Healthcare Insurance

EAR’s primary program is the Emergency Financial Relief Program that provides funding for artists of all disciplines who are in an urgent financial or medical crisis.  However, since 2019, and especially during the Covid 19 pandemic, EAR has been receiving an ever increasing number of applications for subsistence funding – artists requiring funding for rent, food, and immediate needs.  In 100% of these applications, artists also have had unaddressed medical needs that they weren’t able to address due to costs/access.

Due to this, EAR identified a need in the arts community for access to group health insurance for artists and creative professionals who do not have access to employer sponsored benefits.

In an effort to provide proactive resources to artists, EAR partnered with A&E, a national non profit Group Health Insurance provider.  With this partnership, EAR is able to offer all members of our organization access to group health insurance, at group health insurance rates.

EAR recognized that not all artists would be able to afford even just premiums for group health insurance.  This information was compiled from a survey of members and past Relief recipients.  70% of respondents indicated that they did not have access to health insurance benefits and 100% were interested in help in accessing these services.

EAR also identified the need to partner with other arts service organizations to bring more awareness of this program, and EAR, as well as to create a support network in the arts community.

With this information, EAR began developing a Health Insurance Subsidy Program that would provide funding to subsidize the cost of premiums for the Group Health Insurance Plan and costs not covered.

EAR has received funding from CADA to run a pilot to help inform the development of the Health Insurance Subsidy program. This Subsidy Pilot will partner with 5 arts service organizations, representing different arts disciplines, to identify 3 artists per organization who EAR will provide the cost of premiums to the Group Health Benefits for one year. We have reached out to a diverse group of organizations, who have chosen three members of their organization to participate.

This Subsidy program is significant because it has the potential to provide a much needed safety net for artists in the community.

The culmination of this pilot program will result in 15 artists accessing subsidized group health insurance for one year, in addition to creating partnerships and relationships with other arts service organizations, to share resources and information and strengthen the arts community.

This Subsidy Program would allow artists to continue to work within the gig economy and provide a much needed safety net for artists in the community.  Thus, this support would allow artists to continue creating, making, and sharing their vision and ideas with the Calgary region.