Artists need healthcare

Bad health care or lack of it has killed more American artists than we can count.

This year, I took the leap as an entrepreneur. The number one question in making the decision was How do we get coverage?

By some estimates, the “gig economy” now accounts for an approximate 34% of employment in the country, and it may grow to 43% by 2020. In no way should our healthcare be tied to your job.

How many of you are working a dead-end jobs because it pays for your coverage? How many of you want to start a business but are worried about your family’s health coverage? How many of you can’t get a job that pays for coverage? How many of you are anxious or depressed in your job because it is something you have to go do, not something you get to do?

We are the most in debt, most obese, most medicated, most unhappy adult cohort in human history.

And I believe one of the reasons is because we stifle our ability to innovate, to create art. We don’t make it easy for artists and entrepreneurs to do what they do best.

Of course, there are legitimate issues with universal healthcare. (How do we pay for it? How do make sure quality care is given?) Perhaps, government is big enough, but we can surely demand government to run better.

We are in the midst of the biggest mental health crisis in human history. To answer this call, we have built Pivot Adventure Co., an eight-week adventure therapy course for teenagers designed to help them navigate through lives challenges. We are helping to save and improve lives. Fortunately, after much sacrifice and careful planning, we have been able to make this jump.

But I know way too many Artists that can’t make this leap to do the work they were meant to do. Simply because they have no answer to healthcare. It’s just too big of a chasm to overcome. And too many roll the dice each day just hoping something catastrophic doesn’t happen.

The fact is, the United States is the only highly developed nation without universal healthcare.

Each time another Artist dies because of lack of care, we need to be asking ourselves: What could have been?