An exploration of how artists deal with health issues in the US, where getting and paying for health care is largely a private matter.
4 Mar 2007 12:00
Howard Emanuel
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Writing and Publishing
I recently gave a copy of “Staying Alive,” the Arts Hub article I wrote on artists and health care to a friend seeking health insurance. After reading it, he looked at me with angry confusion. “Howard,” he said, “I don’t even understand the difference between an HMO, a PPO, and a La La La.”
A few weeks later, I attended a lecture where several prominent playwrights discussed issues facing artists in America. When the subject turned to healthcare, a collective groan emanated from the panel. After a pause, one Tony Award-nominated writer all but screamed in frustration. “Who the hell can afford health insurance?” he asked.
As an actor, Howard Emanuel has appeared across the USA in regional theatres ranging from The Paper Mill Playhouse and The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey to the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and Houston's Theatre Under The Stars. As a playwright, he has recently completed his first full-length work, Last Supper. As a novelist, his urban fiction manuscript, Naked Angels, is currently being shopped to various publishing houses. He is currently hard at work on his second and third plays. He holds a B.F.A. in Acting from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.
