Meanwhile in America...

Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress explains “Why The Affordable Care Act Matters To Artists”

It’s not yet clear how many people purchased insurance through the exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act that opened up yesterday. But one of the things I’ve been hearing from a lot of creative people is that the ACA has made it easy to be, or to contemplate being, an artist. Being a writer, or a visual artist, or a musician, or an actor, has always been an economically risky choice where a few people succeed in dramatic terms, a larger number figure out middle-class existences doing what they love at least part of the time, and others struggle to do what they love. The ACA, and the ability to purchase more affordable insurance as an individual, doesn’t change that economic calculus. But it does help minimize a risk factor that can make it impossible to attempt careers as artists at all.

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