I remember a few years ago I had to buy my own health insurance. I had moved up to Camera Operator and work wasn't, as plentiful as, it had been when I was a Camera Assistant. My Cobra with Motion Picture had run out, and I was looking to buy a personal healthplan for myself.
Luckily, I had put in a day's work for a company that was payrolled by Entertainment Partners. EP, as it's called, had an insurance plan that was offered to anyone working, at least one day, under the payroll company. The health plan was by far, the best and cheapest of the healthplans I had researched. The company offered three levels, PPC, HMO 1 and HMO 2. Since I've always been a very healthy guy, I picked the HMO 1 plan, at a monthly cost of $187. A great price.
The next year, the plan choices changed. HMO plan 1 was no longer available and HMO 2, was well over $200 per month. Not only had my level of coverage worsened, it now cost me considerable more. By year three, my monthly price for the lesser plan had grown to well over $300.
So, not only had my coverage lessened, but my monthly cost had almost doubled.
It wasn't long after that, that I had again worked enough work to regain my Motion Picture Health coverage. Coverage I believe to be the best union healthplan in America.
But with the constant pressures and cost increases from the health and pharmaceutical industries, even my Motion Picture Health Plan is loosing ground. For the first time, we now have a copay at our own clinics, along with greatly increased costs for prescriptions.
The handwritting is on the wall. In time, even with the best healthplans, we will all be paying far more then most of us can afford.
My questions to all of you...... In the next 5 to 10 years, will you be able to afford to pay for your healthplan?
Will you be able to afford to stay healthy?