This just in ...

[kinzel]

Sigh ...

I do wish the world and writers were more in tune...

as mentioned elsewhere in the blogosphere:

Steven Brust is a a bind, in part due to some bills that need paying; as I understand it a hospital has put a lien on his house.

This link is to a donate button http://dreamcafe.com/donate.html ... at the top of that page you should also find a "log" which, reading backwards, may provide details of interest.

So, anyone out there want (and know how) to start a Writers and Artists Insurance Cooperative? Insurance is the reason Sharon is currently distracted by a "real job" instead of writing full time here at the Catfarm and Confusion Factory.

Comments

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

There are ways and ways of starting one. I can get you detailed information if you want it...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I wish you luck.

At WFC earlier this month, health insurance for writers came up more than once as a topic in bars and restaurants, along with various solutions people are trying, ranging from the "I'm trying not to get sick" to joining Authors Guild to taking a job just for the benefits.

Sadly Authors Guild's health insurance, while well-intentioned, is only offered in limited markets and some of those markets have become prohibitively pricey. And regardless of cost, it's not an option for those of us who live in the wilds of upstate New York.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

It doesn't seem to be an option AT ALL for people who live outside a limited number of states.

this whole business of making insurance "mandatory - like they're doing in, what was it, Massachusetts or Connecticut, I forget - that's all very well, but if you couldn't afford it BEFORE it became mandatory I don't see how they expect that to change just because they said you have to have it. If they at least subsidised - and pretty heavily at that - it would be a different matter.

I have "catastrophic" health insurance, with a great honking deductible before it kicks in. And I just got wod they're increasing premiums for that in january, by 21%. That's vicious. I don't know how long I'll be able to afford even this.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Yah. Try buying it from scratch when your age is 60.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

If SFWA had its ass in gear, it would be offering group policies ... but nooooo.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

SFWA did this, in connection with other non-profits...

but it fell apart because each state has individual rules and they all want high-profit folks -- and writers aren't a high-profit group.

I can't blame this on SFWA, and you shouldn't either. Not even the Writers Guild insurance is a damn bit of good for me, since I'm in Maine and Maine is *not covered*...

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Maybe SFWA should be joining with the screen writers and romance writers to produce a large enough writers group that it would be "profitable" -- so they could get reasonable policies.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Maybe SFWA should be joining with the screen writers and romance writers to produce a large enough writers group that it would be "profitable" -- so they could get reasonable policies.

No, we tried that; SFWA and RWA and MWA and HWA and whatever acronymn the Western writers use, and Sisters in Crime and I forget who-all -- all those groups piggy-backed on the NWU to make a big enough "group" to get some access to affordable (for some value of "affordable") health insurance to their members. It worked for awhile. Then the rules changed specifically to make such "umbrella" groups impossible.

Honest to ghod, I spent a lot of time and did a lot of research, first as SFWA's Executive Director, then as President, trying to figure out A Way, SOME Way to get affordable health insurance to writers. If it's out there, it's hiding 'way down in a canyon somewhere...

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Sorry if this sounded a bit strident -- I'd spent much time trying to track down insurance carriers for SFWA during Sharon's presidency and national carriers practically laughed off SFWA's minuscule membership and the demographics that came with it. Given what members said they could afford to pay and what insurer's asked there was an ever growing gap of affordability.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Sorry -- that is no fun to fid out.

Would you believe that on my last visit, my *doctor* announced that it was "time for socialized medicine". We would all cheer, I have no doubt.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I get that *covered* thing. AARP does not have coverage in Kansas. Missouri is literally in my back yard, and there is coverage in the back yard. Grrrr.

In Tune??? But I sing off key!

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

Would you be a writer if you were more in tune with the world?
Thanks for the heads up on Brust. I just finished his last Pip and Flinx book and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Re: In Tune??? But I sing off key!

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Uh. Brust doesn't do Pip and Flinx -- Foster does.

Re: In Tune??? But I sing off key!

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

ARRRGH!
My mind must have been in another dimension!
The Brust book I just finished reading was Dzur. And yes that was good too.
I'm sure he can use the money anyway,

[(Anonymous)]

Burton from Montreal

Sorry to hear about Steve's medical issues. Glad I lived in Canada where there isn't any HMOs. It seem from the news that unless one have continuing health insurance in the US, one is only one hospital visit from bankruptcy.

By the way, LUC2 arrived in the mail today.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

That's the truth. My last hospital visit was about 14,000 and the doctor bills on top of that were about another 6,000. And I was lucky -- it turned out to be something passing instead of something that would need a lot of care and recovery. Not too many people keep that kind of cash lying around. Insurance got it down to around 700.00 -- not that I have that, either, but I can pay that off in a reasonable time.

Maine Resource Link

[(Anonymous)]

Probably already been here, but Couldn't resit dumping this link found on Google. http://www.ahirc.org/state_indx.cfm?st=ME

Re: Maine Resource Link

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

"Plans vary by state."

"Detailed health and pension information available at a members-only website."

"Health insurance information on website not accessible to non-members"

"
Health Insurance
- New York
- California
- New Jersey
- Chicago Metropolitan
& Indiana
- Connecticut
- Florida
- TX, AZ, VA"

"The NWU health plan is available only to members and associates living in the state of New York."

And so it goes.

Health Insurance atleast you are eligible

[(Anonymous)]

At least you are eligible. There are some groups that need it and are not eligible to get it. My mother in law who lives with us and am bound by contract to the feds to support/ keep off public assistance is NOT eligible for health insurance in this country. BTW we met whilst you were engaged in a game of chess with a mutual friend. I was trolling the world wide library and came across your name in conjunction with science fiction. Linked over and low and behold a name from another time. May stop in again here soon. Many the ink from your pen flow into words as the waters flow down the rivers to the sea.

BH

Re: Health Insurance atleast you are eligible

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Yes, eligible at a cost we couldn't afford since we couldn't get into an eligible group.

Meanwhile: you say we met ... while I was engaged in a game of chess with a mutual friend.

Hmmm. That could date back as far as 1967 or 1970, couldn't it? I *was* on the chess team in high school and then came back to help them keep going after I graduated. Too, I was on the chess team at UMBC for a couple years... and ... played at the Columbia mall and ...sigh.

Re: Health Insurance atleast you are eligible

[(Anonymous)]

lol .... It was at Franklin High and you were playing with Kathy. You might remember her but I doubt that you would remember me....

Brian

Re: Health Insurance at least you are eligible

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Actually, that was in the cafeteria, across from the home ec rooms, I think. Second or third table from the door closest to the hall leading to both the auditorium and the shop wing. I thought of you immediately ... the B could have been you or Barb B(who was also there, IIRC) since I didn't know what her last name might have transposed into.

Re: Health Insurance at least you are eligible

[(Anonymous)]

Like a fine wine you have aged well. Take care and I hope that ya'll get your insurance problems work out.

Down here in Texas the office fax machine usually gets ads for medical insurance thats under $100 a month. Don't know any details as the telecom I work for has a plan not cheap but not expensive.

Brian

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

This whole situation makes me angry beyond belief. I don't know Steven Brust, I haven't read his books, but I've put my money in the kitty from one writer to another just because.

Bastards.

[zola.livejournal.com]

Hmm... is there a way of widening the net so you can get a bigger group? I'm a person who works from home who is looking around for affordable insurance myself.

Writers *also* work from home, so that's something we have in common. It also might make the potential pool of people bigger... Just a thought.