Actor Drake Bell, known for his role in the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh, said this week that SAG-AFTRA denied him health insurance coverage through the union’s health plan, and he urged others not to pursue acting careers because of it.
Bell posted a screenshot on Instagram Tuesday showing a message from the SAG-AFTRA health plan website stating he did “not qualify for Health Plan coverage at this time.” The message read: “Your reported covered earnings from July 2025-June 2026 did not meet minimum eligibility requirements, or you did not qualify other eligibility rules.”
According to the screenshot, Bell had earned $17,480.53 in covered wages, short of the $28,933 threshold the plan requires for eligibility.
“Do not become an actor. Do not join SAG. You can work for 35 years and they still say [middle finger emoji],” Bell wrote over the image.
He tagged SAG-AFTRA and the union’s president, Sean Astin, known for his role in The Lord of the Rings, adding: “@SAGAFTRA really though @SeanAstin you’re doing a bang up job. How about stop using actors to run things maybe? They literally just know how to say words in front of a camera.”
Other Actors Have Raised Similar Complaints
Bell’s comments follow similar complaints from other actors. In September, Jack Haven said in a YouTube video that they needed to earn $4,000 by the end of the month to qualify for SAG health insurance starting in January, describing it as “a bit of an emergency situation.” Haven later said they secured the necessary work after the video drew wide attention.
Actor Heather Matarazzo responded to Haven’s situation at the time, writing: “I am literally in the same boat right now. Lots of my fellow actors are. I remember a time when we didn’t have to earn a minimum to qualify for insurance. Glad to see that Jack has gotten an offer that will let them to qualify for 2027.”
Earnings Threshold Set to Keep Rising
Under the current SAG-AFTRA contract, the earnings threshold required to qualify for health coverage is not fixed. It is scheduled to increase by $900 annually through 2030, when actors will need to earn $32,533 a year to enroll in the union’s health plan.
Meanwhile, union scale wages for speaking roles currently range as low as $256 a day on low-budget productions, up to $1,283 per day on productions with budgets of $2 million or more.
