Jtm-health-insurance
From Media Giraffe
This is a wiki page created by Bill Densmore of the Journalism that Matters collaborative. The idea is to share ideas about creating a health-insurance facility for laid-off, independent, volunteer and citizen journalists. It was inspired by a post begun on the JTM Google Groups listserve.
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[edit] The original idea
I wonder how many people are needed to get a group discount. I seldom go to the doctor, but I know that even relatively small things can add up quickly. We have about 200 members.
At some point, it might be worth forming an association, for the purpose alone of negotiating a national group rate.
[edit] Anecdotal examples
[edit] Massachusetts catastrophic family coverage -- $550/month
If anyone knows - I'm in! we are paying $550/month for catastrophic high-deductible health insurance for our family of 3. it is not good for ANYTHING but (heaven forbid) catastrophes ... if we have to go to the doctor for anything routine, it would be straight out of our pocket, separately. Just seems nuts. But OTOH I remind myself, we're lucky to be able to at least afford THAT.
[edit] Massachusetts BC/BS rate -- 1,200/month
To add a little perspective. In Massachusetts, I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield for a family of four. It is an individual plan, but it is "community rated" which means the premium is essentially the same as if I were in a group in our geography. It's $1,200 a month and there is a $1,000 a year copay for each family member; and a $2,000 aggregate family copay. That means the first $2,000 of health care we consume each year is on our own nickel. After that there's a small deductible per visit/incident.
[edit] Dental
Dental insurance even for traditionally employed middle-class people is not much help.
From just a little research, it appears that the standard yearly cap for the insurance company to pay is $1,000. My company also offered another plan, with a yearly cap of $1,500.
Many middle-class people can handle that, or a few thousand, relatively well. But moderate to major dental work can cost $5,000 and up.
For many people, it would be more useful to handle routine work out of pocket, and have insurance for help in a major way for any needed big expenses.
[edit] For self-employed
NYT article from May 2008:
[edit] Professional groups
[edit] ASJA
For freelancers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors offers insurance. I think I might have heard about something similar from a related group, but don't remember any detail. Maybe JTM could work with them somehow to help the rest of us.
See:
[edit] California Media Workers Guild
By choice or circumstance, more and more Bay Area journalists and writers are going into business for themselves.
But leaving your media organization doesn’t have to mean losing the protections and benefits of your union.
A new unit of the California Media Workers Guild <http://www.mediaworkers.org/> is forming to support independent writers, editors and journalists of every type. From credentials to benefits, working together can help us create better working conditions and a more vibrant marketplace.
If you're in the SF Bay Area please join our next meeting: Noon, Friday April 24 Third-floor conference room California Media Workers 433 Natoma Street, San Francisco.
To RSVP, or to be added to our mailing list, e-mail Sara Steffens: moderns...@gmail.com
- We also need YOUR help because we are currently researching the best
practices for securing health plans for groups such as ourselves. If you have any information about how to qualify for group insurance please e-mail kara.andr...@gmail.com **********
[edit] Media Bistro
http://www.mediabistro.com/insurance/
[edit] National Writers Union
Let me recommend that folks check out the National Writer's Union. I used to be a member, and my wife used to work there. They offer membership on a sliding scale:
http://www.nwu.org/nwu/?cmd=showPage&page_id=1.1.23
And they also offer a group insurance and benefits plan. I haven't been a member in awhile, but several years ago, their rates were quite reasonable:
http://www.nwu.org/nwu/?cmd=showPage&page_id=1.3.18.4
I believe they get pretty good rates by being part of the AFL-CIO.
[edit] Collaborations?
Try working with The Newspaper Guild?
Tangential: The Haven -- Created by Stephen King, primarily "to establish a compassionate and committed group of board members willing to sift through cases and identify those where the need seems to be the greatest. These “greatest need” cases would be freelance artists—writers, readers, and those in the associated publishing industry—who have found themselves unable to work due to disease or accident." http://www.thehavenfdn.org/index.html
As of May 6, 2009, Maurreen Skowran is in discussion with a couple of people from the San Francisco Freelancers Guild (Kara Andrade and Sara Steffens) about possible collaboration on insurance.
[edit] Misc.
Also consider other insurance, such as libel?
