SAG-AFTRA Accused of Misrepresenting Health Plan Crisis

With new eligibility requirements set to take effect on January 1, the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan said today that it has expanded its open enrollment outreach efforts. The goal is to connect participants who may be losing their coverage to other available benefits and services.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorSAG-AFTRA leaders have been grappling for months with the outcry from members over big changes and cuts to the union’s health care plan starting next year.But as 2020 draws to a close, Michael Estrada, CEO of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan, has a simple message for the union’s 160,000-plus members: Those who are eligible should sign up online or by telephone for a plan by Dec. 31, or risk facing even higher prices and a lapse in coverage early next year.

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The national board of SAG-AFTRA passed resolutions today requiring that members adhere to the union’s Covid-19 safety protocols and “correcting” what it calls “misrepresentations” about changes to the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan that will go into effect January 1. The latter is aimed at supporters of a class-action lawsuit who accused the Plan’s trustees of making eligibility changes that will fall hardest on older members — a charge that the trustees vehemently deny.

Dave McNary Film ReporterSAG-AFTRA’s national leadership has waded into the bitter dispute over the looming deep cuts in the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan as the union’s national board vowed to combat “misinformation” and condemned opponents of the cuts.Gabrielle Carteris, president of the performers union, accused the opponents of conduct similar to those running “scams” that target the elderly. Opponents of the looming SAG-AFTRA Health Plan cuts already alleged on Dec.

Dave McNary Film ReporterSAG-AFTRA’s national board is requiring its 160,000 members to fully comply with COVID-19 safety protocols on set, saying that they will face disciplinary action if they fail to do so.The board voted Monday to approve an amendment to its member rules, three months after SAG-AFTRA and the other major Hollywood unions announced on Sept.

SAG-AFTRA has told its members not to work on a film called Lumina because it allegedly has “failed to demonstrate its compliance with SAG-AFTRA’s required Covid-19 safety standards and protocols for a safe set.” The film’s production company is Luminamovie LLC.

The group of dissident actors behind the class action ageism lawsuit filed against the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan over its pending benefit cuts have answered the union’s five-point defense of the changes in coverage that will take effect January 1. Both sides are accusing the other of “misleading” the union’s members about the causes of the Plan’s troubles and the changes that they say are needed to rescue it.

The board of trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan said today that it will “vigorously contest” a class action lawsuit filed on Tuesday, calling it “entirely without merit.” Facing staggering deficits, the Plan announced in August that it will be raising premiums and earnings thresholds for coverage on January 1 in order to stay afloat, which will remove thousands of current recipients from coverage.

Dave McNary Film ReporterAmid the avalanche of disheartening developments this year, few were as dispiriting in Hollywood as the Aug. 12 announcement by the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan that it was eliminating coverage for 11,750 of 32,000 participants, including 8,200 senior performers.The plan and its trustees blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for creating $140 million in losses this year and projected that the reserves would be gone by 2024.

As SAG-AFTRA seeks to modify its healthcare plans for the New Year, a number of notable union members including Clancy Brown, Whoopi Goldberg, Mark Hamill and Morgan Freeman voiced their concerns with the changes in a social media video.