Actor Drake Bell, known for starring in Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh, has publicly criticized SAG-AFTRA after the union informed him he does not qualify for health insurance coverage.
Bell shared 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 earned $17,480.53 during the qualifying period, falling short of the $28,933 threshold required for SAG-AFTRA Health Plan coverage.
“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.
Bell also directed criticism at SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin, known for his role in The Lord of the Rings. “@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,” he wrote.
Not an Isolated Complaint
Bell’s criticism follows similar complaints from other actors earlier this year. In September, performers Jack Haven and Heather Matarazzo both said they had been denied health insurance under the same union plan.
Haven described facing a tight deadline to qualify. “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.” Haven later said additional work materialized after the video gained attention online.
Matarazzo said the problem is widespread among her peers. “I am literally in the same boat right now. Lots of my fellow actors are,” she wrote, adding, “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.”
Rising Thresholds Ahead
The earnings requirement is not fixed. Under the current SAG-AFTRA contract, the minimum annual earnings needed to qualify for health coverage will increase by $900 each year through 2030, reaching $32,533 annually by then.
Meanwhile, union scale wages for speaking roles remain comparatively low, ranging from $256 a day on low-budget productions up to $1,283 per day on productions with budgets of $2 million or more.
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