Medical Benefits
A friend of mine in Atlanta asked me this question I don’t know the answer to but I will try and fine someone who does. He wondered why we couldn’t buy our own hours? I will give you an example of something that happened to me. I was working on a high dollar documentary with a camera crew all of whom belonged to Local 600. I needed 15 hours to regain my insurance and if I didn’t do it I would not only not be insured but would also loose my bank. I called and asked the union to talk to the production company but they seemed uninterested, so I spoke to the productions company and they seemed uninterested. The crew was one that worked a lot of non-union so the were uninterested. I worked 50 hours in the seven days ( not to stressful) but I lost my chance at insurance and lost all that bank, when I actually worked the hours. His question ( I won’t say his name as I didn’t ask if I could) but his question was mine at the time. Can’t I just pay you on my own. It’s 15 hours! The answer was no and I don’t remember the reasoning, I probably wasn’t caring at that point, the battle was lost. My friend has kids and can not loose insurance. It’s a rollercoaster ride especially for those of us in the central region. You do a movie, your on, movie goes away, your off. What happens if your given a horrible diagnosis right before you loose it? You can pay Cobra for a year but then try getting insurance with a condition after you are no longer allowed to pay cobra. I will make a few phone calls and ask Doug or Tom if they might write in and give us an answer. chow for now.
So far from what Matt said is we would need to guarantee a base number of recepeints each month to the program. Matt suggests a two tiered system where we have option of “Pay-in” and self pay. Unfortuneately he has not been able to get real answers from our Bruce. I will talk to MPHW today in New York and see if they can give me an answer. If only one or two people ask Bruce for answers they can easily be blown off. If 100 of us as ask for an answer every meeting he will be pressured to pay attention to the question. Matt said it might be difficult to secure their required base amount of people each month, I don’t know it seems to me it might not be difficult. Insurance seems to be the number one issue especially with Central region members; not finding an approriate answer to this problem is not an option. I use to not be real concerned when I yo yo’d on and off the program. Now that I am “Somewhere JUST BARELY beyond the big 40″ I am a little more concerned. It’s gambling. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
I recently talked to the MPI here in New York and there answer to why can’t we pay in was because we can’t. She didn’t really know why and told me I would have to ask the board of trustees. I will write them a letter to get to the bottom of it.
It was explained to me years ago that “employer contributions” to a union Health Plan can never be mixed with “member contributions,” because of federal law about union health plans and pensions.
This is why we can’t simply “buy hours.”
I’m sure Chaim Kantor or someone else can give a more complete answer, but this is the way I remember it.
So the problem is not with the union, or with the conracts, but with federal labor law.
Sometimes it works with us, and sometimes against.
But my point is that it is not an easy issue to fix, and we can’t do it by ourselves.
Doug Hart
1AC, Eastern Region, Local 600
DCHart@aol.com