Elite Model Management Makes A Historic Move: Healthcare Coverage for Models

*** The writing does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice by any means***

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Elite Model Management, one of the top modeling agencies, has just announced that it will roll out a new program aimed at providing healthcare access and coverage to its models. Elite is home to a number of high-profile models: Anna Ewers, Fei Fei Sun, Julia Stegner, Soo Joo Park, Sung Hee Kim, just to name a few. Elite further promises that it will be made available at a very low cost. Tailored to the real needs of models who literally circle the globe every season, the upcoming insurance plan will include personal incident and travel/flight inconvenience and will be accepted internationally.

Some people may wonder why models have not been provided any healthcare coverage up until now. That's because models are categorized as "independent contractors" for, rather than "employees" of, modeling agencies in the eyes of the law. Owing to this independent contractor status, agencies are not obligated to provide healthcare coverage, let alone access. Instead, models are expected to purchase healthcare plans on their own. Some even choose not to obtain any at all, especially given the exorbitant costs associated with enrollment in the United States. To make matters worse, if you are a foreign model entering the U.S. for modeling opportunities, navigating the enrollment system can be labyrinthine when you are not even fluent in the language. 

Elite is often credited with revolutionizing the then-unknown field of modeling agencies in the early '70s. The agency invented the concept of supermodels, imbuing glamour into the profession. So this historic, unprecedented decision on the part of Elite is indeed trailblazing in every sense of the word. In launching this historic program, Elite notes that Insurance for Models, in alignment of the agency's core philosophy, is designed to "prepare our models for [the] unpredictability" of modeling and afford protection "so they can flourish at the highest level". I truly hope that this will effect meaningful changes in the industry. Others should follow suit. That would be an elite move in the right direction.