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Email: Freelancers Union "Truly Sorry" For Insurance Misfire

The Freelancers Union—whose ranks include non-staff writers and photographers—issued another sincere apology this afternoon via email for badly-communicated changes to member insurance earlier this month. "The past six weeks have been some of the toughest in Freelancers Union's history," it reads. Funny, union members were just saying the same thing about the last six weeks of their lives! Email after the jump. More »

5:29 PM on Tue Jan 15 2008
By Maggie
1,902 views, 13 comments

evil nonprofits

Freelancers Union Founder Apologizes For 'Glitches'

Freelancers Union founder Sara Horowitz wants everyone to calm the hell down please! "Health insurance is so central to a sense of security and I realize that this is making people feel really vulnerable, but if they could just know one thing, it's that they really do have health insurance coverage," she told us when we spoke to her this afternoon about the hue and cry raised by the union's membership over a recent change in their benefits. Passing Damage Control 101 with fairly flying colors, Horowitz copped to mishandling how the details of the union's recent health plan switch were circulated to members. "People are clearly frustrated. We really truly apologize for some of these glitches," she said. "It's really our obligation and for a lot of people, we've failed." More »

4:45 PM on Wed Jan 2 2008
By Maggie
1,209 views, 9 comments

Latest by atipofthehat: Maggie, when you finish fixing healthcare, please shame the world leaders into making peace for everyone. PS Also, could you reduce our dependence on oil? Thanks! more »

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Freelancers Union Is 'Inconvenient Mess Of An Organization' Says One Member

The Freelancers Union is telling its irate members today that enrollment forms for new health plans were sent to their new provider on Monday and that all of its members should have ID numbers by tomorrow. Or maybe not! According to one freelancer, Empire's customer service says that FU "had sent over 'only a handful' of enrollment forms, and that it could be weeks before everything is processed." Another union member tells us just the opposite: Blue Cross will backdate applications so that FU enrollees can visit health practitioners today, should they need to. Confusion! Mixed messages! "Needless to say, the Union fucked up completely," said the same member. Did the Freelancers Union learn nothing after helping organize striking Viacom permalancers last month? Cost-cutting happens everywhere and always will. But the way bad news is delivered is, in large part, how people will remember you as an organization. Quit screwing it up! More »

1:40 PM on Wed Jan 2 2008
By Maggie
1,145 views, 16 comments

Latest by StyleSwag: Okay, they have problems but let me tell you these health insurances are labeled under Organized Crime in my book! I'm a nurse and my husband is a doctor and we can't afford the very healthcare that we provide patients. How's more »

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Freelancers Union Health Benefits SNAFU Has Members Fuming

What's this? Members of the Freelancers Union are up in arms over badly-executed changes to their health insurance benefits! Oh, the irony! On November 30, the union, which says it "represents the needs and concerns of America's growing independent workforce," sent a memo out to its 15,000 New York metropolitan-area members who receive health insurance through the organization, announcing that coverage under their current health plan, HIP, would end December 31 in favor of more expensive coverage under Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield. "If you want to wake up with insurance on New Year's Day, you have to let us know which of the plans from Empire or PerfectHealth you want," the announcement read. We're hearing that, despite having completed all the paperwork required for the union-wide switch, plenty of freelancers are indeed waking up this morning to an uninsured New Year! "FU dropped the ball on this," one union member complains on the chat section of the organization's site. More »

11:10 AM on Wed Jan 2 2008
By Maggie
2,350 views, 16 comments

Latest by n/a: FROM FU: Your new health insurance card If you switched from HIP to Empire for your health insurance coverage beginning January 1, your insurance card will arrive in the mail mid-January. Even though you might not have your card yet, your coverage more »