Op-Ed: Health Insurance Reform Likely to increase Musicians Join the Union

The long overdue health insurance overhaul is on its way to become law. The lawmakers who voted for the reform tonight are raving the bill: "32 million uninsured Americans will get health care" and not the least those with health coverage will finally get protection in order to receive the value for the health insurance premiums which it was always supposed to represent.

So, who will cover the jazz musicians who are playing in the New York jazz scene? If a quartet is playing a week at the Village Vanguard, are the four members getting their weekly fee and health insurance premium for a week? And if a band plays a one-nighter at Smalls, will they get a health insurance voucher from the violin player outside the club? Or will the audience at Caffe Vivaldi give health insurance premiums in the tip jar? What if a U.S. musician is touring Europe all the time, will she get a bonus paid from Brussels for a private U.S. insurance? Of course, none of these scenarios would be practicable, and merely generate laughs, or less.

Okay, absurdities aside: Did the musicians completely forget that there actually is a musicians' union? Join the AFM, American Federation of Musicians, Local 802. That's the right forum for all of this; the union will be more invigorated than ever before after this bill has taken effect. The more members, the better it will be for everybody. Needless to say, the discussion on whether membership in a union is worthwhile will get a completely different tone from the one dominating in recent decades. Join the AFM.