Actors’ Equity Association Thanks New York State for Its Expanded COBRA Subsidies

Actors’ Equity Association welcomed the good news that New York State’s new budget, announced this week, includes renewing its COBRA subsidy program with $2 million funding.
Equity stage managers and actors earn their health insurance one week of work at a time, and many of them have been unemployed for over a year. The theatre industry is just beginning to return, but this renewal is much-needed aid to cover COBRA and allow workers to stay on union insurance.

Equity has been advocating for a full federal COBRA subsidy for a year, which finally passed in the American Rescue Plan Act. However, that subsidy is set to expire in September 2021. The New York subsidy will dramatically lower the cost of COBRA for state residents through the end of 2021.