Michael Estrada: Last News

Tearin’ up our hearts. 98 Degrees’ Drew Lachey may respect his fellow boy banders — but that doesn’t mean he loves all of their music.

Attorney Michael Avenatti, once a cable news fixture for his commentary on Donald Trump, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for defrauding clients and for obstructing an IRS collection effort.

With new eligibility requirements set to take effect on January 1, the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan said today that it has expanded its open enrollment outreach efforts. The goal is to connect participants who may be losing their coverage to other available benefits and services.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorSAG-AFTRA leaders have been grappling for months with the outcry from members over big changes and cuts to the union’s health care plan starting next year.But as 2020 draws to a close, Michael Estrada, CEO of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan, has a simple message for the union’s 160,000-plus members: Those who are eligible should sign up online or by telephone for a plan by Dec. 31, or risk facing even higher prices and a lapse in coverage early next year.

David Robb Labor EditorSAG-AFTRA Health Plan CEO Michael Estrada on Tuesday described the “perfect storm” of soaring health care costs, employer contributions to the plan that have failed to keep up with those costs, and the devastating impact of the coronavirus shutdown on those contributions that made a complete overhaul necessary to keep the plan from going broke by 2024.Changes to the plan, which include increased eligibility thresholds for many, and higher premiums for all, will go into effect on January 1, 2021, and are projected to put the deficit-plagued plan back in the black by 2022. Actuaries estimate that under the changes, the plan will run a surplus of $26 million that year, and a $53 million surplus in 2023.

David Robb Labor EditorEXCLUSIVE: Representatives of trustees of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan have told members in a series of Zoom conferences that employer contributions to the Plan and participant premiums have not kept up with the skyrocketing cost of providing health care coverage to some 33,000 participants and their 32,000 family members.