CARFAC Ontario has been involved with an informal group of associations involved in the Writers Coalition Program, or the Arts & Entertainment Plan®, of the Actra Fraternal Benefit Society (AFBS), working to increase the number of their members and other professional artists who enroll in a medical, dental and life insurance program.
To this end, they have developed a proposal to the Ministers of Finance, Health and Canadian Heritage for a one-time contribution of $10 million to establish HEART, the Healthy Artists Trust, which would provide a financial subsidy for each individual eligible professional artist who subscribes to one of the AFBS or other qualifying private insurance program, for the first ten years they are enrolled.
They calculate that a $10 million investment would ensure that a critical mass of subscribers will be achieved in one or more of these insurance programs to make them self-sustaining. The proposal has been submitted to the House of Commons Finance Committee in response to their call for public input as they consider the 2015 federal budget.