Barry's Blog @ CCI

I.  Health Care and Health Insurance:

Consider the following facts:

• There are some 36+ million people in California
• 18+ million of them have some kind of "employer" based insurance coverage
• 10+  million of them qualify for some kind of public health insurance program (e.g., medicare, medical etc.)
• 8 million of them are uninsured.  A substantial (and perhaps disproportionate) percentage of artists (because their income levels are not high enough to afford coverage, but too high to qualify for public programs) are in this category.
• 80% of the costs of medical care are spent on 10% of the population (largely on the oldest people)
• 15% of the U.S. GDP (gross domestic product) is spent on health care
• Insurance premiums have risen by 73% in the past few years.  Wages rose 15% during the same period.
• The conservative estimate of the number of 'working artists' (individuals who identify themselves as "artists" in terms of their income source for IRS purposes) living in California is between 375,000 and 500,000 (and many experts feel the number of actual working artists in our state is closer to one million.)
• The arts sector remains virtually unorganized in any political sense in terms of leveraging their aggregate numbers for lobbying purposes.  In fact the arts sector - artists and arts organization staffs, boards, volunteers, supporters etc. may be the single largest and economically most powerful NON REPRESENTED POTENTIAL POLITICAL FORCE IN AMERICA.

Think about that last bullet point for just a moment.  The nonprofit arts (not counting the 'for profit' arts sector) are a $4.6 billion a year industry in America - accounting for millions of dollars in local, state and federal tax revenue to governments, hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions in economic activity, constitute a huge portion of tourism related dollars, and play a significant role in everything from home values in a given area to promoting civic pride and cross cultural understanding and cooperation -- and yet, DESPITE this extraordinary level of positive contributions, as a sector, we have virtually no political power or clout - and we as often as not, get the short end of the stick.  Consider that California ranks dead last of the 50 states in funding for the arts at three cents per capita (compare that to New York at $2.75 per capita, and to Europe where no nation spends less than five dollars per capita in support for the arts.   Add to that the fact that the arts sector has huge potential to raise the funds to become politcally powerful by holding performance benefits and other kinds of fundraising, and the question becomes WHY don't we do it?  Why do we choose to remain politically impotent when all that would seem necessary to become a real force, is our collective "will" to do so?  If the field were to exercise even a small portion of its political and economic influence, it ought to easily be able to pass legislation that would address its health care insurance needs. 

Frankly the arts ought to be as powerful as the teachers unions, the pharmaceutical industry and the NRA.   

OK - back to health insurance.  As a sub-group, artists have some unique, identifiable problems in terms of insurance coverage (and by and large because of these barriers, the 'deck' is stacked against artists having access to both health care insurance, and in many cases, adequate health care itself.)

1. COVERAGE OPTIONS:  As most heath insurance is offered through employer based plans, artists (as self-employed people) often have no options for affordable coverage.   Artists have no direct access to insurance providers except as individuals.  As individuals, they lack any "group" buying power.  Artists often work part-time, seasonally or episodically, and it isn't practical to apply through employers and then re-apply a short time later ad infinitum (assuming coverage was even available).  Many artists work two jobs - PLUS their artistic endeavors.
2. HIGH COSTS:  Health care costs are rising, coverage is shrinking.
3. AFFORDABILITY:  For many artists, because of age, where they live, COBRA, and other factors, the pemiums are so high that the insurance coverage available to them simply isn't affordable.
4. DISQUALIFICATION:  Insurance providers exclusion of "pre-existing" conditions disqualifies increasing numbers of people from affordable coverage. 

The adoption in Massachusetts of a form of a universal health care insurance system has prompted other states, including California, to consider similar plans.  There may now be an opportunity for the artist and the nonprofit and 'for profit' arts communities to join with other sectors of the wider population to influence and impact the consideration of these proposals and to help to get a universal health care insurance system in place that at least addresses some of the major issues facing Californians in general, and artists in our state specifcally. 

II.  The Town Hall Meeting: 

CCI convened an historic Town Hall Meeting Saturday, June 16th in Los Angeles.  Over 650 people attended, making it likely the most successful arts Town Hall meeting called in California in years.  Attended by the Mayor and nonprofit leaders and artists from all over southern California, the focus on the gathering was on the issue of health care and helath insurance coverage reform - particularly as any reform would benefit artists. Click here to read Mayor Villaraigosa's address:  http://www.cciarts.org/pdf_files/Mayors_Address_061607.pdf