SAG-AFTRA’s ‘Unconscionable’ Health Plan Changes Spurs Petition With Over 11,500 Signatures

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Alexandra Del Rosario Associate Editor/Nights & WeekendsThe Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed Saturday 27 new deaths and 1,339 new positive cases of COVID-19. The daily numbers have dropped slightly from Friday, when Public Health confirmed 38 new deaths and over 1,630 new positive cases.Public Health has identified 239,756 total positive COVID-19 cases to date across Los Angeles County.

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.

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

Coleen Rooney and husband Wayne enjoyed a date night out in Manchester, after they returned from their family holiday in Barbados. Coleen and Wayne enjoyed some time away from their four sons as they went for dinner at The Ivy in Spinningfields in the city.

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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.

SZA's sophomore album and follow-up to 2017's Ctrl is one of the most anticipated albums in popular music, but information about the project has been almost non-existent. The album has no confirmed release date, and no singles from the project have been shared.

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.

Coleen Rooney has shown off her incredibly tanned legs after arriving home from her family holiday.The 34 year old and her footballer husband Wayne, also 34, have spent quality time together in Barbados with their sons Kai, 10, Klay, seven, Kit, four, and two year old Cass. But the brunette beauty has now arrived home to the dreary English weather, being seen heading out for a coffee near her home in Cheshire.

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

Dave McNary Film ReporterMore than 11,400 people have asked trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan to overturn recently announced changes that will cut eligibility for the plan on Jan. 1.The petition at change.org — titled “Overturn the changes made to the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan” — noted that the changes are being imposed amid the pandemic and characterized them as “unconscionable.”The health plan announced in an email it sent to members on Aug.

David Robb Labor EditorTwo members of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee that bargained for the union’s recently ratified film and TV contract said tonight that they had not been told during the talks of the severity of the problems facing the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan.The plan’s restructuring is projected to remove some 3,500 participants and 3,200 family members from coverage come Jan.

David Robb Labor EditorHard times call for hard decisions, which trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan say they had to make to save health benefits for future generations of participants.Even before the pandemic, the Plan was facing unsustainable deficits, and the COVID-19 production shutdown accelerated the need for a complete overhaul of its benefits structures.

David Robb Labor EditorMore than 1,300 angry SAG-AFTRA members have signed a petition calling on the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan to overturn changes that will leave many members without health coverage during the coronavirus pandemic.The Plan says that the changes, which go into effect January 1, are needed to keep the Plan solvent in the face of staggering deficits.