
For touring musicians, Local 1000 offers affordable health insurance to its members. You can find out about Local 1000 at http://local1000.com/ They also offer equipment insurance.
Your local Musicians Union in your own home town does the same.
Posted by: Jan Seides | January 17, 2009 at 05:39 PM
Good tip! I believe both ASCAP and BMI have options as well.
Regardless of where you get it, it's important that you have some kind of coverage.
Posted by: David Hooper | January 17, 2009 at 05:57 PM