Every year, New Orleans holds a huge jazz festival that goes on for more than a week. The musicians that come to preform at the festival will, at times, require health care. Many of them do not have health insurance. They go to the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic for the health care that they need.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is an annual festival that started in April of 1970. The first one had around 350 people attending. In 2001, attendance reached 650,000. The festival includes twelve different stages, all of which showcase a multitude of musicians, preforming at different days and times until the festival ends.
The musicians who play the festival are working. It may look as though playing gig after gig, and traveling out to festivals like this one, is an easy life. In reality, it takes it’s toll on the health of the musicians who live this lifestyle. Many of the musicians who come to play at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival do not have any type of health insurance coverage. If they get sick, or injured, or have a chronic disease that needs management, then they will require health care while they are in New Orleans.
The New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic started in 1998. It is specifically for musicians. It provides comprehensive health care and mental health / social services. It provides cost-efficient access to high quality health care and wellness programs to patients, regardless of their ability to pay.
There are certain qualifications that a person must meet in order to become a New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic patient. A person has to be over the age of seventeen. The person must be a New Orleans musician, DJ, vocalist, member of a choir, music tradition bearer, member of Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Mardi Gras Indian, dancers, actors, artisans, music and cultural photographers and writers, and people who are employed by local music clubs and recording studios. Household members of a person who fits those qualifications can also be seen at the clinic.
The clinic requires a $10.00 co-pay, and billing is done on a sliding scale based on the person’s income. There are grants available to help offset the high cost of health services. Free transportation to and from the clinic can be provided. They will accept qualified patients who have health insurance as well as those who do not have coverage of any kind at all.
The clinic can help with smoking cessation, flu, Hepatitis C, HIV, AIDS, diabetes, and dental and hearing issues. It even offers acupuncture treatments for those who can benefit from it. The New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic is providing a vital service for musicians who lack the type of employment that comes with employer-sponsored health insurance.
Image by thepipe26 on Flickr