NPR Spotlights How HAAM, Central Health & Sendero Keep Austin Musicians Covered
Zack Morgan & Miggy Milla, both HAAM Musician Advisory Council Members, perform with Midnight Snack at Pearl Society, May 2024.
Working musicians rarely have an employer-sponsored health plan. Their income comes from gigs, teaching, session work, and freelance jobs that shift week to week — which makes Marketplace coverage essential, and makes navigating it hard. But being eligible for coverage and being able to afford it aren’t the same thing.
That’s what one HAAM musician — Zack Morgan — told NPR’s All Things Considered and KFF Health News in this week’s story about our partnership helping working musicians, DJs, and music teachers in Austin get and keep affordable health coverage. HAAM’s CSO Rachel Blair highlighted the importance of HAAM’s partnership with Central Health and Sendero Health Plans:
"Chronic stress [over healthcare costs] erodes our health. It impacts creativity. It impacts a willingness to take a risk, to go out and be a creative entrepreneur, to be a musician,” says Rachel Blair.
HAAM’s partnership with Central Health and Sendero Health Plans is a locally developed coverage-to-care model now receiving national attention. Since 2015, our partnership has helped raise musicians’ insured rate from 16% to 95% — and in 2025 alone, HAAM served more than 3,300 musicians, with 87% of eligible members receiving premium assistance.
More than 2,000 HAAM members are enrolled in Marketplace insurance plans this year. Approximately 1,200 HAAM members — representing up to 1,325 covered individuals with dependents — receive Central Health Premium Assistance funding to help pay their monthly premiums.
HAAM’s independently-funded Premium Assistance Program complements Central Health’s funding program. Premium assistance dollars from both Central Health and from HAAM donors are critical. Protecting coverage with your donations means sustaining the entire system—not just helping local musicians pay their monthly premiums.
We’re asking you to:
Read or listen to the full story: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5906839
Share it to let your friends know why supporting local music matters to you
Prioritize a gift towards HAAM’s Premium Assistance Program (HAAM PAP) before Open Enrollment opens in October to help ensure costs are affordable:
Austin's identity as a live music city depends on the people who make the music. Let's make sure they can afford to stay healthy while they do it.