Gov't Mule: taking care of the medical bills

Rock 'n''Roll can be hazardous to your health. Gov't Mule takes care of themselves and their crew. From the Health Blog in the Wall Street Journal:

"We found that magic combination of people that have been with us for a while, and we want them to stay," says Stefani Scamardo, who manages the band and also DJs on Sirius satellite radio. “We had an entire band and crew that have no health insurance, and that was troubling."

Big-name musicians like Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes (...) can get health insurance through their union. Even then, the coverage can be costly or available only to those who pile up enough music sales each year, a dicey proposition in an unpredictable business. Crew members, who typically get paid only during tours, often have fewer options.

Gov’t Mule’s plan is from Oxford Health Plans, a unit of UnitedHealth. The band pays all the premiums, which came to $61,507 last year, Scamardo tells the Health Blog. "You don’t budget for it — you just make the decision to do it and deal with it," she says. "It’s something that relieves a lot of stress in our organization; we all feel a lot better and sleep a lot better at night."

Watch a video of Thorazine Shuffle, recorded live at the E-Werk Köln, Germany - 2005/09/06.

(Thanks: Triple-B)