Changes made to a union health plan will make it harder for thousands of actors and performers to retain their medical insurance, a new lawsuit alleges.
A group of SAG-AFTRA members sued the union’s health plan and its board of trustees for breach of fiduciary duty and other claims, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.
The lawsuit was sparked by a series of changes made to the health plan this summer as trustees faced rising healthcare costs brought on by the global pandemic as well as financial pressures caused by the industry shutdown.
The controversial changes included no longer allowing actors 65 years and older who vested their pensions to count their earnings from residuals in the annual income threshold for maintaining health insurance benefits. Also eliminated was the so-called “age and service” criterion, which allowed actors over 40 with a decade of credits to qualify for coverage at a reduced level of $13,000 in annual earnings.
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