COVID-19: Healthcare Qualifying Hours Relaxed for Members with 100 Hours or More Banked

Read MPI Update (4/10/2020)

By Rebecca Rhine, Local 600 Nat’l Executive Director & MPIPHP Board Member

On Thursday, Apr. 9, the MPIPHP Directors extended eligibility for Active Participants in the Motion Picture Industry Health Plan who are currently enrolled and whose Benefit Period ends on June 30, 2020 – ie, for the Qualifying Period that ends on April 25, 2020. Members who are on COBRA and those enrolled as Disabled are not eligible for the new hourly exception.

If an Active Participant has 100 or more total hours (worked, banked or combined) during the Qualifying Period, the MPIHP will provide a credit of up to 300 hours to ensure their eligibility continues in the MPIHP for the Benefit Period of July 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. This relieves the anxiety that many of our members were suffering from the uncertainty of benefit continuity due to the industry shutdown.

I believe we are the first industry health plan to directly tackle the impact of this crisis on our members' benefits. The actions taken thus far, including this one, have all been designed to provide immediate and meaningful relief to Plan Participants.

We will now turn our attention to those members whose Qualifying Periods end in May and beyond. The MPIPHP Directors expect to have data from the health plan actuaries shortly that will allow us to determine the ongoing impact of this crisis and to make decisions based on that information to best protect the health care of all of our participants. I will continue to advocate for the most expansive use of plan resources to protect Plan Participants during this crisis.

IATSE Vice President Mike Miller's tireless efforts on this issue deserve special acknowledgement. Further details will be provided by the MPIPHP over the next few days, and I will continue to report any new information to you as soon as it becomes available.

If we stay together, we will get through this together.