rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/fund-new-york-state-cobra-subsidies?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-fund-new-york-state-cobra-subsidies' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> ​Actors' Equity Association https://actionnetwork.org/groups/actors-equity https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg Theatres across New York closed their doors in mid-March 2020 due to the pandemic. Theatre artists remain out of work, and expect their industry to be among the last to reopen. For many of those theatre artists, this extended shutdown is leading to new concerns: how to maintain access to health insurance. For Equity members qualifying for insurance is tied to how many weeks out of the year an actor or stage manager works. With those weeks totally disrupted, more Equity members are losing access to their health insurance every month. And it's not just actors and stage managers: the Wall Street Journal reported that similar problems are facing musicians and screen actors.1 In 2004, in response to the entertainment industry job losses that happened in the aftermath of September 11-related shutdowns, the state of New York enacted a program subsidizing 50% of COBRA premiums for entertainment workers. This program, the first and only state subsidy of its kind, has helped New York entertainment workers to maintain their union health fund coverage. It's an important and successful program that has helped thousands of workers maintain their health insurance during periods of intermittent and episodic employment. During the pandemic, this program is more important than ever - but funding levels have declined. That's why we need you to send an email to your state legislators. New York's entertainment unions have come together around a set of proposals that will update and improve this essential program for the first time since 2004. Tell your legislators that you want to see the following in the upcoming April 1, 2021 state budget: Fund the program at a minimum of $3.75 million dollars. Increase and update the eligibility threshold from the 2004 enactment to a level that better reflects today’s wage rates. Do not count any pandemic emergency period months of COBRA subsidy coverage against the program’s twelve-month cutoff. Together, we can convince our state legislature to update this program that will help entertainment workers get through the pandemic until theaters can reopen. COBRA subsidies aren't a perfect solution right now, but updating this program is an important step in improving access to health care in New York. Actors' Equity is also supporting federal COBRA subsidies, as well as a recently proposed bill to create a new public health insurance option. 1 “New York City’s Creative Class Faces Health-Care Crunch” Wall Street Journal, 26 Jan. 2021. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/fund-new-york-state-cobra-subsidies