[Peace-discuss] Hollywood health care might spur some class consideration

[J.B. Nicholson]

Not that you should pay attention to celebrities advising just about anything. Some 
notable vocal celebrities are quite wealthy and therefore not in the same class as 
most working people who live paycheck to paycheck and work multiple part-time jobs 
with no "benefits". Those workers work out of necessity to try to make ends meet 
without hundreds of thousands of dollars to fall back in lean times.

But this is getting some press:

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/sag-aftra-health-plan-makes-premium-eligibility-changes-1234733801/
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/sag-aftra-health-plan-changes-unite-for-strength-1234738032/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/the-fight-within-sag-aftra-over-health-care

In short: SAG-AFTRA (the screen and radio union) health care plan is changing on 
January 1, 2021. Some of the highlights of this change:

- "One of the most significant changes appears to be in how spouses of union members 
are covered. According to the newsletter, if a union member’s spouse is offered 
health insurance by their employer, said spouse must accept that coverage and move 
off the SAG-AFTRA plan."

- "The newsletter also details new premiums. Coverage for one participant on the plan 
will increase to $375 per quarter; for one participant and one dependent, the premium 
will be $531 per quarter; premiums for one participant and two or more dependents 
will be $747 per quarter."

- Under the new plan the lower-income limit (to qualify for health care coverage) is 
being raised: members used to qualify for the SAG-AFTRA health insurance if they made 
at least $18,040 in a year. Now members need to make $25,950 in a year to qualify, 
and residuals do not count toward that total.

This might help motivate those whom Jimmy Dore rightly calls "blue check assholes" 
(referring to their Twitter-verified accounts having blue checkmark icons on their 
Twitter account) to support Medicare for All and possibly reconsider their public 
support for Joe Biden (who has repeatedly reiterated his complete lack of support for 
Medicare for All). Now that their health care is being threatened, they have reason 
to consider serious domestic policymaking that could benefit most Americans.

Jimmy Dore talked about this on 2020-08-21 evening so there should be a segmented 
video on this coming out on his channel 
(https://www.youtube.com/user/TYTComedy/videos) soon. Keep an eye on his channel for 
a live conference announcing a new political party as well. Let's hope it's not some 
laughably inept pseudo-progressive time-waster that tries to convince you to vote 
Democrat or give disaffected Democratic Party representatives a place to go. That 
could very quickly turn into a sham built to lose to the Democrats (like the 
Washington Generals are to the Harlem Globetrotters).