(Nashville, Tenn. – November 13, 2017) Nashville-based insurance and music healthcare advocacy organization, Sound Healthcare & Financial (SH & F), has announced the formation of a true group health insurance policy plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield of TN, that is exclusively available for members of the Nashville Musicians Association, AFM Local 257 and only available through SH & F.
Sound Healthcare & Financial Founder and CEO, RJ Stillwell, comments, “What we’ve been able to accomplish for our music community has never been done before. Outside the ACA Individual Marketplace, which is significantly diminishing in terms of participating carriers and networks, the only two ways in which one generally becomes insured is through an employer’s group policy or through a self-insured group. Those plans, however, are not typically available to music professionals as over 78% are self-employed.“
Through months of effort leveraging industry relationships, Sound Healthcare & Financial has achieved a fully insured ACA compliant True Group plan that is now available for musicians and industry professionals who are members of the union.
Stillwell continued, “Although we’ve been providing musicians, artists, and songwriters innovative healthcare solutions for over 10 years, this is, without question, the most monumental achievement for our music community in our company’s history.”
Nashville Musicians Association President, Dave Pomeroy, comments, “Upon my election as President of AFM Local 257 in 2008, one of the first calls I made was to R.J. Stillwell about providing healthcare information and assistance to our members. Sound Healthcare has been a great partner for us since then, and has saved our members a lot of money. This new group plan takes things to a whole new level, and we are very excited to be on the cutting edge of such an important issue.”
About Sound Healthcare & Financial: In 2006, as referenced in CMA Close Up, Kix Brooks (Brooks & Dunn), who was serving on the CMA Board at the time, sparked an important conversation about how to bring the music community and Vanderbilt Medical Center together to address the complex challenge of achieving affordable health insurance for CMA members. This proposition proved to be far more difficult than planned; however, after several false starts, RJ Stillwell, a musician and producer with over 25 years of experience as an advocate in other areas, such as education and lifestyle with an active lobbying presence on Capitol Hill, was suggested as the person to get it done. Stillwell pooled resources and architected a private label insurance program – a first for the music industry – establishing CMA Sound Healthcare.
In 2008, Sound Healthcare began advocating for additional music associations including the Nashville Music Association, AFM Local 257. In 2014, Sound Healthcare expanded services to include Long Term Care, Disability, ID Theft Protection, Life Insurance and Wealth Creation and Preservation Strategies, at which time a new entity emerged: Sound Healthcare & Financial. SH & F provides best-in-class protection plans for the creative community and has earned a stellar reputation, as the music industry’s most trusted healthcare advocate.
Enrollment in the Nashville Musicians Sound Healthcare Plan is exclusively available through Sound Healthcare & Financial. For more information, please visit www.SoundHealthcare.org or contact 615.256.8667 / info@soundhealthcare.org.
