PAGE 10
SUMMER 2015
News
Health Care Fair and Square
Julia Tran &
Armaan Maharaj
Staff Writers
Those who choose
to follow the arts as
a career take certain economic risks.
Among those is the
high cost of medical
insurance, something
many conservatory
teachers know all too
well.
Commercial Music teacher, Reggie
Ashley, said, “After
I had quit my job at
State Farm in order
to pursue music as a
career, I had to pay
a lot for health insurance.”
But reforms from
the Affordable Care
Act, which was
signed into law on
March 23, 2010 and
took effect on Jan.
1, 2014, made health
care benefits more
affordable for hourly
working support staff
and conservatory
teachers.
“Now I am able to
pay less than half of
what I used to pay,”
said Ashley.
Stephen Lazarus,
piano teacher for
Classic Instrumental
Music, said “I went
to the doctor for the
first time about a
year ago, which was
the first time in four
years.”
Illustration by: Julia Choi
Although full-time
academic teachers have always
received health care
benefits provided by
the OCSA administration, conservatory
and part-time academic teachers are
not covered. Because conservatory
teachers can carry a
maximum workload
of 10 hours, they do
not qualify for the
same health benefits
as academic teachers. For most of the
school’s history, this
policy made acquiring basic health care
a struggle for many
of OCSA’s conservatory teachers.
Under the Affordable Care Act,
“Employees such as
receptionists and
health clerks can
qualify if they work
29 hours a week or
more, or 130 hours a
month,” said Jena
Duca, director of
OCSA’s Human Resources.
For conservatory/
part-time teachers,
their hours at OCSA
seldom qualify for
school-provided
health care, though
they may now receive more cost effective health insurance elsewhere.
“I had a preexisting condition, which
prevented me from
getting insurance
that wasn’t a thousand trillion dollars,”
said Creative Writing
Conservatory teacher, Eric Tryon, concerning his search for
health insurance before the act. The high
rates made decent
healthcare inaccessible to part-time
workers and teachers
such as him.
While the Affordable Care Act has
benefited many, it
does not greatly affect those who already receive health
care insurance from
a different employer
or through a spouse.