A group of Hollywood actors, including Princess Diaries star Heather Matarazzo, are speaking out publicly about new SAG-AFTRA union requirements that threaten to cut off their health insurance benefits.
Matarazzo, who last appeared in the 2025 short film Paper Tiger, wrote on social media that unless she lands a paying acting job soon, she stands to lose her coverage under the union’s updated rules, according to Variety.
Her post came in response to actor Jack Haven, who told followers he is $4,000 short of the $28,933 he needs to earn this year to keep his SAG-AFTRA health plan.
“I’m in a bit of an emergency situation,” Haven said in a YouTube video. “I need to make $4,000 by the end of the month in order to qualify for SAG health insurance starting in January.”
The $28,933 threshold is not fixed. Under the union’s most recent contract, the required annual earnings will climb by $900 each year through 2030, when actors will need to earn $32,533 annually to qualify for the health plan.
Meanwhile, union scale wages for speaking roles remain modest: as low as $256 a day on low-budget productions and $1,283 a day on productions with budgets of $2 million or more.
Matarazzo, 43, echoed Haven’s concerns directly to her fans.
“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,” she said.
Matarazzo appeared in the short film Paint and five episodes of the Netflix series Wednesday in 2025, and is set to appear in the upcoming production Lore Harbour.
The union began adjusting the health plan’s earning requirements several years ago in an effort to address financial deficits facing the plan. But Variety reports the changes have left roughly 90 percent of actors no longer covered under the union’s healthcare plans.
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