SAG-AFTRA Health Plan Makes Premium, Eligibility Changes

David Robb Labor EditorTrustees of the DGA-Producer Pension and Health Plans have approved a third round of premium-free COBRA coverage – this time for participants whose earned active coverage terminated on June 30, 2020, extending the total period of premium-free COBRA coverage from three to six months, through December 31, 2020. The trustees approved similar rounds of premium-free COBRA coverage in April and June.

Mark David According to an always-in-the-know snitch, Justin Kirk has changed up his living situation with the recent, slightly-shy-of-$1.8-million purchase of a multi-level contemporary perched on a vertiginous hillside high in the Hollywood Hills.The accomplished 51-year-old actor, who got his showbiz start on the stage in New York City, where he earned a prestigious ensemble Obie Award for Terrence McNally’s snappy Broadway play “Love! Valour! Compassion!”, received an Emmy nomination in

David Robb Labor EditorSAG-AFTRA Health Plan CEO Michael Estrada on Tuesday described the “perfect storm” of soaring health care costs, employer contributions to the plan that have failed to keep up with those costs, and the devastating impact of the coronavirus shutdown on those contributions that made a complete overhaul necessary to keep the plan from going broke by 2024.Changes to the plan, which include increased eligibility thresholds for many, and higher premiums for all, will go into

Robert Marich Please excuse Hollywood’s marketing executives if they seem embattled, because they are as never before.The assaults that seem to come from every direction will take center stage at Variety’s Entertainment Marketing Summit presented by Deloitte online Aug. 26-27.

David Robb Labor EditorOpponents of changes coming to the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan said tonight they are considering legal action to prevent thousands of participants and their family members from losing their health coverage when the sweeping changes take effect on Jan. 1, 2021.“We have been talking to lawyers.

An unofficial Zoom meeting hosted by the SAG-AFTRA opposition faction Aug. 14 drew nearly 500 participants in a visceral display of fear and fury as dozens spoke out against a restructuring of the union’s affiliated health plan that will hike premiums and tighten eligibility.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterHeather Jones feels “lost, tired and hopeless.” Work has been slow for her and her husband, both actors, since the coronavirus pandemic shut down film and television production five months ago. Last December, their 4-year-old son Harmon completed a series of surgeries, chemo and radiation for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, and is now undergoing physical therapy as well as routine MRIs, CT scans and bloodwork in the aftermath.

David Robb Labor EditorEXCLUSIVE: Representatives of trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan have told members in a series of Zoom conferences that employer contributions to the Plan and participant premiums have not kept up with the skyrocketing cost of providing health care coverage to some 33,000 participants and their 32,000 family members.

Dave McNary Film ReporterAllies of SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris have blamed rising costs for recently announced changes that will sharply cut eligibility for the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan on Jan. 1.“Nothing is as personal or emotionally charged as our health and the peace of mind that comes with having quality healthcare at an affordable price,” the Unite for Strength faction said in an email to members sent Monday.

David Robb Labor EditorUnite for Strength, part of the ruling coalition of SAG-AFTRA, is calling for unity as thousands of performers and their family members face losing their health coverage next year due to a restructuring of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan, which is projecting a $141 million deficit this year and $83 million next year.More than 13,000 members and their supporters, led by the union’s Membership First opposition party, have signed a petition calling on the Plan’s trustees to scrap

The petition, hosted on Change.org, was nearing 11,600 signatures by 6 p.m. PT on Saturday.In a letter to members sent out on Wednesday, managers of the guild’s health plan said the changes are necessary because of projected deficits “of $141 million this year and $83 million in 2021,” and that “by 2024, the Health Plan is projected to run out of reserves.”The health plan currently covers those making more than $18,040 per year.