Keeping Healthy in Hollywood

Last week I got in a car accident.  I’m ok and it wasn’t my fault so that’s good.  Actually it was a pretty funny situation of a 16 year old boy being distracted by some cute girls that caused it and I suspect will end up in one of my movies one day, but it got me thinking about health care and health insurance.

It’s a pretty boring subject, so I’ll keep it short, but I know it’s a topic that comes up a lot when you get a few freelancers in a room.  So this week’s blog may not be entertaining, but hopefully it’ll be helpful.

If you don’t work for a company that supplies it, there are only a handful of ways to get health insurance in this business.  At least at the moment.

The most preferable is to be a member of a union.  Lots of people talk about health insurance as a free union benefit.  That’s not strictly true because you do pay yearly dues, but usually the benefits are very good and for what you get the dues are reasonable.

The next way is to buy it on your own.  This is what I do and it pretty much sucks because the good coverage is pretty expensive so you get what you can afford.  The rates depend mostly on your age and your pre-existing conditions.  (Personally I think that’s a bunch of bullshit - one friend recently got turned down because she took anti-depressants fifteen years ago in high school and another had a breast cancer scare that turned out to be false!  But whatever, it is what it is.)   And ladies if you’re thinking about getting preggers there’s an additional fee for that coverage. The best thing I can say about this is get it when you’re young and healthy.  But, expect it to go up every year like clockwork.  My policy started at about $100/month and now it’s $250/month.  Grr…  When you look for plans ask around and know that they differ from state to state so what’s good and cheap in NY may not be in LA.

There’s also the Freelancers union.  I’ve heard they offer good, reasonable policies.  But again they differ from state to state.

The only other way I’m aware of is to use your spouse’s coverage, be young enough to be on your parent’s, start your own company and offer it or get a real j-o-b.

Finally, and I’m definitely not advocating this, but if you’re really strapped many people risk it and go without.  If you do that here’s what you need to know… many cities like NY and LA have excellent free clinics for the times you get non-emergency sick and for gyn Planned Parenthood will see patients on a sliding scale.  If you ever have an emergency, public and Catholic hospitals will not turn you away if you can’t pay.

That’s it.  That’s all I know about health insurance.  Short and sweet.

Good luck out there people!  Stay well making movies!