Austin Musicians Get Health Insurance Help from Nonprofit

Musician Zack Morgan jokes that when he lost his corporate job in 2015, it felt like being pushed off a cliff. For years, he had been playing both sides of the Austin coin: tech worker by day, funk keyboardist by night. After losing his corporate position, he faced a crucial decision about pursuing music full-time, but one obstacle stood in his way.

“Maybe this is my sign to try the full-time music thing,” Morgan recalled thinking. “Step one in that was: Get health insurance again.”

Austin, Texas bills itself as “the Live Music Capital of the World,” but the city has become increasingly unaffordable for the artists who provide its cultural cachet and help drive tourism revenue. Morgan has supported himself by patching together gigs with multiple bands, relying on a local nonprofit to make his music career financially viable.

Bridging the Insurance Gap for Creative Workers

To help pay for health insurance, Morgan turned to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, known as HAAM. The nonprofit subsidizes monthly insurance premiums for local musicians who purchase plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. To fund the roughly $4 million program, HAAM partners with Central Health, a public agency that provides healthcare resources for low-income residents of Austin and surrounding Travis County.

“That’s part of being able to make this whole thing work,” Morgan said.

Many performing artists enrolled in the program pay $0 toward monthly premiums. After more than a decade, including through the coronavirus pandemic, the assistance program has become an established and reliable financial support for Austin’s musician community. Now in his late thirties, Morgan has built a stable career performing with multiple bands around town.

Responding to a National Healthcare Crisis

This year, after Congress failed to extend pandemic-era subsidies, premiums skyrocketed for many ACA plans nationwide. A recent report found that 5 million people nationwide had dropped the coverage. HAAM helped blunt the impact for its members, emerging as a potential model for other cities hoping to make healthcare more affordable for key populations and industries.

Texas had the highest uninsured rate among states, with 19% of people age 64 and under uninsured as of 2024. The state’s healthcare landscape makes HAAM’s intervention particularly critical for vulnerable workers in the creative economy.

Even before the launch of the ACA marketplace in 2014, HAAM had spent a decade connecting musicians with free and low-cost care at clinics and hospitals in and around Austin. However, roughly 85% of HAAM members remained uninsured, leaving them exposed when traveling to gigs in other cities and states.

Evolution from Clinic Referrals to Comprehensive Coverage

“When the Affordable Care Act came out, and we knew it was here to stay, it really made sense for us to start getting our musicians fully insured,” said Rachel Blair, HAAM’s chief strategy officer.

The organization’s approach has proven increasingly vital as healthcare costs continue climbing. Blair explains that HAAM members earn an average of about $30,000 annually, making standard insurance premiums prohibitively expensive. Without assistance, musicians would be forced to spend roughly a third of their income on healthcare alone.

The program works through a carefully structured partnership. HAAM members enroll in one of the plans that Central Health offers on the marketplace, and if they fall within a certain income range, they receive a federal subsidy for part of the monthly premium. Central Health covers the remaining costs, ensuring comprehensive coverage for eligible musicians.

Flexible Support Across Income Levels

Musicians who don’t quite fit the income criteria-perhaps because they earn slightly more than qualifying thresholds-can still access meaningful support. These artists receive approximately half their premium costs covered directly by HAAM, ensuring that a broader range of working musicians can afford coverage.

Blair emphasizes that insured musicians are healthier overall and don’t have to worry as much about falling ill or experiencing accidents while on the road. The psychological benefits extend beyond physical health outcomes, affecting creative productivity and long-term career sustainability.

“That chronic stress erodes our health. It impacts creativity,” Blair said.

A Model for Other Cities

For Morgan, now 38 years old, married, and contemplating parenthood, the program has provided stability that would have been impossible to achieve independently. Coming from the corporate world, he found navigating health benefits on his own intimidating. HAAM’s intervention proved essential to his transition into full-time music work.

The success of HAAM’s model arrives at a critical moment in American healthcare policy. As federal subsidies expire and premiums surge nationwide, cities face mounting pressure to support essential workers in industries that define local culture but often fail to provide traditional employment benefits. The partnership between a nonprofit organization and a public health agency demonstrates how local solutions can address gaps in federal policy.

As Austin continues to attract tourists drawn by its vibrant music scene, HAAM’s work ensures that the artists who make the city unique can afford to remain there. The organization’s decade-plus track record provides a blueprint for other municipalities seeking to preserve their cultural identity while supporting vulnerable creative workers. The roughly $4 million annual investment represents a modest expenditure compared to the economic and cultural value musicians generate for the region.