was in Austin, TX a few mo ago. Ran into a guy about 30-35 yrs old. He was wearing a tee shirt with the initials H. A. A. M. My wife asked what they stood for and he said it was a group in Austin that provided money to Austin musicians like him for medical care, housing, etc. He told us that if it was not for H.A.A.M., he would have to "get a job". He didn't look destitute (several tats, gold chain, ear ring).
Later I was thinking: how does one choose a career path that either
1. Very few good jobs exist in this field
2. Thousands of people think they are talented enough for these few jobs and are your competition
3. You are not good enough in this field to make a decent living
My question would be - If you can not succeed as a musician why does it become someone else's problem to take care of you??
1. HAAM says nothing on their site about providing anything other than affordable healthcare for low-income Austin Musicians. Not sure why the guy said housing and other things, because all of the information is about their singular mission of making healthcare available to this group.
2. A 18-24 year old musician just starting out doesn't make a lot of money and may have to go through some lean years. An organization providing access to affordable healthcare to this group would actually lessen the burden on taxpayers, because these people might otherwise be on a medicaid program.
3. Musicians are independent contractors, thus don't have access to work provided healthcare benefits. One of the things that happens due to our model of relying on jobs to provide health insurance is people who need to buy it on their own often get ridiculous pricing. HAAM it seems tries to bring this pricing down or provide visits on their own.
4. By getting these people doctor and dental appointments, they are again probably lessening the burden on taxpayers. This is because by providing ongoing care you pay a little more upfront, but avoid the catestrohpic costs that come when those same people need to be saved in the ER and can't pay.
5. Many people also do unpaid internships on Wall Street and other white collar jobs. They do so because it is their dream to get a good paying gig with the experience. I am sure most musicians do the same. Of course, some people are content to live paycheck to paycheck but I think those people are less common than we think.
6. People at Walmart make crap money too, and have to get food stamps in order to eat. At least these musicians are doing something they like while making crap money LMAO
Any thing you do for a man that he can and should do for himself is a disservice to that man.
Any thing you do for a man that he can and should do for himself is a disservice to that man.
Any thing you do for a man that he can and should do for himself is a disservice to that man.
Getting affordable health insurance is expensive and cheap options are often just predatory companies that deny claims and screw over their customers.
Your quote makes it sound like you can just walk into a doctors office and demand good treatment for cheap. LMAO.
My lord, HAAM isn't giving out free stuff... they are just a service that helps people find good cheap options.
