Did you know? - Member insurance

What is my insurance coverage?

Such a simple question: five words. Would that it could be answered in as few. Since it can’t, here is the answer condensed into as few words as I could manage…

For all members in good standing, year-round, off-contract coverage looks like this:

• Accidental Death & Dismemberment coverage
• 50% of eligible medical expenses incurred as a result of an accident
• $100 in Miscellaneous Health and Wellness Benefits (the list is on p.4)

If you worked a minimum of 8 weeks at insurance levels 2-4 in the previous calendar year, off-contract coverage also includes:

• 50% of eligible medical expenses incurred as a result of sickness

To find out if you reached that threshold, log into your profile online. In the top right section, you will see your off-contract insurance eligibility listed. You can also find this info included on your insurance receipt each year.

When you are on-contract, your coverage bumps up to the appropriate level for the contract and premium you are paying:

• Levels 1-3: 85% of eligible medical expenses incurred as a result of an accident or illness
• Level 4: 100% of eligible medical expenses incurred as a result of an accident or illness
• All levels: disability (income replacement) coverage

Some important things to know:

• Your on-contract insurance level is determined by the performer minimum scale fee for the contract in question (since that also determines the premium), not the specific fee you may have negotiated. More info can be found on p. 2 here.
• If you have a contract with level 4 coverage, on-contract coverage for all subsequent contracts in that calendar year is also at Level 4, even though you may only be paying a level 1-3 premium.
• Treatment that begins on-contract, say massage for an injury, continues at the on-contract rate for the earlier of 3 months following the end of the contract, or 6 visits.
• No coverage is unlimited; various annual maximums apply.
• Paramedical claims are covered at the level of reasonable and customary charges, typically established in the fee guides set by regulatory bodies for the practitioners. You should be aware that practitioners offering "specialty" treatments, or working in spas or health clubs, frequently charge more than will be reimbursed.
• All members in good standing also have access to the Equity dental network at no extra cost.
• For those needing even more insurance coverage, AFBS offers Equity members preferred rates on their Arts and Entertainment Plan.

So, those are the basics, covering the vast majority of situations, in a (very large) nutshell. 

Now, do yourself a favour and click on this link. Read the insurance brochure. It will only take you about ten minutes. It's time well spent before you need to make a claim.

Equity's Health and Insurance Plan

Interesting timing. I had just finished doing up a list of extraordinary risk riders for my current show a couple of weeks ago, when a friend forwarded the following link from The Stage to me:

www.thestage.co.uk/news/2014/02/performer-injured-falling-set-fears-future

Long story short: actor, in the business 20 years; never joined Equity (UK); injured on the job; no disability (income replacement) coverage; off work for at least a year; young family to help support; and worrying about being branded a "troublemaker" for seeking insurance assistance from the engager.

Contrast that with how CAEA's coverage for members works:

- no tenure requirement for coverage
- automatic coverage while on contract, from day one
- disability coverage for up to 104 weeks

I'm not certain what the insurance situation is with our sister organisation in the UK, but I'm betting it's better than "none". It's a shame the artist never saw the value of becoming an Equity member, and I wish him the best in his recovery.

Take the time to review your CAEA insurance coverage. A lot has changed in the past year. So, if the last time you read that brochure on the callboard was when you joined, it's time for a refresher! You can find all the details here. 

Learn about your insurance coverage. We hope you never have a critical need for it; but if you should, it's there.

2013 NAGM

Another National AGM has come and gone. Well, not entirely gone... 

If you were not in the Toronto area on February 25, or couldn't make it to the meeting, videos of the main presentations are posted at www.caea.com, along with information on Equity's new insurance plan and the most recent audited financial statement. Swing on over and have a look. It's your association, and we want you know what's going on.

Insurance plan update

It has been almost exactly a year since we reported completion of our insurance survey and the resulting policy changes, and staff is very close to rolling out the new program.

It will be significantly different from the one we currently have and will offer 365-day coverage for members who work a minimum number of weeks per year. Premiums will be scaled to category size, and there will be some new coverage in areas the survey identified as important. Members desiring additional coverage beyond that will also have the ability to purchase further insurance at discounted rates (provided through ACTRA Fraternal).

Staff is also looking at creating a preferred provider network of dentists across the country, which would offer members a 25% discount on dental services. For a $20 flat fee per year, this coverage would be available to all members in good standing, including their families. This part of the plan is still under construction, and introduction may lag behind the main plan while the provider list is assembled.

Final planning and development of informational material is under way, and we expect to be able to release full details by Christmas.

Combining CAEA and AFBS insurance

This column is based on a question from Facebook: "Could someone PLEASE explain to me why ACTRA and Equity have been unable to combine their insurance policies?"

The easy answer: it's not that easy.

Our two plans work in very different ways, and with different guiding principles. CAEA and AFBS have certainly talked about amalgamation from time to time, but have not been able to come up with a mutually agreeable solution so far.

OK, so what about picking one or the other? Actually, this is a great way to illustrate the disconnect that any amalgamation has to overcome. Let's explore the idea of simply dropping the Equity plan and adopting AFBS's. The Bronze plan is their most affordable, so we'll look at that one.

Challenge #1: affordability.

Bronze AFBS coverage costs somewhere between $500-600 per year. The actual figure is somewhat higher than that, but AFBS has a variable subsidy system that covers part of the cost, so let's use $550 as a typical amount.

The median number of work weeks for an Equity member is somewhere around 10 per year. This also varies, but the figure is accurate enough to use as a ballpark example. This means that a notionally "average" member pays approximately $150/yr for their existing Equity insurance. Conversion to the Bronze plan could be managed by either paying a top-up of $400, or by raising the insurance premium from $16/wk to $50/wk.

The financial adjustment itself would be easy enough to implement.

However, according to the insurance survey, the premium level affordable for the greatest number of Equity members was less than $15/wk. Unless the median number of work weeks miraculously triples, that's a serious affordability gap to have to bridge.

Challenge #2: universality.

All Equity members in good standing have extended insurance coverage for all weeks of work, and basic coverage year round. ACTRA members have similar basic coverage, but only about half of their members have extended coverage while working.  The rest have not worked enough to become eligible for insurance and/or cannot afford to top up their premium accounts. Equity members have current insurance for the work they are doing today; ACTRA members work today toward eligibility for insurance in the future.

In the insurance survey, about ⅓ of Equity members reported having active AFBS coverage, with half of those being at the Bronze level.  By combining incomes and premiums, there is no doubt that more Equity members would be able to afford at least Bronze coverage, and some members already at that level could move up to Silver or Gold.

We'd need bilateral income stats to nail down a precise number, but drawing on member-reported income data from our 2007 general survey, it's likely that roughly 50-60% of all Equity members would be able to afford some level of AFBS coverage if the premiums from both associations were combined.

However... The flip side is that somewhere around 40% of Equity members would almost certainly lose their existing coverage. Because those members would be (by definition) at the lower end of our income spectrum, their ability to top up their contributions to maintain coverage would be limited.

Challenge #3: coverage types and levels.

Trying to compare group insurance plans is like trying to compare apples and elephants, so I'll just highlight some of the items most mentioned by our members.

AFBS Bronze coverage differs from the our base plan in several areas we know to be of importance to Equity members. It does not offer disability coverage, nor orthotics, and coverage for massage and other physical therapies is roughly half of that under the CAEA plan. There is also nothing comparable to our Health and Wellness Benefit until members have over $4000 in their AFBS account. That said, the Bronze plan does offer year-round coverage, 50% dental coverage up to $400, a biannual eye examination allowance, and an option to purchase dependent coverage. In a combined plan, these differences would affect the 50% of Equity members likely to be covered at the Bronze level.

Whether the Bronze mix of coverages is "better", "worse", or "worth it" depends greatly on individual needs and income. However, Equity members wishing to retain all their current coverage after a shift to AFBS would need need to buy in at the Silver level, at the cost of an additional $350/yr, plus a separate disability premium.

Conclusions?

There is no global conclusion to be drawn here, other than showing that combining the two plans would be no easy task. The AFBS plan was built to serve ACTRA members, their incomes, and their work circumstances; ours was built to serve our members, our incomes, and our work circumstances. Even opting to simply abandon one in favour of the other has some pretty significant ramifications, ranging from improved coverage through to total loss of coverage.

Does this mean it can't happen, or that there is no way to do it that doesn't have a significant downside? No. The results from our insurance survey have freed us up to explore a range of options that we did not have before. Also changes made by Equity in 2003, and AFBS in 2006, have created new flexibility in each system that might make combination more feasible.

Staff will be shopping around new plan options derived from the survey results and AFBS will certainly be approached. Who knows? This may turn out to be the last time the "why can't we" question ever needs to be asked or answered.

Insurance Survey results and policy changes

Most members will already have received an EquiFlash posting on this, but I thought I'd echo it here for those who follow this track.

Council recently received the final committee report on the Insurance Survey, and Council has made several policy changes based on the recommendations in the report.

The basics can be found here (open document), with the Insurance Committee final report and the survey results also accessible to members.

Insurance survey update

At our September meeting, Council completed policy work resulting from the insurance survey. Our final report, with survey results and a forecast for action will be published in the next couple of weeks. It will appear in all the usual places.

You spoke; we listened. And just as importantly, we will act on what we heard.

Insurance survey completed

Thank you, on behalf of the Insurance Committee and Council, to all the Equity members who participated in the Association's recent insurance survey.

Our research partner, Leger Marketing, will be collating and analysing responses for presentation to the committee and Equity's national Council. Committee recommendations for the future of the plan will be developed over the next few months, with a report to Council scheduled for June.

Thank you again for helping Council shape the future of your health and
disability benefits plan.

Insurance Survey rescheduled to the new year

Council’s insurance committee has completed work on the insurance survey, to be rolled out across the membership. This is a very challenging topic to explore, and it has taken the committee and its research partner, Leger Marketing, a few weeks longer than anticipated to complete the work. Although the survey is now ready, we are rescheduling release for first thing in the new year in order to avoid an anticipated lower response level during the busy holiday season.

Members with an active email address on file with the office will receive notification and instructions, directly from Leger Marketing, in the first week of January. In order to speed processing and enable the kind of analysis that will be needed on the results, this survey will only be conducted electronically. If you wish to participate and do not have a current email address on file with Equity please visit the members only zone of EQUITYONLINE and update the contact information in your membership profile.

The survey is designed to review Equity member insurance from the ground up, including assessment of member need for year round coverage, spousal and dependent coverage, dental and vision coverage, coverage more closely geared toward the type of work being done, consideration of other insurance sources, affordability, etc.

It would be very useful for members to take some time, prior to completing the survey, to give some thought to their current and recent health and disability needs, health insurance usage patterns, typical contract patterns, and likely future needs. The results of this work will shape our insurance plan for some time to come, and considered and informed responses are essential to that being done well.

Thank you very much for your continued interest, and we look forward to receiving your responses in January.

Stage Safety

With Council deep into its insurance review, this seems like a timely article to share:

Performer Flying and other hazards

The results from our focus group work to date clearly point toward several improvements that members would like to see. However this article certainly highlights one of the great strengths of our existing plan: no one works uninsured.

All the same, insurance is one of those benefits that is best left unused. Be aware of hazards. If you're not sure: ask. Always exercise caution and common sense. Make sure you get to rehearse risky moves until you're comfortable. And, because we're all in this together, watch out for your colleagues.

Take care out (up) there.

Insurance review focus groups complete

Just a quick note to say thanks to all the members from coast to coast who took time to participate in our insurance focus groups. We gathered a lot of very useful information to help us in formulating the survey, including ballpark information on insurance needs and priorities, usage patterns, member awareness of benefits and coverage, affordability ranges, etc.

By the time you read this blog post, the insurance committee will hard at work on the main survey, which we plan to roll out later this fall. In this second phase, we will be collecting data from across the membership to help us develop a plan, or plans, to provide for member insurance well into the future. When you receive your survey, please take the time to help us serve you well.

Details to follow soon.

Insurance review focus groups begin

As announced earlier, Leger Marketing, working with Equity Council, is conducting a series of six focus groups on members' insurance needs.

There will be two in-person groups in Toronto on September 23, and two in-person groups in Vancouver on September 27. One teleconference group each will be held for the eastern regions and for the prairie regions on September 29. The purpose of these focus groups is to lay the groundwork for a structured survey later this fall, to be broadly administered throughout the membership at large.

Over the next week, recruiters working with Leger will be calling a random selection of members from across the country to be part of one of these groups. If you are contacted, please consider participating. The hour or so you spend helping us out in this first phase will go a long way toward ensuring that we are able to collect a full set of meaningful and useful statistics in the later survey work.

Insurance review progress report

It's been a while since Council began reviewing Equity's insurance coverage, so I thought it might be time for a brief update. Council has contracted with Leger Marketing, our research partner from the 2007 survey, to conduct a comprehensive assessment of insurance need and affordability within our membership. Aside from having had past experience with them, their project staff impressed us with a willingness to understand our needs and an obvious team approach between the project specialists from both the qualitative and quantitative parts of the work.

Our first step will be to hold a series of focus groups. In-person groups will be conducted in both Toronto and Vancouver, and separate teleconference groups will be conducted for western and eastern Canada, excluding the two areas already covered. This kind of work does not produce data in the usual sense. Because it is a "live" process, and not static like a survey, Leger will use the group discussions to refine both their and our understanding of all the issues in play.

The input from this first phase will be used to created a structured survey, to be administered throughout the membership at large. It is this second step that will produce the concrete data we will need to rebuild the plan for current and anticipated future needs.

All of this work is expected to take place in the fall and early winter, with a report to Council by February. So, you'll be hearing more from us then.

When the time comes, it's vital that we hear from you. If you are contacted for focus group work, please consider participating. If this process is to produce the excellent plan we hope it will, all communities within the membership need to be represented. That includes everyone from those who want more insurance coverage, to those who want less, or none. Similarly, if a survey invitation shows up in your inbox or mailbox, please take the time to complete it. Your insurance plan will be shaped by those who do.