As Hollywood laborers, we know what it’s like to live in fear of illness or injury, or to have necessary medical treatments denied, changed, or delayed by insurance companies that are financially motivated to provide as little care as possible. And even with so-called "Cadillac" union health insurance, too many union members across our industry have struggled or failed to meet minimum earnings thresholds to qualify for their health plans.

Precious bargaining power is wasted on increasingly expensive health insurance during union contract negotiations, and even when health care is not a priority it is still a bargaining tool wielded by the AMPTP against workers, as more union and non-union workers across our industry lose their insurance benefits the longer a strike continues.

Beyond our industry, 3.2 million Californians currently do not have any health insurance, and 12 million more are under-insured, meaning they cannot afford their copays and deductibles. More than 15 million Californians, or 40% of the state’s population, are already enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, which offers free health care coverage to low-income residents. And yet Americans use significantly less health care services than people in other industrialized countries — including physician visits and hospital admissions — yet spending is greater due to higher prices. Despite higher spending, people in the United States have worse health outcomes, including shorter life expectancy and greater prevalence of chronic conditions.

Our current for-profit, employer-sponsored health insurance system is bad for union power, bad for workers, and bad for our health. By passing CalCare AB 2200 in 2024, all California residents will have access to comprehensive health care coverage, including all primary and preventive care, hospital and outpatient services, prescription drugs, dental, vision, audiology, reproductive health services, maternity and newborn care, long-term services and supports, mental health and substance abuse treatment, gender-affirming care, laboratory and diagnostic services, ambulatory services, and more. 

Patients will have freedom to choose doctors, hospitals, and other providers they wish to see, without worrying about whether a provider is “in-network.” Californians would receive health care services and other defined benefits without paying any premiums or deductibles. Upon receiving care, patients would not be charged any copays or other out-of-pocket costs.

CalCare AB 2200 Fact Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w6jvoqvjIMf0IFC51xMqZZlXnozyRMU4/view

CalCare Labor FAQ: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dHllK2EdsbJksZzu_qETZVb0iyNb3UG9uauW9kysSEw/edit

Hollywood4CalCare Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollywood4calcare/

Political Context:

AB 2200 passed the Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday, April 23rd! It faces its next vote in the Assembly Appropriations Committee by May 17th. If it passes, it will head to a full vote on the Assembly floor between May 20th and 24th.

“A universal, single-payer health care system” is on the official California Democratic Party Platform and 87% of Democratic voters support it. Gavin Newsom ran on support for single-payer. Democrats hold 62 out of 80 seats in the state assembly and 32 out of 40 in the state senate, meaning they don’t need a single Republican vote to pass bills in either house. 

And it’s not new! Democrats introduced a single-payer health care bill in the California state legislature in 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2017 & 2022. The full legislation even passed in 2006 and 2008, only to be vetoed by Governor Schwartzenegger. Our representatives know what CalCare is and they know Californians want it. But they are beholden to the trillion-dollar insurance industry and the powerful Chamber of Commerce, who know that tying health care to employment serves the ruling class by making workers dependent on their bosses for their basic human needs.

SAG-AFTRA, I.A.T.S.E., Teamsters, the WGA and the DGA have the power to shine a much-needed spotlight on CalCare as it moves through the California state legislature in 2024, where it faces its first vote in the Assembly Health Committee on April 23rd. We need all eyes on CalCare, because without a loud and passionate demonstration of support from the labor movement, our representatives are just going to push it off until the next election cycle. With official endorsements from the Hollywood unions, CalCare can finally make it to Gavin Newsom's desk in 2024. 

There is precedent for this kind of support from our unions:

I.A.T.S.E.

I.A.T.S.E. Local 871 endorsed CalCare AB 2200 on Sunday, April 28th!

I.A.T.S.E.'s 2023 Federal Agenda states support for single-payer health care:

"We must make quality health care a basic right in the United States. Our longstanding goal for achieving this is to move expeditiously toward a single-payer system that provides universal coverage, without diminishing the hard-fought benefits union members have won for themselves and all working people."

I.A.T.S.E. was an endorsing organization on Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All Acts of 2019, 2021 and 2023, and it has been endorsing similar federal legislation since at least 2009.

Los Angeles I.A.T.S.E. Locals 33, 44, 80, 705, 871, & 892 were organizing members of the Labor United for Universal Healthcare coalition, endorsing the California Nurses Association's 2017 single-payer health care bill SB 562: https://laborforhealthcare.org/about/affiliates/

Actor's Equity

Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, issued a statement in May 2023 in response to Rep. Pramila Jayapal's federal Medicare for All bill:

“Equity wholeheartedly supports a national single-payer system for health insurance in the United States,” said Al Vincent Jr., executive director of Actors’ Equity Association. “Currently, our members’ health insurance is linked to how many weeks they have union employment throughout the year, a system that failed almost everybody during the industry shutdown of 2020. We need the government to recognize that healthcare is a human right. We once again urge Congress to take this matter seriously.”  

Writers Guild of America West

The WGAW has submitted official letters of support to the California legislature on behalf of health care legislation:

- AB 3087 The California Health Care Price Relief Act - Kalra, 2018

- AB 1130 Bill to Establish the Office of Health Care Affordability within the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development - Wood, 2021

These letters of support demonstrate WGAW leadership’s vested interest in California’s health care policy and commitment to fighting the skyrocketing costs and disparities of our current for-profit health insurance system.

In 2018, WGAW President David Goodman, VP Marjorie David, and Secretary-Treasurer Aaron Mendelsohn wrote in support of AB 3087:

"Over the years, in the face of rising health care costs, our members have foregone full wage increases to ensure that their health benefits are maintained, and our health plan has imposed reasonable cost containment strategies. However, costs for our plan continue to rise, reflecting health care inflation that is driven primarily by the suppliers of health care. We are not alone in experiencing this strain; in California, premiums for employer sponsored health insurance increased 234% from 2002-2016, and 83% of premium increases in the fully-insured large group market in 2017 was due to price inflation.

Health care spending in the United States far outpaces other industrialized countries - we spend twice as much when compared with our peer nations. The U.S. has the highest prices for common drugs, office visits and medical procedures. For instance, an MRI in the United States has an average price of $1,119 compared with $130 in Spain, and a hospital stay costs an average of $5,220 in the U.S. compared with $765 in Australia. Despite this higher spending, Americans have a below-average supply and utilization of doctors and hospitals compared to our industrialized peers, and experience worse health outcomes, including shorter life expectancy and greater prevalence of chronic conditions."

Hollywood union leaders know that our health plan costs are just going to continue rising, but our strongest negotiators are powerless against the trillion-dollar insurance companies that dictate pricing. This year we have seen Hollywood workers rise up and fight back against corporate greed. And we've achieved more than we initially believed possible. But every contract negotiation cycle comes with new challenges, and as long as health care is tied to employment health insurance will remain on the bargaining table. 

To our union leaders:

It’s time we caught up with the rest of the industrialized world and guaranteed affordable and accessible health care to all California residents. We can remove health care as a bargaining chip for the AMPTP. We can ensure that union members who get sick or need to take time off from work will not be in jeopardy of losing their health care. We can avoid ever having to make another GoFundMe page for a coworker injured in an accident or diagnosed with cancer. We can make health care a human right in California by passing CalCare AB 2200 in 2024.