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Course Description
“Don’t go without care.” –Renata Marinaro
The health insurance system in the US can seem impenetrable and overwhelming, especially when you’re freelance or self-employed. Renata Marinaro, Managing Director of Health Services for the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly the Actors Fund), explains what you need to know to approach this for-profit system as an educated, savvy consumer. She explains the basic vocabulary (and countless acronyms) involved, outlines your rights as a consumer, and offers an unbiased, step-by-step overview of your insurance options right now. Learn how to cut through insurance propaganda and consumer myths to find a plan that’s right for you. If you remain uninsured, she has guidance for that as well.
This course consists of a 30-minute video, an associated worksheet, and research that could take several hours, depending on your personal situation.
This course consists of a 30-minute video, an associated worksheet, and research that could take several hours, depending on your personal situation.
Objectives
- Positioning yourself within current health insurance options.
- Greater ease navigating the healthcare system.
- Utilization of social programs, safety nets, discounts, and free options without shame.
- Incorporating health insurance costs into freelance rates.
• Explain basic vocabulary important to navigating the system: Deductible, Copay, Coinsurance, Out-of-Pocket Maximum, Marketplace, Federal Poverty Level, Lifetime Max, Junk Insurance, COBRA, Modified or Adjusted Gross Income, Medicaid, and Advanced Premium Tax Credits.
• Explain the difference between HMO and PPO.
• Explain the difference between Open Enrollment and Special Enrollment and give examples of special enrollment.
• List several consumer rights instituted by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
• Navigate healthcare.gov to find available plans.
• Identify several healthcare options available and the questions to ask yourself before choosing.
• Estimate your adjusted gross income and choose a plan that works best for you.
Course Contents
YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Renata Marinaro
Managing Director of Health Services for Entertainment Community Fund (Formerly The Actors Fund)
Renata Marinaro is an experienced social worker and current Managing Director of Health Services for Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), a human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. Her accomplishments include helping launch the Friedman Health Center for Performing Arts, a primary and specialty care center in partnership with Mount Sinai Doctors in New York City; training and managing a national team of health insurance navigators and agents; and developing creative health literacy products. Her overarching goal is to create educated healthcare consumers with increased access to affordable care.
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Amy Whitaker
Author, Faculty Member at New York University
Holding an MFA and an MBA, Amy studies the friction between art and business and proposes new structures to support economic sustainability for artists. Her third book, Economics of Visual Arts, was published in the fall of 2021 with Cambridge University Press. Amy is also author of two other books, Museum Legs and Art Thinking. Serving on the arts administration faculty at NYU, Amy researches what would happen if artists retained equity in their work. Her work on fractional equity has appeared in Management Science (with Kraussl) in the "Fast Track" intended for "high-impact research that is of broad interest.”
Amy's work has been featured in The Guardian, Harpers, The Atlantic, the Financial Times, Artforum, and The Art Newspaper. Her early work with the artists' cooperative project Trade School was covered in the New York Times and The New Yorker. She speaks widely including at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Meaning Conference (Brighton, UK), and The Conference (Malmö, Sweden). She has taught at Williams College, the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of Visual Arts, and California College of the Arts, and is a past recipient of the Sarah Verdone Writing Award from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
Image © Shieva Rezvani
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Image © James Adams
Image © James Adams
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chrismyersinc.com / anticapitalismforartists.com
@chrismyersinc (IG) / @lilmaterialist (Twitter)
@chrismyersinc (IG) / @lilmaterialist (Twitter)
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