Gig-based and freelance creatives in Dallas County can now enroll in a health and wellness program catered to local artists for $65 a month. Benefits include virtual primary care, 24/7 urgent care and no co-pay prescriptions offered through a mobile app.
The program, called Creatives Care Dallas, was publicly announced at a news conference last week. It is a partnership between the Dallas Music Office and Dallas-based Arete Health Shield that arose out of their shared desire to support local talent.
The 2019 death of Dallas spoken word poet Rage Almighty in particular spurred Arete Health’s CEO Byron Sanders into action.
The poet, born Adam Tench, lacked access to health insurance and used a secondhand inhaler for his asthma, Sanders said. Tench’s death was from very “treatable medical circumstances,” Sanders said. “That struck me as profoundly unfair.”
The new program does not provide comprehensive coverage nor is it intended to replace insurance. Still, for those unable to afford health care or medication, it “gets them a long way,” Sanders said.
Creatives Care Dallas also offers discounts on dental, vision and medical procedures. For specialized care such as dialysis and cancer treatment, the program’s physicians can provide referrals. Members can add up to four other Dallas County residents to their coverage plan who do not need to be dependents or spouses.
Kristina Kirkenaer-Hart, director of the Dallas Music Office, surveyed artists about their needs early into her tenure and affordable health care emerged as a top concern.
She was keen on finding a solution that would prioritize flexibility for touring artists to have care even as they were away from Dallas and that would ensure prescriptions did not cost “an arm and a leg.”
Arete Health had the infrastructure. The music office knew people in need.
“We don’t want to be exporting our artists to other cities that care more about their creatives,” Kirkenaer-Hart said. “We want them to go away, but we always want them to come home.”
When Cameron McCloud, front man for the local band Cure for Paranoia, aged out of his parents’ insurance, he stopped taking his prescribed antidepressants. “It seemed like the only option at the time,” said the 32-year-old, who has bipolar disorder.
He planned to enroll in Creatives Care Dallas for access to mental health services including therapy and medicine.
Part of the proceeds from Creatives Care Dallas will be donated in honor of Tench to Amplified Minds, a local mental health nonprofit.
The announcement of the program follows a similar effort from the Fort Worth Music Office, which last year established Sound Care in partnership with JPS Health Network to connect musicians to health care options.
Sanders attributed the relatively low enrollment fee for Creatives Care Dallas in part to technological advances made during and after the pandemic.
“Telemedicine has radically reduced the per-person cost for delivering a lot of important health care services,” said Sanders, whose background includes a stint at pharmaceuticals company Pfizer.
“There’s a lot of people who will tell you that this can’t be done, [that] the numbers don’t work out. That is false,” Sanders said. “What we’re also trying to do is radically change people’s belief about what they deserve out of the health care system.”
Details
For sign up and further information, visit details visitdallas.com/creatives-care-dallas/.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
