The health insurance provided by Hollywood unions is renowned for its quality, but it faces a precarious situation due to the ongoing strike in the industry.

While the current strikes led by actors and writers focus on issues like artificial intelligence, residual payments, and job protections, health insurance, a contentious topic in labor negotiations, has been somewhat overlooked. While A-list celebrities actively support the strikes, it’s the less famous individuals who are struggling without paychecks and possibly losing their health coverage as negotiations drag on and work opportunities diminish.

Both unions offer health insurance with the stipulation that members must consistently earn a substantial income to qualify and maintain coverage. This stringent requirement makes it challenging to access and sustain the insurance. However, in return, the provided health insurance is of exceptionally high quality.

Often referred to as the “Cadillac of health insurance,” the policy offered by the screenwriters’ guild, for example, seems like a relic of the past. It entails no monthly premiums, costs $600 annually to cover an entire immediate family, and has deductibles in the hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars.

However, the prolonged Hollywood strikes, the most significant in over six decades, threaten this security. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May 2, and the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, since mid-July. Together, they represent over 170,000 workers who are refusing to perform their job duties until negotiations with studios and streaming companies progress. The strikes put writers and actors at risk of losing their health insurance eligibility simply because they are not working due to the strikes.

Writer qualification for health insurance is a complex process, with an income requirement of over $41,700 in covered union work per year, excluding residuals. As this income requirement continues to rise, coupled with the increasingly uncertain job stability in the industry, even experienced writers find it challenging to meet the criteria.

Writers can accumulate credits by qualifying for WGA health insurance for ten years and earning over $100,000 in covered work. These credits can be used during dry spells when writers can’t meet the minimum income requirement. However, health coverage ends after the credits are exhausted, and insuring dependents requires more credits, leaving those with families with fewer resources to fall back on.

In contrast, residual payments do count towards the $26,000 per year that SAG-AFTRA members must earn to qualify for health insurance, making it a priority for members, especially those on the fringes of the industry, to secure higher residual payments from platforms like Netflix.

While some suggest lowering the income requirement to allow more members to qualify for health insurance, others argue for fighting for equitable pay rather than dividing limited resources among survivors in the industry.

California has implemented a new law, effective July 1, 2023, that may benefit workers who lose their union health insurance due to strikes. The law provides funding to cover premiums for eligible workers, with premiums calculated just above the Medicaid eligibility level. Starting January 1, 2024, another law will eliminate deductibles on middle-tier benchmark plans offered by Covered California, further aiding striking workers.

However, it’s important to note that the new laws do not extend coverage to crew members who are not part of the striking unions but have lost health insurance due to the work stoppage. To address this, a mutual aid group called the Union Solidarity Coalition (TUSC) has been established to offer assistance to these crew members.

While some have called on studios and streaming companies to continue health care coverage for workers during strikes, it’s considered unlikely, as such a decision falls outside the norm in the industry. Half of the trustees overseeing the Motion Picture Industry Pension & Health Plan are associated with companies involved in the strike, further complicating the situation.