Writers and Actors Scramble to Keep Their Health Insurance. After the 2023 work stoppages and amid a larger industry contraction, creatives face difficulties meeting minimums to keep their union health plans: “It doesn’t feel good to have to say to your agents, ‘Hey, can you get me a guest-starring gig on whatever happens to have somebody my age because I’m going to lose my health insurance?'”
In April, actor Miki Yamashita says she received a health diagnosis that requires surgery to remove non-cancerous tumors. That’s when the performer, who has appeared on Cobra Kai and voiced a character on The Lion Guard, began the race to attempt to qualify for her union’s health insurance plan by June 30. If she earned enough on eligible projects or worked a sufficient number of days by that time, she could be covered by the plan at the end of the year, when she says she needs to undergo the medical procedure.
But meeting the plan’s requirements was going to be tougher than usual to accomplish. For nearly four months of her qualifying period, her union, SAG-AFTRA, was on strike against film and television companies, and Yamashita was barred by union rules from working on many projects. In the months following, production didn’t fully rebound in the Los Angeles area as the entertainment business continued to experience a contraction. By mid-June, Yamashita — who says she has been on the the union’s health plan on and off throughout her career and has sometimes gotten different coverage through outside jobs — was still around $12,000 behind the required earnings threshold. (As a performer who focuses on principal acting work, she says it is less realistic for her to meet the alternative requirement of a particular number of days worked. Yamashita, who is an elected delegate of the union, spoke on her own behalf and not on SAG-AFTRA’s.) “Barring some miracle, I doubt I will actually earn the threshold by [June] 30,” she says. “I will continue to hustle until that deadline comes,” after which she will asses other health insurance options.
More than half a year after Hollywood’s historic double strike officially concluded, other writers and actors are finding themselves in a similar position. SAG-AFTRA performers generally must make at least $27,000 in covered earnings or work at least 104 days over the course of 12 months to qualify for health insurance coverage starting in 2024. (As of 2023, before SAG-AFTRA’s strike, only around 25,000 union members out of about 160,000 met these requirements.) Writers Guild of America members, meanwhile, are required to make $43,862 in covered earnings over four quarters in order to qualify for the Writers Guild-Industry Health Fund; starting July 1, they must make $45,397.
To be sure, the health plans are offering some leniency for participants after the months-long strikes. The Writers Guild-Industry Health Fund and the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan, which operate separately from their affiliated unions and are managed by trustees from both labor and management, are offering extensions of health coverage for one quarter if union members meet certain requirements.
These extensions have provided additional time but haven’t been a cure-all for some members, as the Writers Guild of America West acknowledged in a statement that laid the blame at Hollywood management’s door. “Studio decisions over the past few years have disrupted industry employment: they have cut the number of projects developed and produced, and forced two strikes. The Guild cares deeply about writers who are losing coverage and will continue to fight for quality health care for writers and work with organizations like the Entertainment Community Fund to ensure access when Guild coverage lapses,” the Guild stated.
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