Freelancers Insurance Company

Sara Horowitz, the Founder & Executive Director of the New York-based Freelancers Union, has announced that the Union now has its own insurance plan, the Freelancers Insurance Company.

This is exciting news. For now, its only for NY State residents, but Ms. Horowitz' goal is affordable health insurance for all freelancers in America.

Maybe this is dry subject matter. Well , OK --not "maybe." It is dry, and certainly not as interesting as an analysis of gag cartoon construction, etc. -- but the Freelancers Insurance Company is a big step toward recognition of the freelancer -- a person for whom "volatility is a way of life" -- as a real, working part of the economy. She, along with the foundation and corporate supporters, deserve our thanks and appreciation. Consider getting involved with the Union to assist the FIC's ability to cover working freelancers in other states.

Here's Sara Horowitz on the Freelancers Insurance Company:

In 1996, I founded a nonprofit organization to represent the needs and concerns of independent workers; in 2001, we created a program to get health insurance for independent workers in New York State. Back then, we recognized that the most pressing concern for freelancers was lack of affordable insurance. Over the years, Freelancers Union has worked with different insurance companies to get plans for our members at prices below what they’d pay on their own. Now, Freelancers Union has started Freelancers Insurance Company, to ensure that members have stable, long-term access to health insurance.

To start FIC, Freelancers Union has had a lot of help. Prominent financial supporters such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York State Health Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the New York City Investment Fund, Prudential’s Social Investments Program, and the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have made loans and grants to Freelancers Union to start FIC. And I’ve worked hard to bring together a team of the most experienced, principled people around to run the company.

Mostly, though, it’s because of the members of Freelancers Union that we’re able to do this remarkable thing. We’ve shown that it’s possible to create a group with the strength and longevity to be a sustainable “risk pool” for health insurance. Independent work arrangements are here to stay, and the market is finally recognizing that.

We’re here to stay, too. Together, Freelancers Union and its members are building institutions, like Freelancers Insurance Company, that will provide stability for the independent workforce for years to come.

One down, 49 to go.